If anyone ever was to doubt that the quality of a stallion's book makes a significant difference to his success, just take a look at the results for Cross Traffic (by Unbridled's Song) over the past few years.
From his first crop, the winner of the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes (also second in the G1 Metropolitan Handicap) sired the champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk, winner in four of her five starts at two in 2018, including the G1 Frizette Stakes and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
In all, Cross Traffic had six stakes winners from his first crop, then three from his second. Back in April, the stallion logged his first stakes winner from the third crop when Here Mi Song won the G3 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland. As a 5-year-old.
There are no stakes winners yet from the stallion's fourth crop, and the much lesser representation of stakes winners is no coincidence. The third and fourth crops are the hardest for any stallion manager to fill with quality mares. A shocking proportion of breeders won't use an unproven stallion after his first season.
Period.
They move on to the next crop of retiring stallion prospects and choose one from that group. The reason that essentially no commercial breeder wants a stallion, especially in his third and fourth seasons at stud, is that no one wants to breed a yearling who will come to market once the verdict is in on a new stallion's success at the racetrack.
The bifurcation of the demand for stallions is “first crop or proven,” and it is unforgiving. This situation is self-made by breeders and stallion managers and is the result of practices that have been the norm with popular stallions for nigh on 30 years now: essentially bottomless books for the most popular stallions and an overemphasis on “stallion power.” The result is a flash verdict on stallions when their first foals and yearlings come to auction, resulting in further, mostly negative, pressure on using them in their later seasons.
With the immense crops now produced by stallions, sometimes more than 100 yearlings come through auctions for the whole world to inspect and appraise. Then they go racing with a fleet of prospects, and the verdict comes swiftly and without appeal. It is mostly “no” because the great majority of stallion prospects do not go on to be important stallions.
That's the situation for all entering stallions. That's what Cross Traffic encountered, and to his credit, he became the leading freshman sire of 2018 and is the only son of Unbridled's Song to lead a national sire list.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.When mares came to be booked for 2019, few sires were as popular as Cross Traffic, and his stud fee rose precipitously. Although his second crop did well, there was no second champion. But the foals resulting from those better mares of 2019, resulting in the stallion's crop of 2020, are leaving no doubt that Cross Traffic is a good stallion.
The sire's second G1 winner came in April at Keeneland when Defining Purpose won the Ashland Stakes. The bay filly was then unplaced in the Kentucky Oaks after an eventful trip but returned on July 8 to win the G3 Indiana Oaks by a length and a quarter from Black-Eyed Susan Stakes winner Taxed (Collected).
On the same day, Maple Leaf Mel won the G3 Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont Park, and they are two of four stakes winners to date from Cross Traffic's 2020 crop. All four are fillies, and that may or may not have a bearing on the stallion's capacity to sire a high-quality racer.
One thing is certainly important. Quality in the dam is important. Three of Cross Traffic's 3-year-old stakes winners are out of black-type mares, and the fourth is out of a winner. Here Mi Song is out of a stakes winner, too.
What of Jaywalk? Her dam, the Orientate mare Lady Pewitt, was unplaced in a single start. Even so, Lady Pewitt brought plenty of the right stuff to the mating. She is the dam of two stakes winners, and “other” stakes winner Danzatrice (Dunkirk), is the dam of Tapit Trice, winner of the G1 Blue Grass Stakes and third in the 2023 Belmont Stakes.
Quality in the dam. There's nothing like it.
The post Bloodlines: Cross Traffic And Quality In The Dam appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
