gerrymander and the importance of class in the dam

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into mischief, joe estes, stallion success

Let us then praise good broodmares. Theirs is the more dangerous and less celebrated part of the breeding equation. Yet without them, even the best stallions do not shine as brightly or accomplish so much.

Take, for example, leading sire Into Mischief (by Harlan’s Holiday), who had his 50th graded stakes winner when Gerrymander won the Grade 2 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park on June 25.

A very good sire from the beginning of his career at stud, the bay titan from Spendthrift Farm really excelled when breeders recognized that here was a significant sire and began filling his book with mares of greater quality and potential.

From the stallion’s first four books of mares, he had crops of 41, 26, 37, and 37 foals that resulted in a strong showing from his first crop with seven stakes winners (17 percent). Only three, one, and two stakes winners came from the next three crops, but when that first crop of runners, which included three stakes winners at 2 in 2012, showed their stuff, both in early training and on the racetrack, breeders sent the horse a massive book of mares in 2013 for the foals of 2014, which resulted in 162 foals and 17 stakes winners.

Into Mischief has never since had fewer than 15 stakes winners per crop, and his genetics haven’t changed. Nothing changed except the volume and class of mares coming to him.

The result of those changes is the swelling tide of stakes winners and top performers from Spendthrift’s super sire. The leading sire in the country by gross earnings for three seasons, Into Mischief has become the best American sire in the male line descending from his great-grandsire Storm Cat (Storm Bird).

Twenty years ago, Storm Cat stood astride the world of breeding like colossus, the world his subject. Yet today, that line of Northern Dancer has gone quiet, significantly because several of the best sons of Storm Cat have not had a top stallion son here in the States. Storm Cat’s son Harlan, however, got a top sire son in Harlan’s Holiday, who was a step away from greater acclaim when he died while shuttling to Argentina.

Into Mischief has more than filled that gaping loss, getting sounder and somewhat more versatile stock than Harlan’s Holiday, and no stallion in the country is more acclaimed or more expensive to use than this successor to Harlan’s Holiday.

One of the stallion’s 174 foals of 2019, Gerrymander was bred in Kentucky by Town & Country Horse Farms and Pollock Farms. She is the second G2 winner out of the Hard Spun mare Ruby Lips, who ran third in the G3 Tempted Stakes at 2. Ruby Lips also produced Lone Rock (Majestic Warrior), who won the G2 Brooklyn.

Ruby Lips is a half-sister to a pair of stakes winners, including Like a Gem (Tactical Cat), who has produced a pair of stakes winners herself, including Hard Not to Like (Hard Spun), a three-time G1 winner (Diana, Gamely, and Jenny Wiley). The Mother Goose winner’s third dam, Likeashot (Gunshot), produced three stakes winners, including G1 winner Firery Ensign (Blue Ensign), winner of the Young America Stakes. This is the family of G2 Saratoga Special winner Run Away and Hide (City Zip) and Davide Umbro (In the Wings), winner of the G2 Premio Parioli (Italian 2,000 Guineas).

From four starts as a juvenile, Gerrymander won the Tempted Stakes, now a listed race, and was second in the G1 Frizette. The Mother Goose is her first victory of 2022, from a pair of starts.

As the newest graded winner for her sire, this filly helps to point out the significance of the research into stakes production and opportunity among sires and dams that was done by Joe Estes over his decades as the editor of The Blood-Horse from the early 1930s.

From the racing test, as Estes termed it, the chief researcher and his associates proved that fillies succeeded as broodmares in a direct line of rank according to their racing class: groups of stakes winners doing better than the groups of stakes-placed mares, which were better than plain winners, etc.

The primary detraction from this important application of research and statistics is that the better race fillies tend to go to the better stallions.

By applying the data from the other direction, how a stallion fares with lesser or better racing mates, the consensus is clear. Racing class does improve breeding success, and we can see the results clearly from the improvement in volume and class of stakes winners when better and better books became available to Into Mischief.

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where are the kentucky derby winners now (at stud)?

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Kentucky Derby, stallion success

All the most recent winners of the Kentucky Derby who have retired – through 2020 winner Authentic (by Into Mischief) – are at stud in Kentucky. This includes 2018 winner Justify (Scat Daddy), who stands at Ashford Stud outside Versailles, Ky. Both Justify and 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) have their first juveniles this year because Always Dreaming raced on at four, then retired to WinStar Farm.

But what of the preceding winners of the Run for the Roses?

Among the Derby winners with racers, 2016 winner Nyquist (Uncle Mo) has 4-year-olds, and he has sired eight stakes winners and 18 stakes-placed racers. One of the members of his first crop was champion juvenile filly Vequist, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Nyquist was the leading freshman sire in 2020, and he stands for $55,000 live foal at Jonabell Farm as one of Darley‘s American stallions.

The 2015 Kentucky Derby winner was American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), also winner of the first Triple Crown in 37 years, as well as the Breeders’ Cup Classic of 2015, when he was named champion 3-year-old colt and Horse of the Year. Sent to stud at Ashford amid great acclaim, American Pharoah was the leading freshman sire in 2019 and stands for $80,000 live foal.

To date, American Pharoah has sired 24 stakes winners and 20 stakes-placed racers in the Northern Hemisphere; the horse also stands in the Southern Hemisphere at Coolmore’s satellite operation in Australia, where he has three stakes winners and two stakes-placed there from two crops of racing age. American Pharoah had several sons being trained for the classics in 2022, most notably Forbidden Kingdom, winner of the G2 San Vicente and San Felipe earlier this season before suffering an entrapped epiglottis in the G1 Santa Anita Derby.

The 2014 Kentucky Derby winner is even more widely traveled than American Pharoah. California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) ventured to the Middle East, where he won the Dubai World Cup.

Retired to stud in 2017 at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, the handsome chestnut was sold to stand at Arrow Stud in Japan in 2019, when his oldest foals were yearlings. The popular winner of the Derby and Preakness stands for a fee of approximately $35,000. California Chrome is the sire of three stakes winners and five stakes-placed and has been represented by such 2022 stakes winners as Cilla (Orleans Stakes) in Louisiana and Matwakel (JCSA Challenge) in Saudi Arabia.

The 2013 winner of the Derby was Orb (Malibu Moon), who was a handsome athlete, possessed a notable pedigree, and received significant opportunities on retirement to stud at Claiborne Farm.

In 2018, the stallion’s second-crop daughter Sippican Harbor won the G1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga to give a much-envied top-level success. Nevertheless, Orb’s results from his initial crops at the races did not meet the high standard of success required for a commercial stallion in Kentucky, and he was sold in 2021. The bay stallion now stands in Uruguay at Haras Cuatro Pietras.

I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley) won the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, then was sidelined and eventually retired. Not long thereafter, he was sold to a group of breeders from Japan and exported to enter stud there. In 2019, I’ll Have Another was sold to American interests and was returned to the States for the 2019 breeding season and stands at Ocean Breeze Ranch in California for $10,000 live foal.

The 2011 Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux), began his stallion career in Australia, although he found his greatest successes in America with the Derby and then the UAE at the Dubai World Cup. But the big chestnut with the slashing stride attracted the interest of Aussie breeders, who shared him with the Northern Hemisphere, where he stood at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington. In late 2019, Animal Kingdom was sold to the Japan Bloodstock Breeders Association and began breeding mares at their Shizunai Stallion Station in 2020.

Super Saver (Maria’s Mon) won the 2010 Kentucky Derby for owner-breeder WinStar Farm, and the bay entered stud there in 2011.

In all, Super Saver sired 28 stakes winners and 31 stakes-placed runners. His best offspring included champion Runhappy (Breeders’ Cup Sprint), Letruska (Apple Blossom Handicap twice), Embellish the Lace (Alabama Stakes), Happy Saver (Jockey Club Gold Cup), and Competitive Edge (Hopeful Stakes). The Jockey Club of Turkey purchased the horse in 2019 and stands him at their stud near Istanbul for a fee of approximately $13,000.

The winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby was a smallish bay gelding named Mine That Bird (Birdstone). Although he could not have a breeding career, Mine That Bird has had a varied and productive life. He has been the Derby winner in residence at the Kentucky Derby Museum and now is a pony horse guiding young racehorses around the track at HV Ranch in Texas.

Big Brown (Boundary) won the 2008 Kentucky Derby, as well as the Preakness, and off those victories, the colt was acquired for stud by Three Chimneys Farm in a very expensive stallion deal. Big Brown entered stud there in 2009 for $65,000 live foal and was moved to stand in New York in 2015, the same year that his best son, Dortmund, finished third in the Kentucky Derby behind American Pharoah. The sire of 28 stakes winners stands at Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions for $5,000 live foal.

Champion at two, when he also won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Street Sense (Street Cry) progressed to win the 2007 Kentucky Derby. Retired to Darley’s stallion operation at Jonabell in 2008, Street Sense has become one of the two most successful sires among living Kentucky Derby winners, along with American Pharoah.

To date, Street Sense has sired 74 stakes winners and 50 stakes-placed runners. Among his best are Maxfield (Breeders’ Futurity, Clark Handicap), McKinzie (Los Alamitos Futurity, Malibu, and Whitney), Sweet Reason (Acorn), Call Back (Las Virgenes), Street Fancy (Starlet), and Wedding Toast (Beldame). Last season, Street Sense had Concert Tour on the classic trail, and this season he has the top 4-year-old Speaker’s Corner, winner of the recent G1 Carter Handicap.

The 2006 Kentucky Derby winner: Barbaro (Dynaformer). Let us not forget what might have been.

In 2005, Giacomo (Holy Bull) managed to win the Kentucky Derby, with subsequent Preakness and Belmont winner and divisional champion Afleet Alex third. The gray entered stud at Adena Springs, but unfortunately, Giacomo did not match his famous sire’s accomplishments at stud. Today, Giacomo stands in Oregon at Oakhurst Thoroughbreds for a fee of $2,500.

The 2004 Kentucky Derby went to the unbeaten Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality), who next won the Preakness and was then upset in the Belmont Stakes by Birdstone (Grindstone), who sired two classic winners: Mine That Bird (Kentucky Derby) and Summer Bird (Belmont).

Smarty Jones was retired after his only loss and spent his first term at stud in Kentucky at Three Chimneys Farm. The medium-sized chestnut was moved to Pennsylvania, then returned to Kentucky to stand at Calumet Farm, while shuttling to Haras la Concordia in Uruguay, and he has most recently returned to Pennsylvania and stands at Equistar Training and Breeding for $3,500.

When Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) won the 2003 Kentucky Derby, he was the first gelding to do so since Clyde Van Dusen (Man o’ War) in 1929. He added a third Grade 1 to his record with the 2004 Jockey Club Gold Cup and retired at age seven with 11 victories and earnings of $3.5 million in 2007. He moved to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2008.

The two other surviving Kentucky Derby winners, Fusaichi Pegasus (Mr. Prospector; 2000 Kentucky Derby) and Silver Charm (Silver Buck; 1997 Kentucky Derby), are pensioned from breeding.

Fusaichi Pegasus had some noteworthy successes at stud, including Grade 1 winners Roman Ruler (Haskell) and Bandini (Blue Grass). He remains a pensioner at Ashford Stud, where he was retired.

Silver Charm sired Preachinatthebar, winner of the 2004 San Felipe, and Miss Isella, a three-time winner at the Grade 2 level. Silver Charm was purchased by the JBBA and stood in Japan for a decade before returning to Old Friends, where he is a fan favorite. With the deaths of Grindstone (1996 Kentucky Derby) and Go for Gin (1994 Kentucky Derby) in March 2022, Silver Charm is the oldest living winner of the race.

Kentucky Derby success is a major accomplishment in the life of a racehorse, but it does not guarantee subsequent greatness. With the intense competition for stallion success, only a minority of such talented athletes as these become stars in their second careers.

patience paid off for sire liam’s map and his star racer, colonel liam

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liam's map, stallion success, Unbridled's Song

At the tail end of his stud career, Unbridled’s Song (by Unbridled) sired two of his very best performers, both multiple Grade 1 winners: Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Liam’s Map and champion Arrogate (Breeders’ Cup Classic, Travers, Pegasus World Cup, and Dubai World Cup).

The challenge thrown down to both those exceptional performers when they went to stud was that, despite their sire’s excellent record of 117 stakes winners and numerous top-class performers, none of his sons had become a top stallion.

The Tetrarch – Unbeaten at 2 and unraced thereafter, this remarkably swift and powerful colt is the source of the gray coat color of Unbridled’s Song, Liam’s Map, and Colonel Liam. The great English jockey Steve Donoghue is shown on The Tetrarch.

Breeders hate to see that. It gives them the feeling that something is going wrong that they can’t quite see.

Nor can breeders ignore horses of such unquenchable talent as Liam’s Map and Arrogate.

A horse of such high speed that he was very reminiscent of his famous sire, Liam’s Map got off to a fast start at stud. In 2019, the stallion’s first-crop racers Basin won the Grade 1 Hopeful and Wicked Whisper won the G1 Frizette.

Neither was able to improve that form in subsequent starts, but they were clearly talented. So was their sire.

Liam’s Map, however, was unraced at two, then was very lightly raced at three, winning three of his four starts, including the Harlan’s Holiday Stakes. The following season, Liam’s Map also won three of four, but his victories included the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Woodward, both Grade 1s. In the G1 Whitney at Saratoga, Liam’s Map ran a brilliant race, leading all the way through swift fractions (:22.79, :46, 1:09.72, 1:34.66, 1:47.82) and getting nailed in the last jump by the immensely talented Honor Code, the last top racer by A.P. Indy.

An $800,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by St. Elias Stables, Liam’s Map had all the right parts in all the right places, but pushing on him did not seem unduly wise to the patient ownership. As a result, the son of Unbridled’s Song was able to grow into his frame and harden his bone to cope with the exceptional speed he possessed.

When the grand-looking gray finished his racing career with six victories in eight starts and earnings of more than $1.3 million when he finished racing for Teresa Viola Racing Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds, Liam’s Map was a serious stallion prospect and entered stud in 2016 at Lane’s End Farm.

Patience paid off.

With the obvious benefits of a racing profile slanted toward maturity, one might have expected that owners would have followed suit with the stallion’s offspring. That pattern is, however, contrary to general human nature and to the desire to strike a vein of gold when one sees it.

Because, do not doubt it, many of the offspring of Liam’s Map have real talent. They are fast and athletic; frequently they will show these traits early.

The stats for the sire, however, indicate that pushing early is perhaps not the best path to follow. The stats indicate that there is a considerable rate of attrition for striking too early with these talented youngsters.

The gold star for patient handling among the Liam’s Map stock goes to Colonel Liam, who won his third Grade 1 in the Pegasus Turf at Gulfstream on Jan. 29. Bred in Kentucky by Phillips Racing Partnership, Colonel Liam was unraced at two; then won three of five at three, including the Tropical Park Derby; won three of four last year at four, including the G1 Pegasus Turf at Gulfstream and the Turf Classic at Churchill. The horse’s second Pegasus Turf was his 2022 debut.

From a tremendous and historic female family nurtured at Darby Dan Farm, where Colonel Liam was bred and raised, the gray horse is the first stakes winner out of the Bernardini mare Amazement, a daughter of two-time Grade 1 winner Wonder Again (Silver Hawk).

Wonder Again was one of two top-class performers out of the Danzig mare Ameriflora. The other was Wonder Again’s full brother Grass Wonder, who won nine of 14 starts in Japan, where he was the champion 2-year-old colt and earned nearly $6 million.

Third dam Ameriflora was a full sister to Grade 1 winner Tribulation, and this is a family that goes even farther back in the history of Darby Dan.

Daniel Galbreath purchased the seventh dam, the fleet racemare Skylarking (Mirza), from the Aly Khan and imported her to Kentucky, where she has had a lasting effect on the breed.

Colonel Liam is the latest of these, and he started his public exposure quietly enough, selling for $50,000 to Waves Bloodstock at the 2018 Keeneland September sale. Brought to sale the following spring at the OBS April auction of juveniles in training, Colonel Liam worked a quarter-mile in :20 4/5, and Robert and Lawana Low paid $1.2 million to bring home the gray from the Wavertree consignment.

To date, Colonel Liam has earned $1.8 million and is shining a light on the benefits of patient handling for racing stock from this line.

stallion success is the most demanding challenge for horses, owners, breeders

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blame, stallion success

In the great scheme of sport, becoming a stakes winner is a huge accomplishment, with only about three percent of the breed attaining that level of racing success. Only a fraction of one percent wins a graded or group race.

And from that tiny fraction, made even smaller by the virtual requirement of a G1 victory, comes the subset of colts who enter stud and breed on the next generation. For example, of the 18 stallions who covered their first book of mares in Kentucky in 2021 and stood for a fee of $10,000 or more, every one was a Grade 1 winner, and some of the half-dozen new covering sires priced below that fee were, as well.

Yet from that supremely elite group, how many can reasonably be expected to succeed?

Very few. Even with excellent racing records, good to exceptional pedigrees, good to excellent conformation, and very good books of mares to share their genetic potential, perhaps only a third of the entering crop will be in demand a decade later.

Claiborne Farm’s and Adele Dilschneider’s homebred and -raced champion Blame is one of the exceptions who has weathered the trials of the marketplace to achieve stallion success in the past decade. (Claiborne Farm photo)

From a review of the stallions who entered stud 10 years ago in 2011, only five were at stud in Kentucky for a fee of $10,000 or higher (actually, the least expensive of these is Lookin at Lucky at $20,000). The five are leading sire Quality Road ($150,000), Munnings ($40,000), champion Blame ($30,000), Kantharos ($30,000), and champion Lookin at Lucky ($20,000).

From the numbers above, roughly two-tenths of a percent (1.8) of an annual foal crop of 10,000 colts would get a spot at stud in Kentucky, and maybe a third of those will continue to be sufficiently in demand to retain a spot at stud in the Bluegrass at a significant fee.

That is a steep hill to climb.

Among the stakes winners over the weekend, however, two showed up with close relationships to stallions who did not make the grade in Kentucky.

Winner of the Searching Stakes at Pimlico, Blame Debbie is by the aforementioned Blame, one of the success stories among the entering sire crop of 2011. By the good sire Arch, Blame was the champion older horse of 2010, when he won the G1 Whitney, Stephen Foster, and Breeders’ Cup Classic. He is the sire of 31 stakes winners, including classic winner Senga and the additional G1 winners Nadal (Arkansas Derby) and Marley’s Freedom (Ballerina). In addition to last weekend’s stakes win, Blame Debbie won the G3 Dowager at Keeneland last year.

The broodmare sire of Blame Debbie, however, is Horse of the Year Invasor (Candy Stripes), and he is a horse who did not achieve the level of stallion success required to stay in Kentucky. An Argentine-bred who was unbeaten in Uruguay, then purchased by Shadwell and raced internationally, Invasor won 11 of his 12 starts, earning $7.8 million.

In addition, Invasor is by the broodmare sire of the highly regarded stallion Candy Ride (Ride the Rails), and from an elite Argentine family. Yet, even with a very good pedigree and an exceptional racing record both domestically and abroad, Invasor was unable to reproduce his own excellence in his foals and was returned to South America to stand at Haras Cuatro Piedras in Uruguay.

A similar instance to the 2006 Horse of the Year came with the 1997 Horse of the Year Favorite Trick (by Phone Trick), who entered stud in 1999 at Walmac.

A fast and early-maturing horse, Favorite Trick was unbeaten at two, when he won all eight of his starts, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and was elected Horse of the Year. He did not train on at that level of success at three and was retired to stud at four.

Overall, the dark brown horse failed to have the consistent success so important to maintain a permanent residence in Kentucky, and he was sent to stand at stud in Florida, then in New Mexico, where he died in 2006.

Even so, Favorite Trick is the sire of the second dam of Informative (Bodemeister), who won the G3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth on June 12. That second dam is the unraced So Spirited, a half-sister to the G1 winners Roman Ruler (Fusaichi Pegasus) and El Corredor (Mr. Greeley), and their dam, the Silver Deputy mare Silvery Swan, was one of the very best mares that Favorite Trick covered in his stallion career.

Silvery Swan produced three graded stakes winners, a fourth racer who was G1-placed, and a pair of daughters who have produced stakes horses. So Spirited didn’t produce any, but her winning daughter Lucky Black (Hard Spun) is the dam of Informative. The colt’s sire is G1 winner Bodemeister, who has 22 stakes winners from 848 foals of racing age, and he has been sold and exported to stand at Karacabey Stud in Turkey.

The economics of breeding racehorses and standing stallions makes the market intensely dynamic, as this synopsis has indicated, and yet horses by stallions that have been deemed no longer up to standard for the premium market in Kentucky still have viability and the potential to produce quality racers.

a.p. indy’s tapestry of stakes winners creates a lasting pattern

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a.p. indy, lane's end farm, Seattle Slew, stallion success

While doing some work in a stall at Lane’s End Farm, the new groom thought he heard a deep rumble coming from a nearby stall. After the third occurrence, he stuck his head out, looked up and down the broad aisle.

A fellow stallion groom was sweeping an errant piece of straw back into a stall, and the new guy asked, “Did you hear anything?”

“Like what?”

“Like that,” as another rumble came down their way.

“Oh, he’s just reading the race results from the weekend,” said the experienced groom.

“Who’s reading, and what’s so funny?”

“The big horse is having a good time with his reading material this morning…”

“What you mean reading. Horses don’t read.”

The experienced groom sighed, “That’s A.P. Indy down there, and if he takes a notion to fly, you better start wearing a muck bucket on your head.”

What’s more, A.P. Indy had plenty to chuckle about after this weekend’s racing.

On Nov. 28 at Aqueduct, A.P. Indy’s grandson Tapit solidified his lead as the top sire in the country with the victories of Tonalist (Belmont Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup) in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile and of the unbeaten Mohaymen (Nashua Stakes) in the G2 Remsen. Then in Florida, Tapit’s juvenile son Rafting won the Smooth Air Stakes at Gulfstream West (nee Calder).

A.P. Indy grandson Sky Mesa sired a first-time stakes winner, the 2-year-old Family Meeting, in the G3 Jimmy Durante Stakes at Del Mar.

Sons Malibu Moon, Bernardini, and Mineshaft also had graded stakes winners. At Churchill Downs on the 28^th, Malibu Moon’s daughter Carina Mia was a four and a quarter length winner of the G2 Golden Rod. The same afternoon at Aqueduct, Bernardini’s daughter Lewis Bay came home a winner in the G2 Demoiselle Stakes. Those victories were the initial stakes and graded stakes successes for those promising young athletes.

Not so with Mineshaft’s contribution to the roll of success for the A.P. Indy crowd. Established performer Effinex won the G1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and he defeated last year’s winner of the Clark, Hoppertunity, by three-quarters of a length.

And finally (small drum roll here, please), A.P. Indy himself sired the winner of the G2 Hawthorne Gold Cup on Nov. 28.

That 4-year-old colt is named Commissioner, and he is perhaps best remembered for a heroic front-running effort in the 2014 Belmont Stakes, going down in the shadow of the wire to Tonalist. A notably good prospect as he progressed toward the classics last season, Commissioner went out a good winner and will enter stud next season at WinStar Farm for $7,500 live foal.

Commissioner is one of two colts from A.P. Indy’s last crop who will enter stud in 2016. The more heralded of the pair is Honor Code, a striking near-black animal who won the Metropolitan Handicap and Whitney Stakes this season. A colt who has drawn plenty of attention since the start of his racing career, Honor Code will enter stud alongside his greatly honored and pensioned sire at Lane’s End. That farm also stands Horse of the Year Mineshaft.

Spendthrift has Malibu Moon; Darley has Bernardini; Three Chimneys has Sky Mesa; and Gainesway has Tapit. So these and other important sons and grandsons are well-dispersed among the leading stallion farms in the Bluegrass.

Commissioner makes three sons of A.P. Indy for WinStar, which also stands leading freshman sire Congrats and G1 Florida Derby winner Take Charge Indy. The latter will have his first yearlings in 2016 and has bred 296 mares in his first two seasons at stud.

The popularity of Congrats and Take Charge Indy with breeders should have a positive effect on Commissioner, who comes from a female family known for quickness and good looks.

The colt’s first three dams are all stakes winners, and Commissioner’s dam, the Touch Gold mare Flaming Heart, has produced two stakes winners. Commissioner earned nearly $1 million, and his stakes-winning half-brother Laugh Track (by Distorted Humor), earned $598,014 and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

This family contributes its share of quality and strong physical appeal, and Commissioner shows their influence, plus the trademark A.P. Indy look: great length of rein, deep shoulder, width and length through the body, plus a good hip. The A.P. Indys tend to look like classic horses, with plenty of leg, and the best of them have plenty of speed to go with their stamina.

A.P. Indy and his sire, Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, pulled the Bold Ruler – Nasrullah line back to the peak of importance as a source of classic prospects, and the classic influence of these horses is a tale with stories just waiting to unfold.

breeders keep circling back to curlin

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curlin, exaggerator, john downes, joseph murphy, saratoga special, stallion success

Curlin is a like a great chestnut shark: basking in the sun, looking good, taking it easy, nothing to worry about here. Then, bang! He gets you.

The two-time Horse of the Year got his latest graded stakes winner Aug. 16 when 2-year-old Exaggerator swept from last to first in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special to win by three-quarters of a length from the favored Saratoga Mischief (by Into Mischief) in 1:16.39 for 6 1/2 furlongs.

Bred in Kentucky by Joseph B. Murphy, Exaggerator is out of the stakes-placed Dawn Raid (Vindication). The Saratoga Special winner’s dam is one of four black-type offspring from Embur Sunshine (Bold Ruckus), and Dawn Raid is a half-sister to Canadian champion Embur’s Song (Unbridled’s Song).

Dawn Raid was third in the restricted Fanfreluche Stakes at Woodbine, and her dam was second in the Candy Éclair and Blue Sparkler Stakes at Monmouth, third in the Polite Lady Handicap at Woodbine. Embur Sunshine’s dam was Vevila, an English-bred daughter of The Minstrel (Northern Dancer) and a half-sister to Canadian champion Eternal Search (Northern Answer) and four other stakes horses.

Bred in Ontario by Josham Farms Ltd., Dawn Raid sold to W.S. Farish Jr. at the Keeneland September sale in 2006 for $70,000 and gained her stakes placing in the colors of a Woodford Racing LLC partnership. Consigned to the 2008 Keeneland November sale by Lane’s End, agent, Dawn Raid sold for $50,000 to Murphy, who raced her once unsuccessfully and retired her to breed for 2009.

Murphy said that “we thought there was some value in Dawn Raid as a racing and broodmare prospect, and after the losing race at Turfway, we sent her to Rood & Riddle to evaluate her breathing. They reported back that she was the fastest horse they’d ever seen on a treadmill, and we retired her.”

The mare’s first two foals were winning fillies by Any Given Saturday (Sweet Saturday) and Pioneerof the Nile (Nile Queen), and Exaggerator is Dawn Raid’s third foal.

Murphy said that “for a few years, including 2013, I sent the pregnant mares to John Downes to foal at the property he’s leasing from Overbrook.”

Downes recalled the mare and foal well. He said, “She was a nice mare who produced a good-looking foal. We’ve raised graded stakes winners (not counting Exaggerator) each of the last seasons from our resident boarding mares, which number 15 to 20.

“While the Stoneleigh mares were here,” Downes said, “I was able to arrange a deal for Dawn Raid to go to Curlin, in part because the elder Mr. Murphy was such a fan of the horse. And I had another client wanting to use the stallion, and that made it an attractive deal to breed to him.”

The resulting foal grew up to be a good-looking yearling, and when consigned to the 2014 Keeneland September sale through Warrendale Sales as agent, Exaggerator sold for $110,000 to Big Chief Racing LLC.

Murphy said “the colt had a lot of his mother about him when we were prepping him for the yearling sale. She’s a good-looking, correct, and gentle-natured horse, and he was like that too.”

Dawn Raid has a yearling full sister to Nile Queen; has no foal of 2015, Murphy noted; but is back in foal to Curlin for 2016 on a March 16 cover.

Murphy said “people started calling yesterday after the colt won the race, trying to buy her, and they are really interested, especially when they find out that she’s back in foal to Curlin. My dad doesn’t want to sell her, he’s really into the racing, but we got into this to make money. So I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Whether the mare owners decide to keep or sell, Dawn Raid appears to be the kind of mare who fits well with Curlin, possessing speed and also the ability to race at least a mile.

The breeders’ cycling back to Curlin mimics the pattern that others have followed in using the big chestnut son of Smart Strike. They have used the champion, moved on to other sires, then come back as results have led them to desire more Curlin stock.

From his early returns, Curlin was clearly no sire of juvenile stars along the lines of Storm Cat or Tapit. Not many stallions get a high percentage of top 2-year-old performers, but those who do earn regard in the market for those qualities.

Instead, the champion’s best early racer was 2-year-old winner Palace Malice, who trained on at 3 to improve significantly and become a classic winner in the 2013 Belmont Stakes. Likewise, among the stallion’s stars this season are Curalina (G1 Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks) and Stellar Wind (G1 Santa Anita Oaks and G2 American Oaks). Both improved with maturity and distance.

Now that we have grown accustomed to regarding Curlin as a sire of stock who get better at 3 and who show their form at a mile or more, we have a pair of graded stakes-winning juveniles at Saratoga.

In addition to Exaggerator, on July 24, the Curlin filly Off the Tracks won the G2 Schuylerville Stakes, and she is reportedly training well for the G1 Spinaway.

speightstown showing dominance as a sire because his runners have consistency and quality

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gone west, speightstown, stallion success

It takes little imagination to envision a champion sprinter as a leading sire. Racers of that ilk have speed; that’s a champion sprinter’s calling card and one of the most desirable traits in a sire prospect.

As a champ on the track, Speightstown has the speed and has proven vastly popular with breeders. A top sales yearling and a great-looking horse, Speightstown won 10 of 16 starts and earned more than $1.2million.

The only surprise in a salty race record is that Speightstown won his first stakes at 6, when most top stallion prospects are already at stud. In that championship season, Speightstown won five stakes, including the Churchill Downs, True North, Vanderbilt, and Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Sometimes a nagging afterthought like not winning a stakes till 6 will have a chilling effect on breeders and taint a horse’s opportunities. But not so with Speightstown, who has stood his entire career at WinStar and has been strongly and pragmatically promoted by WinStar and Taylor Made.

Today, Speightstown is a well-established stallion and leading sire who stands for $80,000 live foal in 2015.

Further proof of Speightstown’s standing with breeders and buyers is seen in his offspring at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s March auction of 2-year-olds in training.

The stallion had a dozen youngsters breeze at the March sale previews, and even more impressively, four went in :10 flat, and four more ran a furlong in :10 1/5. Of the remaining four, one ran a furlong in :10 2/5, and three worked quarter-miles. One in :20 4/5 and two in :21 1/5.

That’s the consistency breeders dream of.

Part of the reason for Speightstown’s success is physique and part is genetic. The 17-year-old son of top sire Gone West is out of the Storm Cat mare Silken Cat, and he combines the most prolific male lines of Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer with the unerring broodmare contribution of Secretariat.

As a result, Speightstown is frequently seen with recombinations of these famous lines. In the case of the stallion’s Hip 62, which was one of Speightstown’s four workers who sped the furlong in :10, the dam is Dance Swiftly, a stakes-producing daughter of the Northern Dancer stallion Danzig.

An unraced mare, Dance Swiftly is a full sister to the splendid champion mare Dance Smartly, winner of the Canadian Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Dance Swiftly has produced two stakes winners, Paiota Falls and West Coast Swing, the latter by Speightstown’s sire Gone West.

Dance Swiftly is out of champion Classy ‘N Smart, dam of four stakes winners, also including leading sire Smart Strike (Mr. Prospector), who has several hot prospects in this sale. And this is the sort of family that regularly fill the book of leading sires like Speightstown, which guarantees them the best chances of reproducing success.

Following are the results for the Speightstown 2-year-olds at OBS March earlier this week:

62		10.0	C	Speightstown	Dance Swiftly	Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds LLC, Agent	Live Oak Plantation	500,000
95		out	C	Speightstown	Dream	Niall Brennan Stables, Agent XXXII	Withdrawn	Out
125		out	C	Speightstown	Flawless	Eddie Woods, Agent LIX	Withdrawn	Out
270		21.1	C	Speightstown	Mazucambera	de Meric Sales, Agent II	120,000	Not Sold
417		10.1	F	Speightstown	Sheraton Park	Niall Brennan Stables, Agent IV	320,000	Not Sold
426		21.1	C	Speightstown	Silver Sands	Eddie Woods, Agent LIV	Eddie Kenneally, Agent	140,000	PS
443		10.1	F	Speightstown	Soul Search	Thomas and Casse, Agent for Global Thoroughbreds	Little Red Feather Racing	75,000
466		out	C	Speightstown	Summer Wind Dancer	Niall Brennan Stables, Agent I	Withdrawn	Out
469		out	C	Speightstown	Supposedly	Wavertree Stables, Inc. (Ciaran Dunne), Agent VI	Withdrawn	Out
516		20.4	F	Speightstown	Valarchos Destiny	Woodside Ranch, Agent III	Clark O. Brewster	62,000
518		10.0	F	Speightstown	Vauxhall	Don R. Graham, Agent	Antonio Sano	150,000	PS
520		10.0	C	Speightstown	Via Veneto	Top Line Sales LLC, Agent	240,000	Not Sold

medaglia d’oro stock grower greater in reputation year by year

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darley, el prado, medaglia d'oro, stallion success

If the rich get richer in human affairs, then the best stallions get bester. And few have enjoyed as good a 2015 as leading sire Medaglia d’Oro (by El Prado), who has at least nine stakes winners in the last six weeks.

On Feb. 14, Golden Lad won the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park, defeating classics-placed Ride on Curlin (Curlin), and Swinger’s Party finished third in the Wayward Lass Stakes at Tampa Bay. The next day, Gold Medal Dancer was third in the Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn.

On Feb. 7, Mshawish won the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on the same day that Valid won the G3 Fred Hooper.

That quintet are all 5-year-olds, and durability is one of the excellent traits that Medaglia d’Oro inherited from his sire El Prado, the most important son of Sadler’s Wells on this side of the pond. In addition, Medaglia d’Oro is known for the class and progressive quality of his offspring.

Many are good-sized, like their sire, and whatever their talent at 2, they become almost uniformly better at 3 and tend to continue showing progress with age.

Of Medaglia d’Oro’s nine stakes winners this year, five are 5-year-olds, and a pair each are 4 and 3. Two are Southern Hemisphere performers from the stallion’s matings at Darley’s stud in Australia.

The 2010 crop is especially interesting because they are the first runners conceived after Medaglia d’Oro had proven himself a notable sire with his first crop of runners, which came to the track as juveniles in 2008.

The stallion’s first-crop leader was none other than champion Rachel Alexandra, winner of the Preakness Stakes and Kentucky Oaks in 2009. Other important performers from Medaglia d’Oro’s first crop include G1 winners Warrior’s Reward (Carter), Gabby’s Golden Gal (Acorn), and C.S. Silk (Just a Game).

The second crop included another Acorn Stakes winner, Champagne d’Oro, and the stallion got his second Kentucky Oaks winner, Plum Pretty, from his third crop. Also in Medaglia d’Oro’s third crop was Marketing Mix, who won a pair of G1 races and earned more than $2 million, second only to Rachel Alexandra among the sire’s leading earners.

The stallion’s highest-profile racers initially were fillies, and as frequently happens, there was a lot of talk about Medaglia d’Oro being a “filly sire.” He certainly is in the sense that his fillies are really good. But … so are his colts.

There is now almost exact parity between the sire’s colts and his fillies in terms of stakes winners, and at the sales, the colts average a bit more than the fillies.

The only “problem” is that Medaglia d’Oro hasn’t sired a colt that has proven as much as Rachel Alexandra. Not many other stallions have either.

To date, with seven crops racing that are age 3 or older (none of the 2-year-olds have started), Medaglia d’Oro has 66 stakes winners, 43 stakes-placed runners, and earners of more than $52 million from 859 foals. Those are some of the better stallion stats available in these days of stallion books teetering toward 200 mares. Medaglia d’Oro has had five crops with more than 100 foals from his first seven, with a high of 156 in 2010 (fifth crop) and a low of 83 the preceding year.

Had Rachel Alexandra and her first-crop siblings not come along bright, beautiful, and fast, breeders would have abandoned Medaglia d’Oro like a smelly sock. The stallion hit the brass ring repeatedly, however, and breeders swamped him.

After beginning his stud career at Hill ‘n’ Dale, where Rachel Alexandra and others were conceived, Medaglia d’Oro moved to Stonewall Stud, and in June 2009, Darley bought the majority interest in the stallion and moved him to Jonabell, where he remains when not shuttling to the Southern Hemisphere.

The stallion’s stud fee has risen notably with the success of his runners and today stands at $125,000 live foal, due when the foal stands and nurses. That makes him one of a handful of sires standing for six figures in America, and two factors could launch the stallion into a higher orbit.

One would be to sire a winner of the Kentucky Derby. Yes, it’s only one race, but it is the race, and getting a winner of the great event makes a lot of difference to a stallion at any level.

The other factor that could notably elevate Medaglia d’Oro’s status is getting a son that makes the grade as a sire. Few stallions do so, and when one does, especially with a good-looking early-crop son, the demand ramps up for his other offspring.

Last summer, Medaglia d’Oro had one of the hottest young sires in Spendthrift’s Warrior’s Reward, whose first runners popped out of the gates and won impressively. Warrior’s Reward has 18 winners to date, and if his offspring prove able to stretch out and improve with maturity, he may become a force in the stallion ranks.

Other sons of Medaglia d’Oro at stud include the highly popular Violence, also a G1 winner, and the stakes winner Atreides. Both stand at Hill ‘n’ Dale.

*The preceding post was first published last week at Paulick Report.

danzig and his son hard spun are passing down ‘core’ values

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danzig, hard spun, hardest core, stallion success

Half a lifetime ago, I spent the summer and fall of 1984 watching Danzig’s first crop of racers set their sire on the path of a legendary stallion career. Among that first crop was the year’s champion 2-year-old colt Chief’s Crown, who won four Grade 1 stakes that season, including the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

The overwhelming quality about Danzig’s stock was their consistency and their class. He had winner after winner at the most important tracks against well-meant young prospects, and plenty of them raised their game to earn black type.

As a result, Danzig became a premier sales sire over the subsequent two decades, with his offspring bringing large sums from the leading international buyers, such as the Maktoum family, Juddmonte Farm, the Niarchos family, and Coolmore. Due to these and other major breeders, the impact of the dark bay stallion with the crooked blaze has spread round the world.

Danzig’s son Danehill was the best sire in Australasian racing and breeding, and Green Desert joined Danehill and others to balance the classic strains of Northern Dancer, such as Sadler’s Wells, with the expression of their own set of traits in European pedigrees.

Overall, Danzig has been a powerful influence for speed, and the stallion’s stock have frequently been able to carry their speed at least a mile. On occasion, they also have won major races at classic distances. Danzig Connection won the Belmont Stakes at 12 furlongs, and Chief’s Crown was placed in all three of the 1985 classics: second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, third in the Belmont.

Coming near the end of Danzig’s stallion career, his son Hard Spun was an admirable racehorse who ran a smashing race to finish second in the 2007 Kentucky Derby behind Street Sense (by Street Cry) and in front of Curlin (Smart Strike), who was third. Curlin turned the tables by winning the Preakness narrowly from Street Sense, with Hard Spun third. At year’s end, Curlin claimed the first of his Horse of the Year titles by adding the Breeders’ Cup Classic to his season’s accomplishments. Hard Spun was second in that race and was no worse than the third-best colt of his crop.

Like Street Sense and Any Given Saturday (Distorted Humor) from the same crop, Hard Spun was acquired for stud by Sheikh Maktoum’s Darley operation to stand in Kentucky at Jonabell. In addition to spreading the reach of Darley’s stallion program into Kentucky, Sheikh Maktoum was also working to gain access to Japan as a base for breeding and racing.

After quite a lot of work and negotiation, he succeeded. As part of Darley Japan’s breeding program, they shipped Street Sense to Hokkaido to stand at the head of the stud in 2013. He returned to Kentucky for the 2014 season, and he was replaced by Hard Spun in Japan for a year.

Hard Spun will be standing at Jonabell in Kentucky for 2015, and his book will be well-filled by choice broodmares. The son of Danzig has had a very good year, with the 5-year-old Hard Not to Like winning the G1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland in the spring and 3-year-old Wicked Strong taking home the prize in the G1 Wood Memorial. On Saturday, Hard Spun’s 4-year-old son Hardest Core added a further branch of laurel to his sire’s honors with victory in the G1 Arlington Million.

Three G1 winners from three crops suggest that Hard Spun is a factor for soundness, good bone, and longevity on the track. Those seem to be qualities frequently found among the sire’s produce and that he possessed himself.

Hard Spun is a big, powerfully made animal. He stands a bit over 16.2 hands and even now gives the impression of being a leggy horse. In his own makeup, as well as in his offspring, Hard Spun can pass on quite a bit of his grandsire, 1986 champion older horse Turkoman (Alydar).

That is not a given, however, as Hard Spun’s offspring run from the elegant and refined to the big and rugged. Hardest Core is toward the latter end of the scale and shows plenty of the Turkoman influence. He was a big and progressive sort who attracted good interest at the sales but didn’t get sold immediately.

Bred by Mueller Farms in Kentucky, Hardest Core went through the yearling sales ring three times before finding a new owner. He was an RNA at $70,000 in the Keeneland January sale, then an RNA again for $60,000 at Keeneland September, before finally closing the deal for $87,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s October yearling sale. The colt was so big and strong by this time that his qualities attracted the winning bid from Adena Springs, which raced him through his 3-year-old season before selling him at the Keeneland November sale as a racing prospect.

Hardest Core showed no form as a young horse, got to the races at 3, when he won a maiden at Saratoga and an allowance at Belmont convincingly enough that Adena sold the colt for $210,000 to Gregory Bentley, and Hardest Core has proven to be worth every dime.

He is unbeaten this year at 4 in three starts, and the gelding has ascended the class ladder precipitously with an allowance victory, followed by a three-length success in the Henlopen Stakes at Delaware, and now a G1 at Arlington.

Hardest Core will not be carrying on the Danzig line, however, because he was gelded after purchase by the Bentley Stable, but he offers the promise of continuing sport on the course and appears to have the potential for further improvement.

*The preceding post was first published earlier this week at Paulick Report.

a.p. indy, hear him roar

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a.p. indy, lane's end farm, Seattle Slew, stallion success

The old lion in the bush gave another growl over the weekend. Champion racehorse and leading sire A.P. Indy had two graded stakes winners with Majestic River winning the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth and Antipathy winning the G3 Shuvee at Saratoga.

Few stallions get weekend doubles with graded winners. So it is a measure of the grand old stallion’s importance and success that he has had them regularly throughout his career. Now the sire of 156 stakes winners (13 percent from foals), A.P. Indy has sired a greater number of G1 winners than most stallions get as simple stakes winners.

And it’s no easy task for a stallion to sire stakes winners.

Stakes winners have to be the best on the day against a group of good horses; graded stakes winners have to be even better. That is so because if we take into consideration all the things that can go wrong in bringing a horse to its best, a sire’s crop has to be a deep well of talent to consistently produce stock that can perform in stakes competition.

With most sires, the variation in type and aptitude is too great to furnish the consistently superior horse. But like all really great sires, A.P. Indy has all the parts.

An exceptional yearling who sold for $2.9 million to lead the Keeneland July sale in 1990, A.P. Indy became a G1 winner as a 2-year-old, then expanded on that success. He matured well as a 3-year-old, when a minor foot issue prevented him from taking a chance in the Kentucky Derby. But the growthy bay came back five weeks later to win the Belmont Stakes and become a classic winner.

Closing his career with a sharp victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, A.P. Indy was elected champion of his division and Horse of the Year for 1992. With eight victories from 11 starts, A.P. Indy earned $2,979,815.

With his looks, race record, and pedigree (by Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew out of a stakes-winning mare by Triple Crown winner Secretariat), A.P. Indy got a major chance at stud, and he made every inning a winner.

The stallion’s graded winners last weekend are 4-year-old fillies from their sire’s next-to-last crop, and A.P. Indy’s last crop of racers is 3 and contains more promising athletes.

At the beginning of 2014, I thought the old lion had another big roar or two in him. Honor Code had won the G2 Remsen and run second in the G1 Champagne as a juvenile, and he appeared the perfect type of A.P. Indy who could come along and improve out of sight as the distances lengthened and his maturity came to the fore.

Unfortunately, that has not worked out yet for Honor Code. Instead, the dark bay colt was sidelined early in the year and missed the entire Triple Crown. Co-owned by Lane’s End Racing and Dell Ridge Farm, “Honor Code went back to Shug McGaughey two weeks ago” after recuperating at WinStar’s facility near Lexington, Will Farish said.

“The colt appears to be 100 percent,” Farish noted, “but we’re going to let him tell us when he’s ready. Honor Code gets fit quickly, but we’re in no hurry. We are looking forward to his 4-year-old season, which should be worth the wait, like with many good A.P. Indys.”

So, there is positive news about Honor Code, who has been the leader from his sire’s final crop, and then there is A.P. Indy’s later-maturing son Commissioner, who was clearly progressing early in the year. Then he ran a blinder in the Belmont Stakes, leading most of the way and being caught at the wire by Tonalist.

Both of these colts are important prospects, both for racing and for stud. In addition to A.P. Indy’s contributions to sport, he has also been a steady source of classic quality, plus speed, that the breed has needed.

The depth of A.P. Indy’s influence is seen in the high regard that is accorded his sons and daughters. Pulpit, from his sire’s first crop, was the first important stallion son of A.P. Indy, but others have followed, including leading sire Malibu Moon, Mineshaft, Bernardini, Congrats, and Flatter.

As might be expected from a list of sires like that, a good number of young sons of A.P. Indy are still coming along with high hopes to make the grade as stallions. Among these are Astrology (third in the Preakness, standing at Taylor Made), Eye of the Leopard (Queen’s Plate, Canadian champion; Calumet), Girolamo (Vosburgh; Darley), and Take Charge Indy (Florida Derby; WinStar).

In addition to these unproven horses, other farms like Lane’s End, Claiborne, Ashford, Spendthrift, and Gainesway all stand successful sons or grandsons of A.P. Indy. The leading sire in the country right now is A.P. Indy’s grandson Tapit, who has spent his entire career at Gainesway and who is having a memorable season with Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable, and numerous other major performers.

So the line goes on, and A.P. Indy watches. His eyes are filled with a luminescence that suggests wisdom and depth. He is the lion in winter.

The preceding post was first published earlier this week at Paulick Report.