Aloha West: A Past and Future Legacy
A funny thing, legacy. Same root as legend. Yet for all its magic, legacy comes down to patterns plus intention. The bloodstock agents at Mill Ridge Farm know a thing or two about patterns. When 2021 Qatar Racing Breeders Cup Sprint (G1) winner ALOHA WEST retired last November to stand at Mill Ridge, he was moved into the barn and paddock of his maternal grandsire, GONE WEST.
The team that stood champions GONE WEST and DIESIS—and that is currently standing OSCAR PERFORMANCE—has a forty-year record of spotting value and cultivating winning traits. Mill Ridge is serious about their legacy of contributions to the breed. ALOHA WEST’s $10,000 stud fee only proves it.
Mill Ridge doesn’t stand many horses. Its bloodstock agents are extraordinarily selective. Picking a winner is easy; picking a winner that produces other winners is an art. So what makes ALOHA WEST so special?
Aloha West: Pedigree
ALOHA WEST, a beautiful dark bay from the FAPPIANO family, has an impressive pedigree that includes three of the most influential sire lines today: DANZIG through HARD SPUN, GONE WEST through SPEIGHTSTOWN, and A.P. INDY.
He was sired in 2017 by HARD SPUN (15 career G1 winners) out of ISLAND BOUND who is by the extraordinary and versatile SPEIGHTSTOWN (25 G1 winners), whom ALOHA WEST most clearly resembles—not just in looks, but in shape and speed. His dam earned nearly $300,000 on the track, including a win in the G3 Winning Colors at Churchill. As a broodmare, ISLAND BOUND has produced seven foals yielding four winners from five starters. The granddam of ALOHA WEST is a daughter of the legendary A.P. INDY. A bloodstock agent’s dream from every angle, this is a horse with looks, speed, and heart—a well-balanced stallion with the potential to be a major influence on the breed and the sport.
ALOHA WEST was bred by Katy Voss and her partner, the late, great Bob Manfuso, at their farm in West Friendship, Maryland. Initially owned by Mary and Gary West, ALOHA WEST was purchased for $160,000 at Keeneland’s 2018 September sale and to be trained by Bob Baffert. At two-years-old, Aloha West had a lot of eyes on him. He was considered one of Baffert’s best juveniles that year, boasting six bullet works, before getting shins and needing to be sidelined.
Aloha West returned to Baffert as a three-year-old, continuing to pull off more black letter works, showing off a clear will to win. But an injury prior to his debut meant that ALOHA WEST wouldn’t get his first start until age four. At the end of his three-year-old year, he was transferred to trainer Wayne Catalano and resumed training, and that’s when he began to show exactly what he’d promised.
Aloha West: Performance
In February ALOHA WEST broke his maiden first time out as a four-year-old at Oaklawn, going six furlongs—a length that would prove to suit him well. He came fifth in his next outing, after which he was privately purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, with Catalano remaining the trainer.
2021 was a monumental year for the four-year-old. He took a seven-furlong Churchill allowance by five lengths, and pair of six- and seven-furlong allowances at Saratoga that summer. Then, in his first graded stakes, ALOHA WEST grabbed second by a neck in the G2 Phoenix at Keeneland.
The year culminated in a stunning upset in the Qatar Breeder’s Cup Sprint that November in Del Mar. With Jose Ortiz in the irons, ALOHA WEST trailed most of the nine-horse field for most of the race, then came wide after the final turn and surged, closing gap after gap and beating multiple graded stakes winner DR. SCHIVEL by half a nose. He covered six furlongs in 1:08.49 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100 (sprint champion JACKIE’S WARRIOR came in sixth).
He would win a total of five of nine starts that year, earning more than $1.3 million in earnings, leading trainer Wayne Catalano to remark that ALOHA WEST “might be the best horse I've ever had my hands on.”
He returned to the races in 2022 as a five-year-old, finishing third in the G1 Churchill Downs Handicap. Then in July at Churchill’s Kelly’s Landing Stakes, jockey Joel Rosario found himself down in fourth on the inside at the half against a field of seven, with a punishing pace up front set by KNEEDEEPINSNOW. At the quarter pole he found an opening and switched outside. It was all ALOHA WEST needed to pull away. He was a full neck ahead of grade three winner MILES AHEAD as he crossed the finish. It would be the last win of his career. ALOHA WEST retired in October with a 6-2-1 record from 13 starts and more than $1.5 million in earnings.
Aloha West: Potential
Upon retirement, ALOHA WEST was syndicated to stud at Mill Ridge, with Eclipse remaining involved in the foundational group.
Here he joins stallion OSCAR PERFORMANCE, himself a product of our bloodstock agent Headley Bell’s mating suggestions. OSCAR PERFORMANCE was the number one first-crop turf sire with $1.5 million progeny earnings in 2022, with yearlings who have now sold for as much as twenty-eight times their stud fees.
The key to building this kind of legacy is carefulness. “Over the years, we have stood a number of horses,” says Mill Ridge general manager and bloodstock agent Price Bell. “In the end, we can’t make mistakes. We have to carve our niche.” Mill Ridge—and our consulting arm, Nicoma Bloodstock—waited a long time after champion sires DIESIS and GONE WEST before the Amermans gave us a tremendous opportunity with OSCAR PERFORMANCE, who was raised here. Our bloodstock agents had the confidence they could stand a turf horse in America, and by all accounts, we’ve been successful. It’s that care and intention that led us to believe we could do the same for ALOHA WEST.
Fundamental to his success will be his shareholders. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, who are exemplary in their quality program and skills in this business, are also giving us an opportunity, and we are very excited with ALOHA WEST as our next Mill Ridge stallion.
“The reality is, you never know where a breed-shaping stallion is going to come from,” says Bell. “You do not have to have the greatest race record, bloodline, conformation, or the highest stud fee.”
That’s why our bloodstock agents believe ALOHA WEST has the potential to influence the breed with the blend of all these qualities and with a stud fee of just $10,000. This positioning mirrors other well-known, value-priced stallions such as CITY ZIP ($7,500), DANZIG ($10,000), STORM CAT ($10,000), TAPIT ($10,000, WAR FRONT ($10,000), INTO MISCHIEF ($10,000), and DYNAFORMER ($10,000).
A Bloodstock Agent Builds a Legacy
Nicoma Bloodstock has built as much of a legacy for itself as it has for its horses. Thoroughbreds at Mill Ridge Farm benefit from the finest care available, from the fertile soil growing the best grass in the region to leading veterinary and blacksmith care. Happy and healthy thoroughbreds, raised and cared for in the most natural way possible, win races and produce winning offspring.
Our bloodstock agents are no different. They keep clients’ goals and budgets front of mind and encourage smart investments with the best chance of financial return.
In the end, Catalano says it best: “This horse has the potential to be a great stallion, as he had two key ingredients, speed, and heart. And, he is beautiful.”
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If you’d like to begin a conversation with a bloodstock agent at Nicoma Bloodstock about potentially owning your own piece of thoroughbred racing history, contact us today at (859) 224-1000 or learn more here.