Adrian Wallace | Horse Racing Free Tips

Breeders’ Cup Champions Draw a Crowd at Ashford Stud

There has been no shortage of traffic flooding through the lofty gates of Ashford Stud as breeders are eager to set their eyes on the stud farm's four newcomers for 2023.

Among the quartet, two of the new additions hold Breeders' Cup titles, and breeders have fervently responded to that prized piece of resume. While turf sprinting superstar Golden Pal (Uncle Mo – Lady Shipman, by Midshipman) boasts the rare distinction of taking home two Breeders' Cup trophies, his new studmate Corniche (Quality Road – Wasted Tears, by Najran) justified his 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy debut last fall when he claimed the 2021 GI TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

According to Coolmore's Adrian Wallace, Golden Pal in particular has seen demand almost unlike what the Coolmore team has ever seen before as the son of Uncle Mo joins his sire at Ashford.

“Golden Pal is getting inquiries from every type of breeder around,” Wallace said. “He's getting a really good book of mares behind him with graded stakes winners and graded stakes producers. He's going to be one of the most popular horses that we've ever stood. He really is electrifying–both on the racetrack and in breeders' minds.”

Wesley Ward, who trained Golden Pal to graded stakes wins at two through four, has shown no hesitation in describing the champion as “the fastest of the fast.”

“Wesley Ward leaves you under no impression that he was the best horse he's every trained–the fastest horse he's ever trained– and Wesley has trained some pretty good horses,” Wallace said. “I think Golden Pal holds a very special place not only in Wesley Ward's heart, but in his breeder Randy Lowe's heart and in Coolmore's heart.”

After running second in the G2 Norfolk S. at Ascot as a juvenile, Golden Pal broke his maiden in the Skidmore S. at Saratoga and from there, remained nearly undefeated on American soil throughout his three-year career. The 2020 GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, 2021 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, and back-to-back wins in the GII Woodford S. at Keeneland are a few highlights from his list of seven graded stakes victories.

Golden Pal's dam Lady Shipman earned close to $1 million and ran second in the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. While her son followed the successful racemare's lead as a turf sprinting specialist, Wallace said he believes Golden Pal will emulate his sire in producing versatile offspring.

“The great thing about Uncle Mo is that you've got the options of dirt and turf,” he explained. “To me, Golden Pal doesn't really look like a sprinter. I think he was fast because he was brilliant. I think the horse could have been very effective over a mile and on both surfaces. That's the great thing about Uncle Mo is that [his progeny] are so versatile. They get going early at two and they get better as they get older, and they also seem to work both here and in Europe.”

Golden Pal and 2022 GI Belmont S. hero Mo Donegal are both sons of Uncle Mo joining the Kentucky stallion ranks next year.

Corniche | Sarah Andrew

Ashford's other Breeders' Cup-winning addition Corniche has been well-received by breeders for many of the same reasons as Golden Pal.

“I think everyone wants speed and horses like Corniche and Golden Pal offer that,” Wallace said. “That's the greatest selling point for any stallion. They're the ones that will get you to the races early and hopefully get you to the racetrack on the big stage.”

Corniche displayed his brilliance well before he made it to the starting gate when he breezed in :10 flat at the 2021 OBS Spring Sale and then sold for $1.5 million to Speedway Stables. He earned 'Rising Star' honors in his debut for Bob Baffert and then remained undefeated in the GI American Pharoah S. and GI TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

“I don't think we'll ever forget the display that Corniche put on in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile,” Wallace said. “He was favored going into the race, but people were asking if he would be able to overcome the wide draw. He left us under no illusion of who the best horse was that day as he romped to a juvenile championship.”

After sustaining a career-ending injury at three, Corniche retired to Ashford, where his book is now filling quickly as breeders see the talented chestnut up close.

“When you look at Corniche, you think Quality Road and you think speed,” Wallace said. “He's very much like his sire in that he's got the same sort of physique and structure to him. He's a balanced horse with a good hip and shoulder on him. He's a good mover and is very easy to be around.”

Bred by Bart Evans and Stonehaven Steadings, Corniche is out of six-time graded stakes winner Wasted Tears.

Both Corniche and Golden Pal will stand for a fee of $30,000 in their debut seasons at Ashford Stud.

Click here for previous video features on the incoming class of new stallions and watch for future editions from the series in the coming weeks.

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Coolmore’s Adrian Wallace Talks 2022 Stallion Roster On Writers’ Room

One day after Coolmore released its star-studded Ashford Stud stallion roster and fees for the 2022 breeding season, Coolmore's nomination sales head Adrian Wallace joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Wallace talked about his upbringing in the Irish racing and breeding world, the surging Munnings and Caravaggio and early returns on Triple Crown winner Justify.

Asked about Munnings, whose stud fee has jumped all the way from $40,000 to $85,000 in recent years, Wallace said, “He's a very interesting horse because if you study how his stallion career has evolved, he's really, really done it the hard way. He was a high-priced juvenile at $1.7 million, a three-time Grade II winner, Grade I placed, he obviously had the speed and the precocity, but he retired without winning the all-important Grade I. We introduced him at a fee of $12,500 and while he was always popular, he was covering workmanlike, middle of the range mares. The thing that he seems to transmit that helped him through that sort of lull in his early books is [he produces] very durable horses. It's amazing how many four, five, six, seven, 8-year-olds he has that are still running. I think when you've got horses in your stable, as a trainer, as an owner, that are constantly earning a check at whatever level you're at, it leaves a good taste in your mouth. It's very important in keeping him relevant and popular in owners, buyers and breeders' minds. And now he's at a stage where he's receiving very good support from some of the best breeders in the world. The best is yet to come with him and I think is a horse we'll eventually stand for $100,000 having done it the hard way.”

New to Ashford this year was Caravaggio, who has gotten off to a rip-roaring start in Europe and currently boasts 21 winners. Wallace discussed the decision to bring the gray son of Scat Daddy, originally bred in America, back to the States.

“He was a horse that we wanted to have back here pretty much from the moment we heard he was going to retire,” he said. “So we begged to have him and luckily, we got him in his fourth year. I think when you look at him, he's very much an American type of horse. He's very well built. He's very broad across his chest. He's got a great forearm, a great gaskin on him. He looks fast. He looked like he should have been a dirt horse rather than a turf sprinter. Certainly he's off to a flying start in Europe and he bred 170 mares here in his first book of mares. He was very popular. American breeders like him physically, so I think he's a horse with a lot to offer.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers picked the winner of their “Name the Colt” contest sponsored by Lane's End and Honor Code, broke down the implications of the Breeders' Cup decision on Bob Baffert, reacted to some troubling news out of Delaware Park and more. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Mo Town on Track to Become Uncle Mo’s Next Sire Prodigy

When 2020 came to a close, Ashford Stud's GISW Mo Town (Uncle Mo – Grazie Mille, by Bernardini) sat in prime position to see his best book yet as his first crop became yearlings and he began his third year at stud. Sons of Uncle Mo were at the forefront of breeders' minds as esteemed young stallions Nyquist and Laoban finished one-two in the freshman sire standings and were both represented by Grade I winners, while another Uncle Mo prodigy in Outwork ended up a close fourth on the same list.

“Obviously what Uncle Mo has done not only as a sire, but now as a sire of sire, has certainly helped the momentum behind a horse like Mo Town,” said Coolmore's Adrian Wallace. “Certainly with what Laoban, Nyquist and Outwork have done, we're starting to realize now that Uncle Mo is very much on the way to creating a sire line all of his own.”

While all three of the aforementioned young sires saw either an increase in stud fee or held the same fee in 2021, Mo Town's stud fee decreased from $10,000 to $7,500 and breeders jumped at the chance to get in on the easily-accessible value into the Uncle Mo sire line.

“Certainly we're seeing the benefit of that in his third year as he covered more mares this year than he ever covered before,” Wallace said of Mo Town, who saw 144 and 108 mares in his first two books. “This year, he got over 200 mares. I think that shows you how well his foals have been received and how good his yearlings look, but also how well Uncle Mo is doing himself as a sire of sires.”

A $200,000 Keeneland September purchase, Mo Town broke his maiden at second asking by seven lengths at Belmont before taking the 2016 GII Remsen S. He returned to the winner's circle at three in an allowance on the turf at Belmont and then again tried the grass to claim the GI Hollywood Derby over eventual Eclipse Champion Channel Maker (English Channel).

“Mo Town was a very good racehorse on both surfaces and he was precocious,” Wallace noted. “He managed to do what we all want them to do in being successful on dirt at two and then to go on and win a Grade I at three is very important as well.”

The dual graded stakes winner is out of the winning Bernardini mare Grazie Mille, who herself is a daughter of GIIISW and GISP Molto Vita (Carson City) and is a half-sister to two stakes winners. Wallace said that physically, Mo Town is an equal representation of both sides of his pedigree.

“While Mo Town does look quite like Uncle Mo in some respects, I think there's a lot of Bernardini in him,” Wallace explained. “He's got much more of a short back and he has a great hip and shoulder. He has all the qualities you would want in Bernardini, who obviously was a great sire in his own right but a great broodmare sire as well, and then he has the strength and scope of Uncle Mo.”

Wallace said that Mo Town's first few crops have trended strongly towards the look of their sire.

“We're seeing a lot of him in them,” he said. “Uncle Mo certainly stamps his stock and Mo Town does as well. They're very balanced, scopey-looking horses. They've got a lot of quality. He's getting the good hip and shoulder and the lovely top line. His action is another thing that's going to sell them.”

Hip 2242, a colt out of Closing Move, sells with Gainesway. | Ray Gladwell

Last year, 22 of 31 Mo Town weanlings sold to average $41,318. His top weanling, a son of the winning Broken Vow mare Mybrokenhome, went to Davant Latham for $185,000 at the Keeneland November Sale. That colt returned to the auction ring a few weeks ago at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale and brought $300,000.

Earlier this summer at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale, another son of Mo Town sold for $100,000 off the stallion's $12,500 initial stud fee. The colt out of All Day Donna (Value Plus) went to Brick City Thoroughbreds.

Mo Town will be well-represented at the Keeneland September Sale, which begins Monday, Sept. 13, with over 40 yearlings cataloged.

Wallace said that one Keeneland-bound yearling that he has heard high praise for already is Hip 2242. The March-foaled colt is out of Closing Move (Bernardini), who hails from the family of GIISW Stanford (Malibu Moon) and successful Coolmore sires Tale of the Cat and Johannesburg. The youngster was purchased as a weanling for $75,000 by Stella Stables at the Keeneland November Sale and is slated to return to the same ring with the Gainesway consignment.

“[Gainesway's] Brian Graves told me that he is one to keep an eye on,” Wallace said. “He said the colt has progressed very, very well.”

Wallace explained that he believes Mo Town's progeny will appeal to a wide array of buyers on the Keeneland grounds due in large part to Uncle Mo's recent insurgence of talented performers on turf with the likes of this summer's GII Del Mar Mile S. winner Mo Forza, another son of Uncle Mo to have captured the GI Hollywood Derby at three, as well as last year's GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint champion Golden Pal.

“The great thing about Uncle Mo is that he was perceived very much as a dirt horse himself, but I think we're now starting to see the versatility of the Uncle Mo line,” Wallace said. “It should come as no surprise because if you go further back in the sire line he has two French Classic winners in Siberian Express and Caro (Ire). It's something that is very important because it opens you up to so many more buyers at a yearling sale.”

“Mo Town yearlings will appeal to buyers in that we know Uncle Mo is becoming, in a very short period of time, a sought-after sire of sires,” Wallace said. “Uncle Mo's first three proper stallions have done very, very well. They've got the precocity and they've shown that they can get it done, so now it's up to Mo Town.”

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Justify Yearlings Primed for the Saratoga Spotlight

The energy seems to be building by the hour now that the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale yearlings are in place as buyers sift through the barns surrounding the famed Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. There's much to look forward to in this 100^th edition of the auction, including a sample of the highly-anticipated first crop of yearlings from Triple Crown champion Justify (Scat Daddy – Stage Magic, by Ghostzapper).

With 10 sons and daughters of Justify currently slated to go through the sales ring, these youngsters represent the first book of mares the undefeated champion filled during his introductory year at Ashford Stud. The son of Scat Daddy bred 474 mares in his first two seasons with a $150,000 stud fee.

“The quality of mares that Justify has covered has been second to none,” Coolmore's Adrian Wallace said. “He covered over 70 Grade I winners or producers in his first book and the quality really hasn't changed in the subsequent two books. He's a horse that was obviously brilliant on the racetrack and he's been brilliant at stud as well. We're now getting ready to see that as the sales start. These pedigrees are replete with quality, which is what you'd expect for a horse of Justify's caliber.”

The hulking chestnut was an easy sell for breeders in his first years at stud, not only because of his accomplishments on the track but also for his eye-catching physical.

“He's a very big, imposing horse,” Wallace said. “He was a $500,000 Keeneland September graduate, so obviously a very good-looking horse. He's very correct, a good mover who stands over a lot of ground, and has a great shoulder and hip. He's very American in the way he looks. He's one of those horses that when you see him, he's captivating.”

Campaigned by China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners LLC, Starlight Racing and WinStar Farm, Justify took over the 3-year-old division by storm in 2018. From a nine and a half-length, 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy debut victory to a triumph over dual GISW Bolt d'Oro in the GI Santa Anita Derby to securing his place in the record books with his Triple Crown win, Justify retired after his Horse of the Year campaign with a perfect six-for-six record.

“The thing about Justify was that everything he did was with ease,” Wallace explained. “He was an efficient, fluid mover with a huge turn of foot. He had the stamina to last the one and a half miles of the GI Belmont S., but also a horse that was good just over a mile. He had the speed, the stamina and the quality. He had every single attribute you would hope to have and he's a great embodiment of what Scat Daddy was.”

A member of the second-to-last crop of Scat Daddy, Justify was one of four sons of the brilliant Coolmore sire in the field for the 2018 GI Kentucky Derby and is now one of five sons representing Coolmore at stud both in America and Ireland.

“One of the things I'll always remember is when we were looking at this crop of Scat Daddy that included Mendelssohn and Justify, [Coolmore's] Paul Shanahan said to us that we were only just now beginning to realize how much of a loss Scat Daddy was to us,” Wallace recalled. “The horses in those final two crops were amazing athletes, as that was when he was only just starting to get his really good mares.”

As Wallace has overseen the early development of Justify's first crop, he said he has noticed similar trends with the yearlings from the Triple Crown hero and his sire.

“I won't say that Scat Daddy didn't stamp his horses, but it's a trait of the Scat Daddy line that they're all different,” Wallace said. “We stand three sons of Scat Daddy here and all three are exceptionally different in every way. Justify is 17 hands, stands over an enormous amount of ground and is a big, athletic son. Mendelssohn is more medium-sized, a very good mover and very correct. Then Caravaggio is 15.3 ½ and is much more of a sprinter type. They're all very athletic, good-looking horses, but I don't think you'll find one particular type.”

Justify filly out of Easter Lily (Ire) sells as Hip 83 with Eaton Sales.

The same, he noted, can be said of Justify's yearlings, although there are some consistencies he has noticed.

“A lot of Justify's yearlings are quite different, although they tend to be a very good size, are easy movers and are generally correct. There's no real type yet and that may also stem from the fact that he was tried with a lot of European-line mares. He was bred to American-line mares, but also a lot of daughters of Galileo.”

Two Justify yearlings out of mares by the late Galileo will be offered at the Fasig-Tipton Select Sale.

Hip 10 is a son of the successful Aidan O'Brien-trained Together (Ire), winner of the 2011 GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. The mare is responsible for two stakes-placed horses, as well as an Uncle Mo filly named Thrilling who broke her maiden at Santa Anita in May this year. The colt will be consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales.

Hip 83, an Irish-bred filly consigned by Eaton Sales, is the first foal out of stakes-winning mare Easter Lily (Ire), a full-sister to another regally-bred stakes winner Circling (Ire).

“This filly is one-of-a-kind at Saratoga,” said Eaton's Reiley McDonald. “She's a big, strong, beautiful filly with a lot of leg, great scope and a good hip, shoulder and length of back. She looks like a two-turn horse and has all the ingredients that made her father so great.”

McDonald spoke on the rare pedigree the filly has to offer.

“This filly provides American breeders a really unique opportunity to have a daughter of an American sire out of a Galileo mare,” he explained. “We don't get these kind of European families very often in America and that makes this filly really special. I think more American breeders need to capitalize on the Galileo mares. He provides stamina, toughness and heart and to introduce that into our American pedigrees is going to be a really great thing going forward.”

McDonald said he has found a consistency in the Justify yearlings he has worked with thus far.

Justify colt out of Grade I winner and producer Appealing Zophie sells as Hip 41.

“The one thing that I find with all the Justify yearlings is their size and scope,” he said. “They also have the great walk and big shoulder their father has and will really be a great Classic-type horse for American racing.”

Another Justify yearling with a high-profile pedigree at Saratoga is Hip 41, a colt out of Grade I winner and producer Appealing Zophie (Successful Appeal). The half-brother to three stakes winners, including GI Belmont S. winner and first-crop yearling sire Tapwrit, is also consigned by Eaton Sales.

“He's a horse that should be very, very popular at the sales,” Wallace said. “He stands over a lot of ground, is a very good mover and is very athletic. If you look at him move, he really does fill the eye and he's got a great presence about him.”

Justify's Saratoga contingent also includes the second foal from Breeders' Cup champion Bar of Gold (Medaglia d'Oro), as well as a half-sister to 2013 GI Kentucky Oaks victress Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior). View his full Fasig-Tipton Saratoga roster here.

At the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale, a filly out of SP Southern Charmer (Dixie Union) will sell as Hip 571.

At last year's weanling sales, Justify topped his class by average, with 10 of 17 progeny selling to average $394,563. His top lot in the U.S., a half-brother to SW Supreme Aura (Candy Ride {Arg}), brought $600,000 at the Keeneland November Sale.

With first yearlings this year, Justify's colt out of GISW Zipessa (City Zip) brought $1.8 million to Kaneko Makoto Holdings from Shadai Farms at the Japan Racing Horse Association Select Sale. His only yearling at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale, a filly out of GISW Emma's Encore (Congrats), sold for $210,000.

“The market is judging them very well,” Wallace said. “He has a very strong group of yearlings going to Saratoga and I think they are very indicative of the horse's quality and the type of mares he bred. Hopefully we'll see some fireworks in the next few weeks.”

For more editions of our 2021 First-Crop Yearling Sire series, click here.

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