It's been done before, getting a top racer in a stallion's miniscule last crop. So don't say it can't happen. But it is always a trick to sire a classic winner, at any point in a stud career.
In America, only the legendary Black Toney (by Peter Pan) has managed to sire a classic winner in a tiny final crop of foals, so far. In 1937, from his final crop of three foals, the 26-year-old Black Toney got a colt from an 11-year-old mare by the name of La Troienne (Teddy).
The dark brown colt was no average foal, nor from average parents. Instead, he was a grand specimen by one of the most consistent sires of racers out of a mare who ranks even today as one of the greatest in the history of the breed.
A bit was expected of this muscular colt whom E.R. Bradley named Bimelech, and the colt delivered. Unbeaten at two, his superiority over his contemporaries in 1939 was so exceptional that Bimelech was placed atop the Experimental Free Handicap at 130 pounds.
The following season, Bimelech won the 1940 Preakness and Belmont Stakes, the Blue Grass and the Derby Trial. In the Kentucky Derby itself, however, he finished second to Gallahadion (Sir Gallahad III). Even the best hands sometimes fail to catch every trick.
This year, we have a story that's just as good, or very nearly.
From the last crop of European champion and top international sire Giant's Causeway came three colts. The chestnut champion had died at Ashford Stud on April 16, 2018, and his overall health had limited his final book.
One couldn't expect a lot from just three foals, but the intensity and determination that marked the great chestnut's racing career was passed to some of his offspring, and from that small final crop has come a colt who is now a classic contender.
A chestnut reminiscent of his sire, Classic Causeway won the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay on Feb. 12, leading all the way and pulling away in the stretch to win by 3 3/4 lengths in 1:42.80.
With Classic Causeway, grand old Giant's Causeway (Storm Cat) is in the hunt for the classics with a colt whose speed and stamina have made him a prospect of exceptional appeal since his debut at Saratoga last year.
Bred in Kentucky by Kentucky West Racing LLC & Clarke M. Cooper Family Living Trust, Classic Causeway went into training with Brian Lynch, who prepared the progressive colt to make his debut on Sept. 4, and as the second-longest price on the odds board, Classic Causeway led at every pole to win by 6 1/2 lengths in 1:22.67 for seven furlongs on dirt.
The colt's maiden victory was impressive enough that he was sent off the favorite for his next start, the G1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland. Again leading the way, Classic Causeway was caught in the stretch by the Connect colt Rattle N Roll and finished third. The son of Giant's Causeway made his final start at two in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in late November. Again sent off the favorite, Classic Causeway finished second to Smile Happy (Runhappy), the shortest price among individual horses in the early Kentucky Derby wagering, and ahead of White Abarrio (Race Day), who won the G3 Holy Bull Stakes last weekend.
The Sam Davis was the seasonal debut for Classic Causeway, and as the favorite, he battled head and head for more than half the race as he led early, was headed at the half-mile, and pulled away in the stretch. This colt is now the early points leader (16) for the Kentucky Derby.
A homebred who races for Kentucky West (Patrick O'Keefe) and Clarke Cooper, Classic Causeway is out of the multiple stakes winner Private World, by Thunder Gulch. The colt's dam won a pair of stakes as a juvenile for breeder Kentucky West and trainer Bob Hess Jr., the Anoakia and Moccasin Stakes, then was second in the California Breeders' Cup Oaks early at three from two starts in her second season.
The dam appeared to stay at least a mile, and there's no doubt that her sire stayed much farther. A winner of the Remsen Stakes at two, Thunder Gulch developed into a mighty classic prospect the next year, winning the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby before crushing the odds to win the Kentucky Derby at more than 24-to-1. Later, the medium-sized chestnut won the Belmont Stakes and Travers, then was named champion of his division.
A winner of two classics and champion at three like Bimelech, Thunder Gulch stood his entire stud career at Ashford and sired Horse of the Year Point Given and 2000 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Spain, unlike Bimelech, who never had a racer equal to himself.
Retired to stud at Bradley's Idle Hour Farm, now Darby Dan, Bimelech moved to Greentree when that operation, along with King Ranch and Ogden Phipps, purchased the majority of Bradley's stock. Bimelech proved a good sire, siring 30 stakes winners, including Guillotine (Futurity at two, Carter at three, Fall Highweight at four) for Greentree, and getting broodmares who produced 50 stakes winners, including No Robbery (Swaps), winner of the 1963 Wood Memorial for Greentree.
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