Tales from the Crib: Pappacap

Dec 16, 2021 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

When Gun Runner went out on a high note in the 2018 Pegasus World Cup (G1), he crowned his career with a five-race winning streak and padded his bank account to nearly $16 million. 

But the Horse of the Year did something else at Gulfstream Park that day. He convinced Karen Russell that she and her husband, George, just had to send a mare to him in his imminent first season at stud. The resulting foal has turned out to be 2022 Kentucky Derby (G1) contender Pappacap. 
The proprietors of Rustlewood Farm near Reddick, Florida, the Russells have a small broodmare band and generally breed to sell. The leading case in point is Rustlewood-bred El Kabeir, who was sold for $250,000 as a yearling and went on to become a Grade 2 winner of $946,557. On the 2015 Derby trail for a time, El Kabeir captured the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), Jerome (G3), and Gotham (G3). 
Later that year, the Russells acquired a young broodmare carraying her first foal – Pappascat. She was by the same sire as El Kabeir, Scat Daddy (who would be responsible for 2018 Triple Crown champion Justify), but her own qualities made her an attractive prospect. She was a fine-looking mare who had shown racing ability. 
Versatile to win on both dirt and turf, Pappascat spent most of her time on the grass, notably finishing runner-up in the 2014 Cardinal H. (G3) at Churchill Downs. When Pappascat failed to sell for $110,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, the Russells were able to buy her privately.
Fast forward to the spring of 2018, and the decision to breed a Rustlewood mare to Gun Runner. The Russells were already fans, before the Pegasus World Cup clinched the deal. 
“We had followed him from when he was in the Kentucky Derby,” George said, alluding to Gun Runner’s third to Nyquist in the 2016 Run for the Roses. 
It was Gun Runner’s continued development as an older horse, however, that appealed most of all. After chasing Arrogate in the 2017 Dubai World Cup (G1), he never lost again. Indeed, Gun Runner gained revenge on Arrogate by dethroning him in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1). 
“We valued that he went to Dubai and came back to run very well the rest of the year,” George added. 
“He had run so long. We particularly liked that. The fact that he ran on obviously meant he had some good traits in that regard.”
But which Rustlewood mare would have the honor of visiting Gun Runner? The Russells’ bloodstock advisor, Francis Vanlangendonck of Summerfield, analyzed the candidates and pinpointed Pappascat as the best choice. While pedigree buffs will zero in on the inbreeding to Storm Cat, a close ancestor of both Gun Runner and Pappascat, the mating wasn’t decided on paper. Rather, Pappascat offered the right physical match.
“More his conformation and hers,” George recalled. “And it looked like he would go good with her.”
That forecast would prove correct after their colt’s blissfully straightforward arrival, in the wee hours of March 22, 2019. Just 10 minutes after her water broke, Pappascat delivered her foal at 2:30 a.m. (ET). Within about 45 minutes, the bay was on his feet, and nursing soon after getting his bearings. 

Karen Russell, as ever, was on the scene to capture the memories of his birth and first steps with numerous photos. Once the colt moved outdoors, he was personable and happy to greet his loving owners. 

“He’s done everything right since the day he was born,” Karen said. 
“Whenever he sees you coming, he’d come walking over. He’d be the one to see you at the fence. He just brightens up and walks to the fence.” 
George has observed that the colt was always eager to please, an admirable attitude that carries over into his racing career. 

Sean Ryan, the Rustlewood manager at the time, noted the Russells’ deep affection for their horses, and the time Karen spends each day at the farm.

“Their horses are their babies. For Mrs. Russell, they are the greatest thing on the face of the earth.”
Ryan himself had a close association with Gun Runner as a youngster, during his breaking process and early training at Bridlewood Farm. 
“There was no nonsense about him,” Ryan said of Gun Runner. “He never messed around, never played around. He was one of the easiest horses to deal with. He just went out and trained.”
Pappacap was similarly businesslike. 
“He was an easy baby to get along with,” Ryan said, noting that he “marched to the beat of his own drummer,” and acted like “the ruler of the paddock.”
Ryan sees the influence of both parents in the colt’s temperament, since Pappascat is a level-headed mare with a “boss mentality” herself. 

Shelley Bunning, Rustlewood’s manager since late April 2020,
gave great insight into Pappascat’s personality that she has transmitted to
Pappacap.

“The mare is wonderful,” Bunning said. “No fuss, no fight.
She’s a really good egg to be around. She doesn’t take any grief from the other
mares, but she stands her ground.”

Pappacap thrived at Rustlewood, his home for virtually his entire babyhood. Other than a brief round trip to Kentucky with his dam, who was being bred back at the time, he grew up in his native Florida until the fall of his yearling year. 

In keeping with the farm’s business plan, the colt was due to sell at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The team at Rustlewood prepared him for his auction appearance, with Bunning often hand-walking the youngster.

Pappacap’s character could be expressed simply as “a really good
boy,” Bunning recalled.

'He was a pleasure to be around, one of the easiest
colts” to handle because he was “one of those when you're going in, there won't
be a problem.”

While Pappacap “did have his own opinion on things,” he
was quick to pick up on what was being asked, and get on with it.

“He settled into every new challenge really well,” Bunning said.

But as fate would have it, he didn’t end up in the sales ring. Vanlangendonck, who was consigning him under the Summerfield banner, offered another key piece of advice to the Russells. For whatever reason, in the COVID-altered landscape of that fall’s auction, Pappacap wasn’t attracting as much attention as hoped. 

“Francis didn’t believe he got enough activity to warrant running him through the ring,” George recalled, explaining that the lack of pre-sale interest indicated he wouldn’t bring what he was worth. 
As a result, the colt was withdrawn from the sale and sent back to Rustlewood. Plan B was then to prepare him for a two-year-olds in training sale. 

Pappacap didn’t have to go far to school, with Hall of Famer Mark Casse’s training center nearby. But plans changed again – this time, because Pappacap was proving to be an exceptional student. As Casse became impressed with the colt, he thought that the Russells shouldn’t let him get away. 
“Mark recommended that unless we needed to sell him, we should keep him,” George said. 
Given their respect for Casse’s judgment, that’s exactly what they did. The Russells have campaigned homebreds before, in rare circumstances. Mach Ride, a Grade 2 winner and $640,000-earner, was their headliner, until Pappacap came along. 
Pappacap has already surpassed Mach Ride’s accomplishments, and he’s closing in on his bankroll with $576,000 in his account. A convincing winner of his first two starts, he flashed speed in his Gulfstream Park maiden win and swept from just off the pace to dominate the Aug. 7 Best Pal (G2) at Del Mar. Pappacap was subsequently fourth in the Del Mar Futurity (G1), where breaking from the rail down the chute presented an unfamiliar scenario, and he made rookie mistakes. But he moved forward from that experience to place second to Corniche in both the American Pharoah (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). 
Most promisingly, Pappacap is still progressing, sparking hope that he can follow the trajectory of Gun Runner, and keep improving over the course of his career. Despite having to tap on the brakes early in the Breeders’ Cup, when Corniche cut in front of him, Pappacap offered a resolute rally and got a bit closer than he had in their prior meeting. That gap could get narrower with added distance, and time. 
“Pappacap has been a horse, from the time we started breezing at our training center in Ocala, that always seemed a little extra special,” Casse told Del Mar publicity after the Best Pal. “George and Karen Russell are small breeders, but wonderful people and we’re very excited for them.”

Bunning sounded the same theme, emphasizing how deserving
the Russells are of this good fortune after their longstanding contributions to the Thoroughbred industry.

The first Breeders’ Cup starter for Rustlewood Farm, Pappacap is now bringing the Russells on the unexpected adventure of the Derby trail. And it wouldn’t have happened, but for a providential series of events – and good counsel that they took to heart. 
Indeed, their chances of being on this journey are so slim, that they never would have thought of it. George sums it up:
“I guess it was meant to be.”

Photos courtesy of Rustlewood Farm

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