Keeping a roster replenished with fresh faces is a must in today's commercial Thoroughbred marketplace. Buyers at auction have shown they'll flock to them in the sales ring, and breeders have taken note with their mating choices.
Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions in Stillwater N.Y., understood that market edict and stocked its stud barn accordingly, with a pair of stallions seeing their first foals born in 2022: Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee and Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner King for a Day.
Both stallions received a solid base of broodmare support from breeders in 2021, and now that they're in the midst of their second seasons at stud, stallion manager Bill Leak said they each have solid foundations to compete for spots among New York's top sires in the years to come.
“I've always felt there's been room for the right horse in this state all the way through,” he said. “They've both been received very well in the state, and we think they'll have the opportunity to do it, because we do think they are the right horses.”
King for a Day, a 6-year-old son of Uncle Mo, covered 73 mares in his debut season, which was the fifth-most among New York stallions in 2021, and third-highest among first-year stallions.
He is best known for chasing down eventual champion 3-year-old male Maximum Security in the listed Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park, following a victory in the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico. He also added a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, retiring with three wins in seven starts for $260,550.
“You don't get any hotter than Uncle Mo right now, with him having three of the four top freshman sires in 2020,” Leak said. “King for a Day is the typical Uncle Mo: a lot of leg, stands very tall, and he stands downhill. He looks like he's ready to go forward constantly, even when he's standing still. He looks like he's ready to go, and that's just how he's built, even though his frame is very balanced. He just looks like speed. All the positives of Uncle Mo are in King for a Day.”
A homebred for the Brunetti family's Red Oak Stable, King for a Day is out of the French Deputy mare Ubetwereven, whose other runners of note include stakes winners Ima Jersey Girl and Feel That Fire. The latter is the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Mind Control.
Rick Burke, owner of Irish Hill Century Farm, said the horse's connections approached the farm about standing King for a Day in New York.
“They felt he was a better fit here than trying to go to Kentucky,” Burke said. “They thought there was enough Uncle Mo sons out there with Nyquist, Outwork, and Laoban, they didn't want to try to start another one at the same time. They thought it was a better fit to come to New York.”
Lookin At Lee, an 8-year-old by Lookin At Lucky, saw 22 reported mares in his debut season, which ranked him 13th among the state's most active stallions.
“He's more of a classic-looking horse,” Leak said. “He's got the classic angles, the classic lines, very well balanced, not too leggy, not too short, good, long back. It all fits perfectly for the classic distance.”
Lookin At Lee was competitive against the top 3-year-olds of the 2017 racing season. In addition to finishing second to Always Dreaming in that year's Kentucky Derby (G1), he also registered in-the-money efforts in the G1 Arkansas Derby, and the G3 West Virginia Derby and G1 Southwest Stakes. He also missed picking up black type in that year's Preakness Stakes by a half-length, finishing fourth.
At two, Lookin At Lee won the Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes and was second in the G1 Breeders' Futurity and G3 Iroquois Stakes. He retired with four wins in 35 starts and earnings of $1,343,188.
“If he'd won the Derby, he wouldn't be here,” Burke said. “I would say breaking from the one-hole against all those horses, to come in second was a phenomenal ride. That's why he's here. He just didn't win one of those big races.”
Unlike King for a Day, Burke said he reached out to owner L and N Racing to pitch them about standing Lookin At Lee in New York.
“When I'd heard he was retiring to stud and his owners didn't think he would be as well received in Kentucky as a regional market, I called them and they agreed New York was the place to go, with the purse structure and the breeders' awards,” he said. “The nice thing with these two stallions is the owners race horses in New York, so they want to be in New York, running at Saratoga and Belmont, so that does help in attracting stallions.”
Lookin At Lee is out of the Grade 3-placed stakes-winning Langfuhr mare Langara Lass, whose produce record also includes multiple Grade 3 winner Blended Citizen and Grade 1-placed stakes winner Battlefield Angel, who is also a stakes-producing mare.
“Every mare that we got to our stallions last year felt like a win,” Leak said. “We had to fight hard for every mare, and we're thankful that we got them, and I thought they both performed very well.”
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