Record-Setting International Sire More Than Ready Dies

More Than Ready (Southern Halo–Woodman's Girl, by Woodman), whose 216 worldwide stakes winners is the fourth highest total of all time, was euthanized the morning of Aug. 26 at WinStar Farm due to the cumulative effects of old age. He was 25 years old.

More Than Ready was an amazing horse who touched everyone he came in contact with,” said Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar Farm. “He may not have been the biggest horse in the barn, but he more than made up for it in class, balance, and character. His expressions said it all. We will greatly miss him at the farm.”

Larry McGinnis, longtime stallion manager at WinStar Farm, said of the legend's passing, “To me, he was more than a great stallion, he was a great friend. It was an honor to take care of such a remarkable horse. I will miss him.”

Bred in Kentucky by Woodlynn Farm Inc., More Than Ready was purchased by Edward Rosen, agent for owner Jim Scatuorchio, for $187,000 at the 1998 Keeneland September sale and won his first five starts for trainer Todd Pletcher, including the GIII Tremont S. and GII Sanford S. before tasting defeat for the first time when stretched to a mile in the GI Champagne S. Dead-heat winner of the GII Hutcheson S. in his sophomore debut, More Than Ready was second in the GII Louisiana Derby and was beaten a head when runner-up in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. ahead of a meritorious fourth to Fusaichi Pegasus in the GI Kentucky Derby. Focusing on one-turn races for the balance of the season, More Than Ready earned Grade I laurels in Saratoga's King's Bishop S. and was second to stablemate Trippi (End Sweep) in the GI Vosburgh S. He retired to Vinery Kentucky for the 2001 breeding season with seven wins from 17 starts and earnings of $1,026,229, and was one of several Vinery stallions that moved to WinStar upon the closure of that nursery.

 

 

 

A Dual-Hemisphere Sensation…

A stallion blessed with tremendous fertility, More Than Ready is the sire of an eye-popping and record-setting 2118 winners to date (72.4% winners to starters), making him the world's most prolific sire of individual winners. With a victory in the GII Wonder Again S. in June 2022, Klaravich Stables' Consumer Spending provided the stallion with his 100th worldwide winner at the group/graded level and the victory occurred on the same Belmont program where Morethanreadyeddie–named in honor of the aforementioned Rosen–won his maiden at first asking over five furlongs. Of his black-type winners (only Galileo {Ire}, Danehill and Sadler's Wells have more), some 26 have struck at the top level in seven racing jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and South Africa. The sire of 17 winners and three stakes winners from his first American crop in 2004, More Than Ready was an instant hit in Australia, where he shuttled to Vinery Stud to serve mares Southern Hemisphere time. To date, he has sired 971 winners in the U.S. and Canada and 905 in Australia and New Zealand. His progeny earnings are in excess of $219 million.

With Australasia's emphasis on speed and precocity, his foals hit the ground running, with six black-type winners among his 17 first-crop winners overall, including G1 Champagne S. heroine Carry On Cutie (Aus). His early Australian crops also featured Benicio (Aus), winner of the 2006 G1 Victoria Derby; Sebring (Aus) and Phelan Ready (Aus), victorious in the prestigious G1 Golden Slipper S. in 2008 and 2009, respectively; G1 Blue Diamond S. hero Samaready (Aus); and G1 Western Australian Derby victress Dreamaway (Aus). More Than Ready has also proven especially potent with Danehill-line mares, resulting in the likes of Group 1 winners More Joyous (Aus), Prized Icon (Aus) and More Than Sacred (Aus) in addition to Benicio (Aus), Sebring (Aus), Perfectly Ready (Aus) and Dreamaway (Aus). More Than Ready's other Southern Hemisphere Group 1 winners include Gimmethegreenlight (Aus) and Entisaar (Aus) in South Africa; and More Than Sacred in New Zealand. His progeny were brilliant enough in the early parts of their careers to score in races like the G1 Golden Slipper and G1 Blue Diamond S., but were equally effective at trips of 2000 meters and beyond in Australian fixtures such as the Queen Elizabeth S., and he accounted for Derby winners in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. In total, More Than Ready has sired Group 1/Grade I winners in seven countries.

Trainer Todd Pletcher and More Than Ready | Horsephotos

The top-level winners were a bit slower to come at home, but Buster's Ready became More Than Ready's first American Grade I winner in the 2011 Mother Goose S. Verrazano, raced in partnership by Kevin Scatuorchio's Let's Go Stable, became his sire's first male GISW in the 2013 Wood Memorial S. and Daredevil–also raced by Let's Go in partnership–his first Grade I-winning juvenile in the 2014 Champagne S. More Than Ready's son Catholic Boy holds the rare distinction of winning Grade Is on two surfaces–the GI Belmont Derby on turf and the GI Travers S. on the dirt. Catholic Boy is one of four sons of More Than Ready at stud in Kentucky (Copper Bullet, Daredevil, Funtastic), while Verrazano has gone on to become a productive stallion in South America.

More Than Ready is the leading sire of Breeders' Cup winners to date with seven and accounted for multiple Breeders' Cup winners on two separate occasions. He was represented by the winners of the Breeders' Cup juvenile turf events in 2010 (Pluck, More Than Real), while champion Roy H won the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint in 2017 and 2018. 'TDN Rising Star' and future Eclipse Award winner Rushing Fall posted the first of her six career Grade Is in the 2017 GI Juvenile Fillies' Turf. Uni (GB)–another maternal granddaughter of Danehill–beat the boys in the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Mile. More Than Ready has been represented by 13 champions around the world. Among More Than Ready's 16 offspring that earned the 'Rising Star' distinction is the versatile Emmanuel, third in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and front-running winner of his turf debut in the GII Pennine Ridge S. at Belmont this past June. More Than Ready is the only sire to have an Eclipse Award Champion each year from 2017 to 2020.

A Broodmare Sire of Note…

More Than Ready is the broodmare sire of fully 135 stakes winners, 61 group or graded winners and 15 at the top level, including GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf hero Structor (Palace Malice), top Australian sprinter Bivouac (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), the rags-to-riches Group 1-winning juvenile filly Miracles of Life (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) and Hong Kong champion Wellington (Aus). Other U.S. graded winners from More Than Ready mares include Kauai Katie (Malibu Moon), Breeders' Cup winner Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) and 'TDN Rising Star' and leading turf distaffer Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), whose dam Mary's Follies is also responsible for Japan's top dirt galloper Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah) and Night Prowler (Giant's Causeway), a dual graded winner in the U.S. whose success extended to Barbados and that island nation's richest event, the Barbados Gold Cup.

Rosen Remembers 'Life-Changing' Horse…

Eddie Rosen has been involved with any number of successful horses over the course of his bloodstock career, but it's safe to say none left the impression the same way More Than Ready did.

“Most people are aware of all the amazing statistics he compiled as the greatest dual-hemisphere sire in history, his versatility in the ability to sire dirt, turf, long and sprint winners,” he reflected. “Sometimes forgotten is what a great 2-year-old he was, reeling off the first five starts of his career in spectacular fashion. My family and I will always cherish the wonderful memories sharing his career with the Scatuorchio family. For me, he was life-changing. During Derby week this year, I was able to visit with him and give him one last peppermint. I will miss him dearly!”

 

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Classic Win Emphasises Lear Fan’s Broodmare Sire Legacy

Juddmonte homebred Westover (GB)'s seven-length thumping of the G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby field last month was the second consecutive Irish Derby victory by a son of Frankel (GB) after Hurricane Lane (Ire) in 2021, but his achievement was also a timely reminder of the potency of his late broodmare sire Lear Fan. Born in 1981, the dark bay has also featured as the broodmare sire of another prominent Sadler's Wells-line runner, the two-time U.S. Champion Sire Kitten's Joy (El Prado {Ire}), who died at Hill 'n' Dale Farm at Xalapa in Kentucky on July 15, but more on that Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebred later.

A son of Derby winner Roberto (Hail to Reason), Lear Fan, trained by Guy Harwood for Ahmed Salman, went three-for-three as a juvenile, his campaign culminating with a victory in Doncaster's G2 Champagne S. Making his 3-year-old bow in the G3 Craven S., the colt had future Arc victor and sire Rainbow Quest (Blushing Groom {Fr}) back in second. He emulated his sire with a placing in the G1 2000 Guineas in the wake of the high-class runner and future star sire El Gran Senor (Northern Dancer).

Sent to France in search of a top-flight victory, Lear Fan trotted up in the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois and was then second in the G1 Prix du Moulin. Although he participated in the first edition of the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Hollywood Park, Lear Fan did not land a blow and was duly retired after a brief but brilliant eight-start career to Gainesway Farm in Kentucky, where he lived out the rest of his years as a stallion.

Despite not founding a mainstream male line, Lear Fan did well in the breeding shed with an above-average percentage of black-type winners, leaving 68 stakes winners (7%) and 32 graded/group winners from 914 foals. Among his 12 Grade/Group 1 winners were eight champions headed by 2008 Hong Kong Horse of the Year Good Ba Ba, a three-time winner of the G1 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile from 2007-2009 and earner of over $7.4 million. Other standouts included Italian champion and seven-time Group 1 winner Sikeston, as well as the four-time Grade/Group 1 winner Ryafan, successful at the highest level in both France (Prix Marcel Boussac) and thrice in the States, who was named the Eclipse Champion Grass Mare in 1997.

However, it is through his daughters that Lear Fan, the sixth of 13 foals out of Wac, a daughter of noted broodmare sire Lt. Stevens out of a daughter of an even more significant broodmare sire in War Admiral, is maintaining his presence in pedigrees. Bred by Preston Madden, Wac was a full-sister to the stakes-placed Bel Sheba, herself the dam of dirt router par excellence and 1988 U.S. Horse of the Year Alysheba (Alydar), who won the 1987 Kentucky Derby and Preakness S., as well an additional seven Grade I races, including the 1988 Breeders' Cup Classic.

 

Inking His Legacy

Pensioned after the 2004 breeding season, four years prior to his death, Lear Fan's grandchildren began arriving in 1991, and it did not take him long to make his mark as a broodmare sire. The first inkling of his eventual 85 stakes-winning grandchildren came with the win of Tzar Rodney (Fr) (Assert {Ire}) in the 2100-metre Listed Prix Maurice Caillault at Saint-Cloud in March of 1995. The son of the winning Laquifan then became the first of 35 group winners for Lear Fan as broodmare sire with a win in the G3 Prix La Force later in the season.

The G1 Haydock Park Sprint Cup second by Danetime (Ire) (Danehill  in September 1997 was another notable milestone for his grandsire. Subsequently placed in the G1 July Cup too, Danetime was given a place at stud and served mares in both hemispheres before his death in Western Australia in 2005. The bay's progeny includes three Group 1 winners among his 30 stakes winners.

 

Just Desserts

Grade I winners that produce Grade I winners are few and far between, and those that repeat that feat are in another stratosphere entirely, but the 1996 Canadian champion Windsharp, who raced for Ahmed Salman's The Thoroughbred Corp., was one such quality filly. From Lear Fan's 1991 crop, she punctuated her career with top-level scores in the GI San Luis Rey S. and the GI Beverly Hills H. in the mid-90s, and even stretched her stamina when second, by only a length, in the 1 3/4-mile GI San Juan Capistrano Invitational H.

At stud, she provided Lear Fan with his first two top-level winners as a broodmare sire in the form of the 2002 GI Hollywood Derby hero Johar (Gone West) and the Storm Cat filly Dessert, who won the GI Del Mar Oaks in August of 2003. Both were also Thoroughbred Corp. homebreds. Johar would go on to pad his reputation with a dead-heat victory that November–with High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) –in a memorable edition of the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. Offered at Keeneland, Windsharp later brought an eye-watering $6.1 million from John Ferguson to join the Darley broodmare band after her childrens' accomplishments that November.

Over one quarter of Lear Fan's 11 Grade/Group 1 winners earned that badge in 2003, with Volga (Ire) (Caerleon) following in the wake of Dessert with a victory of her own in the E.P. Taylor S. at Woodbine that autumn. Lear Fan's annus mirabilis ended on a high note with Vallee Enchantee (Ire) (Peintre Celebre) taking out the G1 Hong Kong Vase at year's end.

 

'Mour' Heights To Scale

The best runner out of a Lear Fan mare in Europe was undoubtedly the impeccably bred Aga Khan homebred Azamour (Ire) (Night Shift), a son of the Irish listed heroine Asmara. The John Oxx-trained winner of the 2004 G1 St James's Palace S. and G1 Irish Champion S. was also Classic-placed in both the 2000 Guineas and Irish equivalent earlier that year. Kept in training at four, he secured the G1 Princes Of Wales's S., the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond S., and ran third in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Lone Star Park in Texas.

At stud, he left 43 black-type winners (including five Group 1 winners), but sadly died at the relatively young age of 13. The 2015 G1 Irish Oaks heroine Covert Love (Ire), who was also successful in the G1 Prix de l'Opera, was the best of his progeny, which included the G1 Prix de Diane victrix Valyra (GB). However, his best male flagbearer was the gelded Best Of Days (GB), who struck in the G1 Cantala S. In Australia.

Johar, too, was given a place at stud, and came up with 16 stakes winners (10 at group level), with GI Breeders' Futurity S. winner Joha on dirt and New Zealand Group 1 winner Guiseppina (NZ) the two stars. Besides the latter, the admirable filly Keertana won a quintet of graded races and was third in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2010.

 

Kitten's First, The Rest Nowhere

Initially not the most distinguished daughter of Lear Fan to grace the paddocks, Kitten's First made just $17,000 as a 1992 Keeneland September Yearling and was selected by Sarah Ramsey for $41,000 out of the OBS Spring Sale one year later as her first horse. The future blue hen achieved a debut win in a seven-furlong turf maiden special weight at Belmont Park in July of 1993 and was pulled up in her only other start, Monmouth's Junior Champion S., later that summer.

However, her true merits were revealed at stud, and she hit pay dirt with her very first foal–the dual stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed Justenuffheart (Broad Brush). As it stands, that branch of the Kitten's First family now features no fewer than 11 black-type horses out of Kitten's First's firstborn, anchored by 2006 Eclipse Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Dreaming Of Anna (Rahy), who won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Kitten's First visited El Prado (Ire) in 2000, and the resulting foal, Kitten's Joy, has guaranteed Lear Fan's influence well into the 21st century. A $95,000 RNA out of the 2003 OBS April Sale and named in honour of the late Sarah Ramsey, the blaze-faced chestnut was destined to become a dual Grade I winner in 2004 with victories in the Secretariat S. and Turf Classic for trainer Dale Romans. Although he was second in the Breeders' Cup Turf, his earlier efforts granted him a championship at year's end as the Eclipse Champion Turf Male. He returned the next year with a victory in the GII Firecracker Breeders' Cup H. and ended his career with an unlucky runner-up performance in the GI Arlington Million a few months later.

Predominantly a miler by trade, although he did win beyond that in the Firecracker and turned in several noteworthy efforts in defeat at longer distances, Kitten's Joy achieved sire success beyond the wildest dreams of most breeders, with two American sire titles (2013 and 2018) and took every U.S. Champion Turf Sire crown from 2013-2018. Currently sitting at 111 stakes winners (53 graded/group winners), the late chestnut, who stood at Ramsey Farm until he was moved to Hill 'n' Dale in 2018, has also accrued 15 Grade/Group 1 winners.

Three of his offspring won Grade I races on the same day–Aug. 17, 2013–Big Blue Kitten in the Sword Dancer Invitational S. in New York and both Real Solution and Admiral Kitten stamped their names on historic Chicago fixtures–the Arlington Million and Secretariat S., respectively. His European stars were Group 1 winners Hawkbill, the late Cartier Horse of the Year Roaring Lion, and 2000 Guineas victor Kameko, while GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Bobby's Kitten also won at listed level in Ireland. All four went to stud, though Roaring Lion's tenure was sadly short-lived. He died of colic after siring just one crop in Europe.

(For a more in depth look at the exploits of Kitten's Joy by Lucas Marquardt, please click here.)

The legacy of Kitten's First continued with her Catienus filly of 2003, Precious Kitten. Although a championship title evaded her, she did strike several times at the highest level in the 2007 John C. Mabee H. and Matriarch S., before adding her final Grade I in the Gamely S. at Hollywood Park in the spring of 2008.

As a broodmare, she has produced Grade III winner and sire Divining Rod (Tapit), who was second in the GI Cigar Mile H. and earned a Classic placing when third in the GI Preakness S.

 

Late To The 'Pizza' Party

Lear Fan's grandchildren continued to make an impact on the world stage after his death in 2008. Mutual Trust (GB) (Cacique {Ire}), out of the stakes winner Posteritas, claimed the 2011 G1 Prix Jean Prat, while Camilin Camilon (Per) (Unbridels King), a son of the winning Lear Dancer, struck in Peru's G1 Derby Nacional in 2013.

English Channel's The Pizza Man was the final top-flight victor for his broodmare sire prior to Westover, with a win in the 2015 Arlington Million. The immensely popular gelding, out of the multiple stakes-placed mare I Can Fan Fan, became a dual top-level scorer with a narrow tally in the Northern Dancer Turf S. the following year.

 

Go West My Son

The Juddmonte breeding programme is renowned near and far, and Westover's first three dams are all products of the storied operation. His 20-year-old dam, Mirabilis, gained black-type as a juvenile with a second in the G3 Prix Miesque, before improving to take the Listed Prix d'Angerville at three. Two more group-placings followed, among them the all-important Group 1 with a third in the Prix de la Foret. Sent Stateside, she captured the GIII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile S. as a 4-year-old and was also third in the GII Jenny Wiley S. and GII Buena Vista H.

A consistent producer, Mirabilis had three winners from three runners prior to foaling Monarchs Glen (GB). By European champion sire Frankel, the full-brother to the Irish Derby hero took the G3 Club S. Also, a stakes winner on American shores just like his dam, Monarchs Glen was placed in the GIII Mint Million at Kentucky Downs. Westover, who was also third in the Derby at Epsom, is the 10th foal from Mirabilis and is followed by the Expert Eye (GB) juvenile filly Japala (GB), who has yet to race.

The Ralph Beckett-trained Classic winner wasn't the only new stakes winner for his grandsire recently either, with Nick Papagiorgio (Outflanker) running out a half-length victor of Laurel Park's Find S. in Maryland on June 19.

With his youngest broodmare daughters now 17, most of the chapters on Lear Fan's immediate influence as a broodmare sire have been written, but Westover's victory illuminated once again what a conduit for class the Gainesway stallion yet embodies in pedigrees. That point could be illustrated even more poignantly on Saturday, with Westover entered in the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. If he completes the Irish Derby/King George double, he would be the first 3-year-old colt to do so since Alamshar (Ire) (Key Of Luck) in 2003.

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Japanese Horse of the Year Jungle Pocket Dead at 23

Japanese Horse of the Year Jungle Pocket (Jpn) (Tony Bin {Ire}-Dance Charmer, by Nureyev) passed away at Breeders' Stallion Station in Japan, Tokyo-Sports reported on Tuesday. The grandson of GII Del Mar Debutante S. heroine Skillful Joy (Nodouble) was 23.

Bred by Northern Farm and campaigned by Katsumi Yoshida, the May foal won two of three starts at two including the Sapporo Sansai S. in September of 2000 before a second-place finish in the Radio Tampa Hai Sansai S. Back in the winner's circle in the Kyodo News Service Hai, he was third in the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) before rebounding to take the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) in May of 2001. Only third in the Sapporo Kinen that August and fourth in the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) that October, he claimed his Group 1 in the Japan Cup by a neck over T.M. Opera O (Jpn) (Opera House {GB}) that November. He was named Japanese Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old of 2001.

Shelved until March of his 4-year-old year, Jungle Pocket ran second in the G2 Hanshin Daishoten and filled the same spot in the Tenno Sho (Spring) in April. His final two runs were off-the-board finishes at Nakayama in the G1 Japan Cup and G1 Arima Kinen. The Katsumi Yoshida colourbearer was retired to stand at Shadai Stallion Station with a mark of 13-5-3-2 and $5,788,198 in earnings.

Besides standing at Shadai in the Northern Hemisphere, he moved to the Breeders' Stallion Station in 2013 and also shuttled to Rich Hill Stud in New Zealand for a few seasons. He sired 29 black-type winners, 16 of them at the group level. Among his best progeny were Group 1 winners Tosen Jordan (Jpn), Aventura (Jpn), Queen Spumante (Jpn), Jaguar Mail (Jpn) and Jungle Rocket (NZ). As a broodmare sire, Jungle Pocket's daughters have foaled 10 black-type winners, six at the group level. Although he does not have a Group 1 winner in that sphere yet, Group 2 winner Mikki Swallow (Jpn) (Tosen Homareboshi {Jpn}) ran third in the G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) and fellow Group 2 winner Solveig (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) was third in the G1 Sprinters S.

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