Committee of One Determined Indian Summer Winner

Committee of One (2c Mendelssohn x Sweetest Sound, by Smart Strike) made the most of his stakes debut on Sunday, breaking his maiden in the Listed Indian Summer Stakes.

Racing over 5 ½ furlongs on the Keeneland turf for his third career start, he raced three wide down the backstretch five lengths behind the leader. Jockey Cristian Torres took the Steve Asmussen trainee seven paths wide as they made their way through the stretch run and gave his colt plenty of room to do what needed to be done.

Committee of One came sprinting up the track to insert himself in a battle in the final sixteenth and was ahead at the line to win by a nose for Kirk and Judy Robison.

Though he was winning his first race, Committee of One had finished second in his two other career starts for nearly $200,0000 in earnings.

“This horse has run three times on three different racetracks. He’s very mature for his age, takes everything really well, and we’re excited about the opportunity,” trainer Steve Asmussen said of possibly aiming for the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Bred by Gatewood Bell, Ken Donworth, and Ike Van Meter, he is one of five winners from five to race out of the Smart Strike mare Sweetest Sound. That one is a half-sister to three graded stakes placers, led by Grade II placed Saint Vigeur and Sweet Bliss.

Their dam is a three-quarter sister to champion Sweet Catomine and dual Grade I winner Life Is Sweet in addition to the dam of Uncle Mo’s multiple graded stakes winner Modernist. The family also includes Grade I winner Pirate’s Revenge among others.

The sire of the most winners of any second crop sire this year, Mendelssohn’s 12 stakes performers in 2023 are led by three stakes winners. In all, Mendelssohn has sired 91 winners from his first two crops with five stakes winners and 14 stakes performers over the last two racing seasons.