Cherokee Run notched up his latest Stakes winner on Sunday when his tough son Nationhood landed the Budweiser Emerald Handicap (Listed) over a mile at Emerald Downs. This admirable six-year-old came home two-and-a-half lengths clear of runner-up Westsideclyde to land his second Stakes success of 2008, following his win in the six-furlong Seattle Handicap over the same course in May.
Bred by Lawrence Goichman, Nationhood is a son of the Danzig mare Elhasna, who raced in the colours of Sheikh Hamdam bin Rashid al Maktoum before beginning her breeding career for Shadwell. A full-sister to the outstanding sprinter Dayjur, Elhasna, a daughter of the champion racemare Gold Beauty, was trained, like her distinguished sibling, in England by the late Major Dick Hern, under whose care she won a conditions race over six furlongs at Leicester as a three-year-old, ridden by Willie Carson. She proved a good matron for Shadwell, under whose stewardship she threw several winners including Karis Makaw, a daughter of Charismatic who won the Boeing Handicap and the King’s County Handicap at Emerald Downs in 2005, and Irtahal, a daughter of Swain who carried Sheikh Hamdam’s colours into third place in the Musidora Stakes at York in May 2003 before winning over a mile at Ascot by twenty lengths two months later.
Cherokee Run is enjoying a good season, with his best performer of 2008 being the Grade Two Illinois Derby winner Recapturetheglory who won that Grade Two race in April by an impressive four-length margin. He thus became the second Cherokee Run three-year-old to win at Stakes level this year, following Mitigation, winner of the Hansel Stakes at Turfway Park, while Stakes place-getters for the stallion this season include Sebastian’s Song, Cherokee Artist, Zanjero, Run Sully Run, Acacia and, of course, the mighty War Pass, the brilliant winner of last season’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and already placed at Grade One level when runner-up in the Wood Memorial this year.
