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Dubawi At Twenty

Strip away the brass name plates, parade the Darley stallions in front of seasoned horsemen and ask them to pick the horse who last year sired three Breeders' Cup victors among 38 stakes winners and was the broodmare sire of the Derby winner. Of those who haven't seen him before, it is unlikely that many would choose Dubawi (Ire).

Unlike his sire, the brilliant but ill-fated Dubai Millennium (GB), he is not a horse who 'fills the eye' with those long classic lines and fluent stride. On the short side and fairly close-coupled, with a habit of growing a coat as thick as a native pony in midwinter, Dubawi is not your archetypal elegant Thoroughbred. But those same seasoned horsemen will doubtless have seen enough in their time to know that when it comes to racing and breeding, handsome is as handsome does. And Dubawi does it all.

That started on the racecourse. An unbeaten juvenile who became his sire's first stakes winner in the G3 Superlative S. and went on to land the G1 National S., Dubawi then graduated to his Classic season with a warm-up fifth in the 2000 Guineas before winning the Irish equivalent. The Derby distance proved too much for him, but he was not disgraced when third to Motivator (GB) and Walk In The Park (Ire). Dubawi then emulated his sire by winning the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois, and signed off by finishing second to Starcraft (NZ) in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S.

Since then, he has spent all bar one of the Northern Hemisphere seasons at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, while he also made three visits to Darley Australia in the early years of his second career. As his 20th birthday approaches on Feb. 7, Dubawi is rightly revered as an outstanding stallion, a burgeoning sire of sires and broodmare sire, and the main conduit of the Mr Prospector line in Europe, making him a more-than-useful mate for mares from the dominant Northern Dancer lines. For four years, he was accompanied on the Darley roster by another son of Dubai Millennium, the €1.2 million yearling purchase Echo Of Light (GB), who died in 2012.

“With one of his two stallion sons, the great Dubai Millennium has delivered for us, and that means everything,” says Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions.

“Now we want sons of Dubawi to be successful. Night of Thunder has got off to such an incredible start, and Time Test, Zarak and others doing so well is testimony to the horse. We are very fortunate that we've got horses like Ghaiyyath, Space Blues and Too Darn Hot all coming through on the roster.”

The first foal of his dam, the Italian Oaks winner Zomaradah (GB) (Deploy {GB}), Dubawi was born at Kildangan Stud, where he later stood one season, and he hails from the same family as a sire who was already ensconced in the Kildangan stallion unit at that time, the Breeders' Cup Turf and Coronation Cup winner In The Wings (GB). More pertinently, though, he was also one of a small number of foals expected that year by Dubai Millennium.

Sheikh Mohammed's pride in his homebred so prophetically named to win the Dubai World Cup of 2000 was renowned. Dubai Millennium's racing record was hugely impressive. He was beaten only once in ten starts when finishing ninth behind Oath in the Derby, and on what would transpire to be his final performance in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot, the applause started ringing out when he was only halfway up the straight, so emphatic was the manner of his victory. But a little over six weeks later his racing career was over when he suffered a hind-leg fracture on the gallops. Brutally, Dubai Millennium's stud career was even more brief when, during his first covering season, he was struck down with grass sickness and died on Apr. 29, 2001.

“The whole stallion operation at Darley was set up on the back of Dubai Millennium really,” recalls Bullard. “We had this wonderful racehorse, the greatest horse that Godolphin had ever had, and when he retired to stud that was the catalyst really for the stallion operation that is here now, and always the number one goal was to get the top stallions of tomorrow.”

Clearly, those mares to have visited Dubai Millennium before his untimely death were of a decent calibre, but the odds were stacked against him making a meaningful impression on the breed when the foaling season of 2002 was complete and his sole crop numbered just 56. Sheikh Mohammed set about buying up a number outside those bred by his operation, but ultimately it was a homebred who would become not only Dubai Millennium's best son, but one of the best stallions in the world.

Most importantly, Dubawi's influence is now growing through his sons. He stands alongside five of them on the Darley roster: Ghaiyyath (Ire), Too Darn Hot (GB), Night Of Thunder (Ire), Postponed (Ire) and the recently retired Space Blues (Ire). And up to 20 sons of Dubawi are at stud around the world, including in America, Japan and India.

Night Of Thunder, his second 2000 Guineas winner, was the champion first-season sire in Europe in 2019, while the Aga Khan Studs' Zarak (Fr) led the French freshmen last year, and the National Stud's Time Test (GB) was another young son to make a favourable impression with his first runners in 2021.

A top-five finisher in the stallion table in each of the last nine years, and on four occasions runner-up to Galileo (Ire), Dubawi had to settle for third in 2021 when Frankel (GB) nudged his own sire down a slot to second. But Dubawi's 54% winners-to-runners strike-rate was higher than both Frankel and Galileo, and was a figure that only his son New Bay (GB) could match in the top 50 stallions in Britain and Ireland. On worldwide earnings for last year he was at the top of the table, those lucrative Breeders' Cup victories no doubt helping in this regard.

In his 39 years with Darley, head stallion man Ken Crozier has worked with both Dubai Millennium and Dubawi and describes the horse now regarded as the king of the stallion yard as “straightforward, uncomplicated, a hard, gutsy horse”.

He continues, “When Dubawi first arrived here, he's obviously physically a very different animal to his father, but he was coming in as a Classic winner with a high profile and I guess we had high expectations given that, sadly, Sheikh Mohammed and Darley had lost Dubai Millennium so young.”

While Dubai Millennium's short stud career was beset with illness from an early stage, the only concerns Dubawi ever gives those looking after him is how to keep him trim.

Crozier adds, “We have him on shavings. He would eat everything in sight. He gets fed a little and often. He will get fed hay three times a day because he would eat a bale of hay in a half an hour. So that's the only problem we have with Dubawi, keeping the weight off him.”

Even within the sons of Dubawi just on the Darley roster, it is easy to see that he is not a horse who stamps his stock in the manner of his old friend and rival Shamardal.

“They come in all shapes and sizes,” agrees Bullard. “You can't look at them and say, 'I can see Dubawi in that'. But what you can't see is what's between their ears, and that is consistent with all of them. They just have these extraordinary temperaments, he really does pass that on.”

Darley's head of nominations Dawn Laidlaw has, like Crozier and Bullard, worked with Dubawi throughout his stallion career and has witnessed the change in attitude towards him.

“I think every breeder, agent and ourselves would be honest enough to say that we probably didn't see the success of Dubawi coming in those early days,” she says. “Obviously he was a great racehorse by a fantastic stallion, so he had a special place in our hearts from the beginning. But I think it would be fair to say that people didn't necessarily take to his early progeny. I mean, everybody's seen him and he's a little bit on the short side, a little bit dumpy, not the greatest walker. I think initially that's what people thought about his yearlings. I think right until they started running, and it was when they started winning that people very quickly realised he was a special stallion.”

Dubawi's first crop included the 2000 Guineas winner Makfi (GB), who, in an example of the blossoming of the line, sired the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Make Believe (GB) in his first crop, who in turn is the sire of G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Mishriff (Ire) from his first crop. Along with Makfi in the class of 2007 were the Group 1 winners Lucky Nine (GB), Poet's Voice (GB), Dubawi Heights (GB), Monterosso (GB) and Prince Bishop (GB), as well as the Group 3 winner and Irish 1000 Guineas runner-up Anna Salai (GB), who would later become the dam of Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}).

Among his 142 Group winners, Dubawi is now the sire of 48 Group/Grade 1 winners–six of those having come from his three stints down under–with the group including the 2020 Horse of the Year Ghaiyyath. From an opening fee of £25,000, he stood his fourth season at £15,000 before gradually climbing to his fee of £250,000 for the last six years, making him the most expensive stallion in Europe.

“It's very typical in a stallion, and his third and fourth years were a little bit more difficult to sell,” recalls Laidlaw. “Even the best of stallions usually go through that dip. Then as soon as he had his winners, he just absolutely took off. One of the most difficult things since then has been selecting the mares. There's always an upper limit on the numbers he'll cover, so unfortunately every year there have been mares that we would have loved to have that haven't always been able to come to him. The quality of mare that comes to him every year is fantastic. It's like a who's who of the broodmare band in Europe and beyond. We're lucky to have him and I say that every day.”

The sense of pride in their star stallion is quite clear at Dalham Hall Stud, where they have now had many years to bask in the reflected glory of Dubawi. Now entering his third decade and about to embark on his 17th stud season, he fortunately shows no waning in enthusiasm for his main task.

“When covering season comes, he will go down to that barn roaring and shouting, whether it's at the 8am covering session or the fourth session at midnight,” says Crozier. “You'll hear him coming. You know, if he was a human, he would have his neighbours round knocking on his door.”

With a reputation so hard earned, Dubawi has every right to shout about it.

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Group 1 Winner Var Euthanised at 23

The speedy Group 1 winner Var (Forest Wildcat-Loma Preata, by Zilzal) was euthanised in South Africa on Monday. The 23-year-old had been pensioned at Avontuur Stud since last July.

“Var was my pride and joy,” Avontuur Stud General Manager Pippa Mickleburgh told the Sporting Post. “He changed the lives of untold racing and non-racing folk both here and across the world. He was a character and a champion extraordinaire. The scars of a battle bravely fought caught up with our loyal soldier in the end. We couldn't leave him to bear the pressure and the pain on his limbs anymore and after agonising over veterinary advice, we were left with no choice. We are all devastated.”

Bred by Dr. John Eaton in Kentucky, the dark bay was a $42,000 RNA as a Keeneland November weanling that progressed to be a $120,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase. Racing in the Darley silks for trainer Bill Mott through his first 15 starts, the colt won an allowance optional claimer in January of 2004, before he was purchased privately and won Goodwood's Listed Starlit S. in September of that year for new trainer Clive Brittain and owner Mohammed Rashid. Second to The Tatling (Ire) (Perugino {Aus}) in Newbury's G3 Trophy S. later that month, he defeated his vanquisher in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp in October. His sprinting efforts made him top of his division in the UK from five to seven furlongs a year's end.

Retired after a two-race 2005 campaign with a mark of 22-7-2-1 and $336,001 in earnings, Var became a successful sire in South Africa with his first crop eventually yielding six stakes winners. Currently, the stallion has 56 black-type winners to his credit, 30 of them at the graded level. Of those, a dozen are winners at the highest level, anchored by dual South African Horse of the Year Variety Club (SAf), a five-time Grade 1 winner. The son of French listed-placed Loma Preata earned titles as the Leading Sire of 2-Year-Olds in 2016/17 and 2017/18, and he was also a Champion Sire of Winners in 2018/19.

Added Avontuur's Michael and Philip Taberer, “Beyond the raw statistics, he captivated hearts and will live on in his place of honour at Avontuur forever. We thank every shareholder, breeder, supporter and racing fan who played a role in making him a success. What an honour it has been to be a part of a modern day fairytale.”

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Value Sires for ’22: Part VIII: Established Stallions

And so we reach the final leg of our journey hunting out value among Kentucky sires in 2022. It's been a rather more focused exercise this time round, and if that means plenty of stallions (and indeed some farms) have been overlooked, so be it. It's only ever the subjective view of a single bystander. You'll know what works for your own mare, and for your own agenda, too, whether you're an end user, say, or first and foremost need to anticipate commercial demand.

We've often complained that a market so perilously tilted towards unproven sires is driven by ringside investors, that many breeders feel obliged to choose their matings accordingly, like it or not and that the system works least well for the stallion farms themselves. It's a lose-lose scenario. On the one hand, an awful lot of sires with marginal eligibility weaken the gene pool with hundreds of mediocre foals. On the other, since almost all have exhausted their commercial usefulness within a couple of years, some will be discarded while retaining valid potential, but having simply required a little patience.

I do accept that stallions must nowadays expect to be judged pretty early, in that debut books are the biggest and best most will ever muster. So it's only right to celebrate those that do make a breakthrough. But that doesn't mean, as you often hear, that freshmen are the only pragmatic option for most investors because the proven operators have all priced themselves out of reach.

The object today is to refute that theory. To give examples of the affordable stallions out there, besides your Into Mischiefs and Tapits and Curlins, with a body of work that will only ever be matched by a tiny percentage of the dozens of rookies starting up every spring.

Those featured in the previous instalment, “Through The Crossroads,” already verge on this status. Now we move onto the real veterans, who have carved out a sustainable niche for themselves despite perennial competition, not least on their own farms, from lavishly promoted new rivals.

The nature of this particular beast, along with the compression of the format this year, means that we will inevitably be rounding up some of the usual suspects. No apologies for that. If we reckoned a horse to be both proven and well-priced last year, then something pretty dramatic will need to have happened to alter that perception, whether for better or worse.

Tragically, the most dramatic change of all has claimed English Channel, Malibu Moon and Bernardini since we included them, last year, in a wider survey of those who had contributed more to the breed than was implied by their fees. Their loss reminds us, however, how very precious are those stallions that do replicate their prowess and how very irresponsible it is to neglect them in favor of smooth-talking freshmen, almost invariably here today and gone tomorrow.

As it is, one or two of our favorites have actually seen their fees come down again for the coming season. If they have for once lacked the kind of headline horse that can cover a multitude of sins, especially among sires with more industrial books, then they have made no such descent in our esteem. After all, if there's one thing we all find hard to mend, it's obstinacy!

Good luck to you all in '22.

Bubbling under: It has been inevitable for a long time now and Lookin at Lucky must finally accept that his Ashford buddy Munnings has disappeared over the horizon. They started out together, a decade ago, but somehow Munnings was always credited with a glamor that nobody would ever grant to poor old Lookin at Lucky. That has steadily told in both the size and quality of their books, which last spring weighed in at 217 and 80, respectively, to the point that one has now soared to $85,000, while the other dwindles to $15,000.

Lookin at Lucky has long been burdened with a self-fulfilling reputation as supposedly not being a “sales horse.” Even way back when he was champion freshman by winners, at a stunning 29 from 44 starters, it was Munnings who doubled his next book to enter the national top six, while Lookin at Lucky trod water at 115 (from 121). Since then, of course, Lookin at Lucky has sired winners of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic (with only Monomoy Girl {Tapizar} denying Grade I winner Wow Cat {Chi} the double in the GI Distaff on the same card). But nothing he does ever seems to make any difference. He'd be an annual podium lock, strictly for end-users, but they have enough sense to accept that we can't keep using up a step for a horse whose commercial treatment is so stubbornly short-sighted.

Suffice to say that while the relative volume and quality of their support has gradually told in black-type action, even a stallion as avowedly splendid as Munnings still can't separate himself from Lookin at Lucky by their Grade I/overall graded stakes ratios. His fee now, if an insult to the horse himself and a rebuke to the marketplace, is conversely a gift to anyone in the business of breeding a runner. You couldn't prove a mare more economically.

Another we've long admired is Midnight Lute, who retains a fee of $15,000 after producing a fourth Grade I winner in 2020 and a fifth in 2021. Smooth Like Strait, moreover, was only caught by half a length when trying to add the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. The Hill 'n' Dale sire has long made plain that there's far more to him than Midnight Bisou, with 38 graded stakes performers overall, and one-in-10 of his named foals making the grade as stakes horses.

Sky Mesa beats even that lifetime clip. The Three Chimneys veteran had a quiet year by his standards, but those are ridiculously high for a $12,500 cover.

Bronze: MIDSHIPMAN (Unbridled's Song–Fleet Lady, by Avenue Of Flags), $10,000, Darley

What an incredible nugget of a horse this is. After eight years, his fee has finally inched back up (from $7,500) in some small testament to his metronomic production of stakes horses from basement covers. All he needs is that breakout Grade I success, but he's getting ever closer–Royal Ship (Brz) having been foiled by a head in the Hollywood Gold Cup and Special Reserve by half a length in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt.

That pair featured among 21 stakes performers for Midshipman in 2021, contributing to a lifetime percentage of 13.5% of named foals, a match for Medaglia d'Oro among many others. Okay, so he can't reach the higher grades quite as often, but that's hardly surprising when his studmate is getting mares deserving of a six-figure cover.

This is a great example of one of the game's mighty empires really looking after the little guy. Midshipman, reliably ticking over three-figure books deep in his career, is a half-brother to the dam of Frosted but their mother is out of a Roberto half-sister to a very good horse in Europe. Remember Midshipman was a top-class juvenile on synthetics, and with his mixed pedigree he can get you any kind.

This year, moreover, he moved up his yearlings to $48,671 from $33,236. Midshipman will never let you down, and it's only a matter of time before a small breeder in Kentucky gratefully pulls that first Grade I winner out of the pack.

Silver: BLAME (Arch–Liable, by Seeking The Gold)

$20,000, Claiborne

Oh, will somebody please give this guy a break! I feel sorry for the horse and sorry for the farm. How is it that a stallion who has rallied so well from tough times, elevating his ninth crop of yearlings to an average of $124,402 (from $57,884 in 2020), must take a cut from $30,000?

A year ago even that fee looked the best value around to me, based on his overall body of work, so what are we to make of this new tag? Sure, Blame had a pretty quiet year by his standards, with only a couple of graded stakes winners. But that's no surprise, given that his available footprint was so narrow. His current sophomores graduate from the book that represented his nadir, when he slumped to just 48 mares (from 105) in 2017. That crisis required his fee to be halved from $25,000 to $12,500, and breeders took their cue by promptly restoring him to 112 mares in 2018.

In the myopic world we live in, doubtless there were limits to how much encouragement they had found in the fact that his breakout first Classic success, the previous year, should have been over in France. But he promptly added two Grade I winners on dirt from the same crop, only his third. Since then Blame has mustered two more elite winners from the book preceding his 2017 blip: the brilliant but luckless Nadal, a millionaire in just four starts and alertly picked up by Shadai for a stud career; as well as another turf filly in Abscond.

Despite his aristocratic pedigree and exemplary record, on and off the track, in his whole stud career Blame has never received more than 119 mares. No doubt people have been diffident, albeit childishly so, about a son of Arch who reached his peak in his third campaign. Unsurprisingly, as such, his latest fee cut presumably reflects the fact that last spring his book suffered one of its sporadic dips, to 69. But his superb performance at the yearling sales suggests that he has really seized the chance he created for himself in turning round his 2017 crisis. It also suggests that those who stick with him now can expect his upgrading stock to renew his momentum, on the racetrack, by the time foals conceived this coming spring reach the sales ring.

So he's actually a feasible commercial proposition, at this fee–quite apart from the fact that his lifetime output identifies him as outstanding value for any persisting in so quaint a pursuit as trying to breed a runner.

Even in what we know was always going to be a limited year, Blame has had eight stakes winners. He's had a juvenile filly beaten barely half a length for a Grade I, his tiny sophomore group still included a group winner who flew into fourth of 19 in the G1 Prix du Jockey-Club, and his black-type and graded-stakes action has maintained a ratio that measures up to, well, Uncle Mo for a start! (And beats many other expensive stallions.)

That's just what we know to expect of Blame, whose output across all indices is as consistent as many a more expensive stallion. To sample just a few established names too excellent to be embarrassed by the comparison, across-the-board Blame can match or surpass the ratios for stakes winners/performers, graded stakes winners/performers and Grade I winners/performers of Candy Ride (Arg), More Than Ready, Munnings, Twirling Candy, Street Sense and Kitten's Joy. In individual categories, moreover, he can match even more expensive and prestigious stallions.

I don't really know what else he's supposed to do. Remember that this was a nine-for-13 winner of nearly $4.4 million, with nine consecutive triple-figure Beyers, whose grand-dam is a half-sister to Nureyev and Fairy Bridge. He presents Thong and Courtly Dee opposite each other as third dams of his respective parents.

Maybe that's not enough for you, but anyone who wants to breed a runner–as well, of course, as anyone who might be inclined to retain a filly–will remain extremely happy to take the Blame.

Gold: HARD SPUN (Danzig—Turkish Tryst by Turkoman)

$35,000, Darley

Okay, so Knicks Go has put Paynter in there, too. But this is going to be Hard Spun's third consecutive year in the top 10 of the general sires' list, which is otherwise populated by stallions available in 2022 at $250,000, $75,000, $175,000, $100,000, $90,000, $185,000 and $160,000. He's the parting gift of a breed-changing patriarch, and this year sired his 11th and 12th domestic Grade I winners (to add to three in Australia) in races as resonant as the GI Met Mile and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint.

So how is Hard Spun still available at a fraction of the cost of his peers? Well, as usual, fees must refer to the market and a yearling average of $80,353 limits how far Hard Spun can be elevated in line with his achievements. While that's a perfectly respectable yield, and he has never missed a beat in terms of subscription, I guess that the fact he doesn't get the most precocious stock will always make some commercial breeders nervous.

Yet to add to his resume the fastest horse at a Breeders' Cup staged round the dizzy turns of Del Mar just confirms his versatility. Short, long; dirt, turf, and everything in between. His top earner is a turf sprinter in Australia, and he's had a winner of the sharpest group test in Europe, down the five-furlong ramp at Goodwood. He's had two-turn dirt machines like Questing (GB) and Smooth Roller. Spun To Run made all in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, Hard Not To Love scythed them down in the GI La Brea. Already, moreover, he's showing huge promise as an international broodmare sire. His daughters have so far given us the likes of Good Magic (Curlin), Japanese sprint star Danon Smash (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) and, in Europe this year, dual Group 1 miler Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never).

It all stands to reason. Though he later landed the GI King's Bishop over seven, Hard Spun held out for second in the GI Kentucky Derby after setting a pace that left the eventual winner, third and fourth, respectively, in 19th, 13th and 20th after half a mile. He complements Danzig with Darby Dan royalty down the bottom line. His granddam was a Roberto half-sister to Little Current (Sea-Bird {Fr}), while the fourth dam produced two farm legends (both by Swaps) in Chateaugay and Primonetta. True, his damsire offers little more than substance, but that hasn't stopped his stakes-winning half-sister from freshening up the page as second dam of multiple Grade I winner Improbable (City Zip).

Hard Spun was standing at $60,000 before he took a year in Hokkaido, and has somehow never quite recovered from being nearly halved in fee for his Kentucky relaunch despite dominating the fourth-crop sires' table during his absence (ahead of Street Sense, English Channel and Scat Daddy). He's always been class, always been value. And anyone who prefers to spend this kind of money on an unproven sire might as well wear a baseball hat bearing the words: Gimme Fast Bucks, Not Fast Horses.

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Maxfield Settling in Upon Return to Jonabell Farm

Just a three-mile jaunt from Brendan Walsh's barn at Keeneland, the conditioner's first Grade I winner Maxfield (Street Sense – Velvety, by Bernardini) is settling into his new home at the stud barn of Darley's Jonabell Farm.

Three weeks ago, the Godolphin homebred ended his career on a high note with a final victory in the GI Clark S. at Churchill Downs. Walsh, who had hopped on a plane shortly after the win to visit his Florida division, had not seen Maxfield since that night. So when he dropped in at Jonabell Farm this week to see his former pupil it was, as he said, like visiting his kid in college.

“We were all very fond of him and we're kind of missing him,” the Irishman admitted. “It's good to be able to come see him and he'll make a great stallion. Hopefully we can look forward to training his babies in the years to come.”

Maxfield had clearly not forgotten his old friend as he accepted Walsh's carrots and pats and looked on quietly as a crowd of breeders gathered.

“He was so talented from day one and he has such a great character,” Walsh said. “He was so calm with everything. With some horses you're concerned about them at the races if they're going to act right, but he just filled you with confidence because he had such a good temperament and there was never a worry about if he was going to put his best foot forward.”

For everyone at Jonabell, Maxfield's return marked a celebratory homecoming.

“To have Maxfield do what he did on the racetrack and then come back to his birthplace to take up residence in the stallion barn, it's unbelievably special,” said Darley's Darren Fox. “It's really what we're trying to achieve here and we couldn't be happier to have a horse of his caliber, pedigree, physique and race record fly the flag forward for us here at Jonabell.”

Maxfield's retirement for 2022 was announced in October this year and the new addition, who will stand for a fee of $40,000, was booked full before he entered the stud barn at the end of November.

“Demand was strong for him from the get-go,” Fox said. “We emailed our clients to let them know when he would be arriving at the farm and before we started showing him, he was essentially full. For a stallion to be full before he does his first stallion show says it all. The wave of interest was incredible and he has certainly amassed a stellar first book of mares.”

Maxfield races to a 5 1/2-length victory in the 2019 GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity | Coady

Joining his sire Street Sense on Darley's stud roster, Maxfield is out of the winning Godolphin homebred Velvety, a daughter of red-hot broodmare sire Bernardini, who passed away at Jonabell earlier this year.

“He is absolutely, stunningly gorgeous,” Fox said. “He looks like a Street Sense on first impression with that same size and physique, but he's a smoother, better-looking version of Street Sense. We see shades of Bernardini through his head. For a good-sized horse, he is so light on his feet. He has that jaw-dropping commercial walk that every weanling and yearling purchaser looks for. Then when you add in his pedigree, it's one of the best female families in the stud book.”

Maxfield's second dam MGSW Caress (Storm Cat) was purchased by Sheikh Mohammed's operation for $3.1 million in 2000. The mare is responsible for Grade I winner and sire Sky Mesa (Pulpit) as well as MGSW and GISP Golden Velvet (Seeking the Gold).

Despite a physique that suggested that the colt would excel going two turns, Maxfield was one to watch from the start of his juvenile season.

Breaking his maiden on debut going a mile at Churchill Downs, Maxfield was a dominant winner of his next start in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity.

“The 2-year-old form is almost the cherry on top that you wouldn't expect for a horse of his profile,” Fox said. “His Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland was jaw-dropping. A lot of shrewd people called it the most impressive performance by a 2-year-old that year.”

An ankle chip forced Maxfield to scratch from the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but the colt returned a winner as a sophomore in the GIII Matt Winn S. An injury forced him to the sidelines once more and he skipped a September Kentucky Derby in 2020, but came back to remain undefeated in the Tenacious S. in December and then the GIII Mineshaft S. to begin his 4-year-old campaign.

Although Maxfield's 2020 season was a test in patience for his trainer, Walsh said he never lost faith that his pupil was destined to remain at the top of his game.

“Everyone always says, 'Oh, you had so many highs and lows with him,' but it was never really a low because we always knew he had the talent to come back and we always knew that as he got older, he might get better,” Walsh explained. “He was actually very consistent through his whole career to win a Grade I at two and then he went on to become a fantastic 4-year-old.”

Maxfield wraps up his career in style with a win in the 2021 GI Clark S. | Coady

Maxfield ran in the money in each of his seven starts at four, claiming the GII Alysheba S. and GII Stepehen Foster S. each by over three lengths, then running second in the GI Whitney S. and GI Woodward S. and finally capping off his career by winning the GI Clark S.

“Maxfield is the first horse in history to win the Alysheba, Stephen Foster and the Clark,” Fox said. “There was no doubt that he had an affinity for Churchill. He was in his absolute element, circling the field on more than one occasion and having so much in the tank on a lot of those performances.”

Maxfield retires with earnings of over $2 million and was never off the board, running in nine graded stakes, including five Grade I races, over his three-year career.

Fox said one of his favorite memories of Maxfield's racing career was watching him in the paddock before each race, particularly on busy race days ahead of the GI Whitney at Saratoga and the GII Alysheba on the Kentucky Oaks undercard.

“The class that this horse demonstrated made the hairs on the back of your neck stand by watching him in action,” he said. “I've watched him in some absolutely-mobbed paddocks and he was as cool as could be. He never turned a hair and the confidence he exuded was inspiring to watch. I see a lot of the class coming from his sire and broodmare sire and while obviously he's his own horse, he certainly inherited their composure.”

“It's just that X-factor that you look for,” he continued. “He is such a smart, intelligent and unbelievably-classy horse. Whatever ability this horse passes on to his progeny, if they inherit his class and composure, they'll certainly be able to demonstrate the full extent of their ability in the afternoons.”

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