first-crop yearling sire | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mendelssohn’s Popularity Passes On to First Yearlings

When regally-bred Grade I winner Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy-Leslie's Lady, by Tricky Creek) joined the stallion roster at Ashford Stud in 2019, his half-brother Into Mischief had just received a bump in stud fee from $100,000 to $150,000 at nearby Spendthrift Farm. The next year, as Mendelssohn's first foals were hitting the ground, Into Mischief was represented by GI Kentucky Derby hero and eventual Horse of the Year Authentic. Today, as Into Mischief is now widely regarded as the leading stallion in the world, Mendelssohn awaits the day when his first crop reaches the starting gate to find out if he can replicate the same extraordinary success as his older brother.

“I think there's no doubt that Into Mischief is the best stallion in the world now that Galileo (Ire) has unfortunately passed away,” Coolmore's Adrian Wallace said. “Every single Saturday he's represented across the country and around the world by graded stakes horses. It will be very fitting if his half-brother by the late, great Scat Daddy could be somewhat as good.”

The breeders strongly agreed with this hypothesis, sending close to 500 mares to the Grade I winner in his first two years at stud off a $35,000 stud fee.

“We're lucky at Ashford to have stood some very popular stallions, but none have ever been as popular as Mendelssohn,” Wallace explained. “He really captured the imagination. It was no surprise that everyone was after him given the fact that he's a brother to Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Into Mischief, given his physique and that he was able to transform that on the racetrack. He became a really, really hot commodity. If he were able to cover 400 mares a year, the demand would have been there.”

A $3 million yearling purchase, Mendelssohn had all the physical appeal to attract the Coolmore buying group at the Keeneland September Sale in 2016 as well as potential breeders a few years later.

“He's an absolute picture,” Wallace said. “He's one of the best-looking horses we've ever had and we've had the privilege to have had some beautiful horses here. But he also has great balance and a wonderful temperament. He was able to get on a plane seven different times to come to the U.S. and run with credit each time.”

Trained in Europe by Aidan O'Brien, Mendelssohn was runner-up to U.S. Navy Flag (War Front) in the G1 Darley Dewhurst S. before taking the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. He returned as a sophomore with a win in the Patton S. at Dundalk in March followed by a track record-breaking score in the G2 UAE Derby. Raced exclusively over the main track from then on, the bay placed third in the GIII Dwyer S., second to Catholic Boy (More Than Ready) in the GI Runhappy Travers S. and third in the GI Jockey Gold Cup S. before retiring with earnings of over $2.5 million.

“It's been a long time since we've had a Grade I winner on dirt in this country that was trained in Europe,” Wallace said. “I think Johannesburg was the last to do it in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Mendelssohn mixed with the best 3-year-olds of his generation, both in Europe and here. His most emblematic victory was in the UAE Derby when he won by 18 ½ lengths. He broke very, very well, went to the lead and pretty much galloped out in front of the TV.”

Wallace explained the trends he has seen in Mendelssohn's first few crops.

“They're very athletic, well-conformed horses,” he said. “They've got immense quality and they're very good movers. If you watch him walk, he moves like a cat. He's got a long, fluid walk and I think he's passing that on. They're generally very well-built, well put-together horses.”

The first crop from the son of Scat Daddy made a splash in the sales ring last year as weanlings, with 28 of 36 sold to average $82,589 and name their sire as one of the top three first-crop weanling sires.

Mendelssohn colt out of Tessie Flip sells as Hip 6 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale.

Two colts brought $300,000 as weanlings. A son of MSW American Sugar (Harlan's Holiday) sold to Amerman Racing LLC at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale and a colt out of Abuntia (Olmodavor) went to Oxo Equine LLC at Keeneland November.

At the first major yearling sale this summer, the Fasig-Tipton July Sale, two Mendelssohn yearlings brought $185,000 and a third sold for $85,000.

“It's very early days, but the fact that two of his yearlings have gone through the sales ring already and sold for $185,000 a piece is a very good start,” Wallace said. “But there's a lot of very nice ones to come, both in Saratoga and at Keeneland September.”

Mendelssohn will be represented by seven yearlings at the fast-approaching Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale, with an additional nine hips cataloged for the New York-bred sale the following week.

A colt out of the winning Grand Slam mare Tessie Flip will sell as Hip 6 at the select sale with the Paramount Sales consignment. The April-foaled bay is a closely-related brother to stakes winner and GIIISP Jo Jo Air (Scat Daddy) and his dam is a half-sister to two-time Grade I winner Switch (Quiet American).

“This colt has great balance, is very athletic and has a great walk,” Paramount's Gabriel Duignan said. “I think he's an extremely nice colt. What makes him stand apart from his older siblings is that they were also very good looking and very fast, but he's got more size, strength and scope I think. So he's a bigger model than they were, but has all the good qualitites that they do. He's an extremely fast-looking horse with a huge hip on him.”

Another Mendelssohn youngster heading to Saratoga is a filly out of SP Simply Confection (Candy Ride {Arg}). Selling as Hip 195, the Indian Creek-consigned yearling is from the family of GIIISP Inflexibility (Scat Daddy), champion Ashado (Saint Ballado) and GISW Sunriver (Saint Ballado).

Hip 195, a filly out of stakes-placed mare Simply Confection, sells with the Indian Creek consignment.

“We've had the filly here on the farm and are very excited to take her up to the sale,” said Indian Creek's Sarah Sutherland. “She's a very elegant, strong, confident and intelligent filly and a beautiful mover. She's very efficient and covers the ground with no wasted action. She has handled the prep and everything coming in just as well as we could have hoped.”

Both Duignan and Sutherland spoke highly of the Mendelssohn progeny they have worked with already.

“I'm a huge fan of Mendelssohn and have been into him all along,” Duignan said. “I'm seeing the trend that a lot of the Mendelssohns I have [look like] the best the mare has thrown. He was an extremely good racehorse and we all know about his pedigree, which couldn't be better. So I think he's got a huge shot.”

“We had a couple clients breed to him last year and have several very nice weanlings on the ground,” Sutherland said. “They're predominantly out of turf mares and we're very excited about them. They have great size, natural scope and substance, and are all very correct, nice-moving horses.”

Of the five other Mendelssohn yearlings cataloged for the upcoming Saratoga Sale, the list includes a filly out of SP Auction (Ire) (Mr. Greeley), a son of GIIISW Dogwood Trail (Awesome of Course), a colt out of SP Ghost Flower (Ghostzapper), a filly hailing from the extended family of Grade/Group I winner and producer Chimes of Freedom (Private Account) and a filly out of SW Singing Kitty (Ministers Wild Cat). View the full pedigrees here.

“I think [the fact that] there are seven nominated to Fasig-Tipton's sale in Saratoga is indicative of the quality of mares he bred and the look they have,” Wallace said. “He covered a stellar book of mares in the last three years. A horse with his pedigree, look and race record deserves that support, so now the rest is up to them.”

The post Mendelssohn’s Popularity Passes On to First Yearlings appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Good Magic Yearlings Look to Have Sire’s Precocity

Curlin is in the midst of an exceptional year. He's the only North American sire with three Grade I winners already in 2021 with undefeated Kentucky Oaks heroine Malathaat, Florida Derby winner Known Agenda and Santa Anita H. victor Idol. He's also responsible for the buzz horse of the week in undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' and GIII Dwyer S. winner First Captain.

As expected from Curlin, a sire known for his Classic-producing abilities, all four of these current stars broke through to stardom as sophomores or older. And while two did break their maidens as juveniles, only Malathaat was a stakes winner at two.

So while it is not unheard of for Curlin to have a top-performing juvenile, it is a rarity. According to John Moynihan, that's what makes 2017 Eclipse Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Good Magic special.

“The most unique thing with Good Magic is that he was so precocious,” the Stonestreet bloodstock advisor noted. “People expect Curlin to get durability and ruggedness, horses that run far, Classic-type horses. But a lot of times those Classic-type horses don't also come in the form of early, precocious horses and I think that's what sets Good Magic apart.”

Of the seven sons of Curlin standing in Kentucky today, just two are graded stakes winners as 2-year-olds and Good Magic is the only GI-winning juvenile of the pair.

Retired to stud in 2019, the champion bred 164 mares off a $35,000 fee. He filled a book of 142 mares at the same fee the following year. Standing for $30,000 in 2021, the Hill 'n' Dale resident will soon see his first yearlings go through the sales ring.

Moynihan said the youngsters are showing every indication that they will soon display the same precocity as their sire.

“The Good Magic yearlings that we have here at the farm, as a group, are physically outstanding. They appear that they're going to be very early and precocious like he was. They look like they'll be very, very sound horses. Robert Turner, our yearling manager, said they are all great minded like he was. A lot of the traits that made him such a good horse, physically and mentally, he seems to be throwing to the offspring that we have here at the farm.”

Good Magic is out of the dual stakes-winning Stonestreet-bred Glinda the Good (Hard Spun), a daughter of Magical Flash (Miswaki), who produced six stakes winners from 14 winners.

“The family produces very hard-knocking, rugged racehorses,” Moynihan noted. “I can remember when Magical Flash was older, there was a year where three or four of her foals won a stakes race all within one year.”

Moynihan vividly recalls watching Good Magic, a homebred for Stonestreet, grow and develop in the same paddocks where some of his first progeny now reside.

“He was one of those rare horses that was always a standout from the time he was born to when you looked at him three months later to the time he was a weanling and on to a yearling,” he explained. “He was always a horse you looked at out in the paddock and said, 'Oh, who is that?' He had that kind of presence about him.”

Moynihan said that as Good Magic matured into a yearling, the colt impressed him more and more by the day.

“He improved and got better every day that he was here at the farm. Some horses go through phases where they're not as good physically one month and they get better the next, but this horse was outstanding physically every day we had him.”

The chestnut developed into a $1 million yearling at the 2016 Keeneland September Sale, where he was purchased by e5 Racing.

Stonestreet stayed in for a piece of the promising youngster, and after going through his initial training at Stonestreet's training center, Good Magic made his debut at Saratoga, coming up a length short to run a game second. Trainer Chad Brown was encouraged by the colt's performance and bumped him up in class to the GI Champagne S., where he ran second to eventual MGSW Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior).

“After the race, Chad Brown told me that if Good Magic kept moving forward like he did between his maiden and the Champagne, he was going to want to run him in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile,” Moynihan recalled. “He called me three days later and said the horse acted like he never ran in the Champagne.”

So off they went to Del Mar, where Good Magic became the first horse in history to break his maiden in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

“It takes an extremely talented and extremely good-minded horse to go through those three races in that amount of time and hold up like that,” Moynihan noted.

Following a third-place finish in the GII Fountain of Youth S. and a victory in the GII Blue Grass S., the Eclipse Champion ran in the GI Kentucky Derby where he finished second to eventual Triple Crown champion Justify. Later that summer, he took the GI Haskell Invitational S. before retiring to Hill 'n' Dale with earnings over $2.95 million.

Moynihan said he believes Good Magic's first crop of yearlings represent the quality of mares the young sire saw in his first season at Hill 'n' Dale.

“He had a great book of mares, especially for a horse standing for $35,000,” he explained. “I know in respect to Stonestreet, and I think I'd be speaking on behalf of [Hill 'n' Dale] as well, we bred the caliber of mare that would go to a much higher-priced stallion than one standing for $35,000. That's how much we believed in him.”

Hill 'n' Dale Farm's John Sikura agreed.

“He has bred in excess of 100 mares every year,” Sikura said. “There has been great support from Stonestreet, from us, from SF Bloodstock and other shareholders. He has all the requisites you might look for in a horse in that he's a champion son of Curlin, very well bred, cost a million dollars as a yearling–all the things that a breeder would look for.”

“He represented great, great value [in his first year] at $35,000,” Moynihan said. “We thought he could stand for a little bit more money, but John wanted to be conservative and make sure breeders got the best chance for the first couple of years to make money with the horse.”

At last year's breeding stock sales, Good Magic's weanlings averaged $82,277, placing their sire within the top ranks of first-crop stallions in North America by average with 18 of 31 sold. His top lot, a half-brother to MGSW Lovely Bernadette (Wilburn) out of the winning Bernstein mare Inlovewithlove, sold to OXO Equine for $360,000 at Keeneland November. At the same sale, another colt out of SW Petition the Lady (Petionville) brought $200,000 to Stonehaven Steadings.

Good Magic colt out of Surf Light sells as Hip 303 at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale.

With the kickoff to the yearling sales approaching with the Fasig-Tipton July Sale on July 13, Good Magic will be represented by six members of his first crop.

Chris Baccari has one Good Magic yearling preparing to go through the ring at the upcoming auction with his Baccari Bloodstock consignment. The colt is out of the stakes-winning Malibu Moon mare Surf Light and will sell as Hip 303.

“He's a very straightforward colt,” Baccari said. “The thing I really like about him is that he has a two-turn pedigree, but he has a sprinter-type body. It looks like it will not take him very long to get ready. He's very sound and it looks like he can take a lot of training. He has a really pretty hind leg and is a really strong colt with a nice scope about him.”

Other notable pedigrees from Good Magic's progeny at Fasig-Tipton July include Hip 30, a half-brother to SW Empire Line (Morning Line) and out of a half to two stakes winners including champion Rushing Fall (More Than Ready), as well as Hip 86, a colt out of a half-sister to Breeders' Cup and Eclipse juvenile champion She Be Wild (Offlee Wild). View Good Magic's full Fasig-Tipton July roster here.

Moynihan said he thinks Good Magic's precocious-looking yearlings will be in high demand with the buyers.

“If buyers are looking to get a fairly quick return on their investment, he was such an early horse and he appears to be getting precocious horses that can get to the races quickly,” Moynihan noted. “He was also a sound horses, winning major races at two and three, so I think that's something buyers will look forward to getting in his offspring.”

“They're well bred, well made and sought after,” Sikura added. “Now the key is to win some races. We're excited for Good Magic's future. Hopefully he can be Curlin's next important son.

Click here for the full archive of our 2021 First-Crop Yearling Sires series.

The post Good Magic Yearlings Look to Have Sire’s Precocity appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Collected’s First Crop Reflecting His Pedigree’s Sire Power

Carrie Brogden wasn't planning on purchasing many pinhook prospects for Machmer Hall at last year's Keeneland November Sale. She was busy inspecting the stock on her clients' shopping lists, plus her farm already had a plethora of weanlings back home that would need to be prepped come summertime.

But on the fourth day of the sale, a colt entered the ring that she couldn't pass up. The February-foaled weanling came from the James B. Keogh consignment and was a son of first-crop weanling sire Collected (City Zip-Helena Bay (GB), by Johannesburg). The youngster was out of the winning Arch mare Androeah, a full sister to GISW Archarcharch.

“I just fell in love with this guy,” Brogden said. “We bought him off David Anderson, who is well known for raising top horses. He was a big, strong, strapping, uncomplicated type with lots of bone and was correct.”

Brogden purchased the colt for $65,000 and is now preparing the chestnut for his return to the sales ring at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale, where he will sell as Hip 340.

Machmer Hall will be represented by a second Collected yearling at the same auction. Hip 279, a homebred for the farm, is the first foal out of Shawklit Cake (Majesticperfection).

“We've had really good luck with this whole female family,” Brogden explained. “It's a big, raw, lengthy family so I was thinking that if City Zip were still alive, he would be the perfect type of stallion to breed to this mare.”

Brogden turned to City Zip's Grade I-winning son Collected and is now pleased with the resulting filly.

“We're shareholders in Collected and have been big fans of the stallion and of Marette Farrell, who purchased him as a 2-year-old. I feel like we got what we were looking for [in the yearling] with the size and stretch from the female family but with a big hip. There are a lot of qualities of City Zip that I see in her, which I love.”

Machmer Hall has been a strong supporter of Collected since he joined Airdrie Stud in 2019. Based on the progeny Brogden has seen in Collected's first two crops, she has noticed a strong resemblance to the late perennial leading sire City Zip.

“I did think he was going to throw back to City Zip, so I'm very pleased with what we've seen,” she noted. “I love the fact that they're colored like City Zip. I love to see, like with Into Mischief, when they stamp them in their colors. With these guys, the City Zip shines through and I think Collected might be able to walk in his sire's footsteps based on what I'm seeing. They're athletic and uncomplicated with great minds and they're easy keepers. They're what you'd like to see as they're progressing towards the racetrack.”

Airdrie Stud's Bret Jones agreed that Collected's first few crops seem to reflect the best in both the young stallion and his sire.

Collected bests champion Arrogate in the 2017 GI Pacific Classic S. | Horsephotos

“These foals are very much in Collected's image,” Jones said. “They've got that City Zip kind of look, but with a little more leg, a little more size, and I'd have to say they're a little more correct.”

While Collected's progeny have been likened to their grandsire, Jones said that the stallion himself has often been compared to the internationally influential sire Blushing Groom, a prominent member of Collected's female family.

“Collected's pedigree is fabulous and so many people who have come out to see him have said that he really is the spitting image of Blushing Groom,” he said. “The similarities are striking. You think of what an important stallion Blushing Groom has been and this horse has the same beautiful look with that medium size that fits the different kinds of mares that come his way. He's that wonderfully good-balanced type with the big walk that everybody loves. He really moves like an athlete ”

Bred by Runnymede Farm and Peter J. Callahan, the son of the winning Johannesburg mare Helena Bay (GB) was a $170,000 OBS March purchase by Marette Farrell for Speedway Stables in 2015.

While Airdrie had their eye on Collected ever since he was a promising debut-winning juvenile, it wasn't easy for them to get him to their stud barn.

“Collected is very special to us because it really was a long process to bring him here to Airdrie,” Jones explained. “He had shown a lot of talent as a 2-year-old and was really coming into his own as a 3-year-old. That's when we first reached out to Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner at Speedway, who along the way have become very good friends.”

At three, Collected took the GIII Sham S. and GIII Lexington S., winning three of his five starts that year.

At four, he blossomed. After easy wins in the Santana Mile S. and GII Californian S., he made headlines with a 14-length blowout victory in the GIII Precisionist S. followed by his signature win in the 2017 GI Pacific Classic S. over champions Arrogate and Accelerate. He ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic after dueling eventual Horse of the Year Gun Runner and then retired the following year with earnings of nearly $3 million.

“He was absolutely one of the best horses in training that 4-year-old year when he won the Pacific Classic and was second in the Breeders' Cup Classic,” Jones said. “Thankfully at the end of the day, we were given the opportunity to stand the horse and it's been everything we could have asked for.”

One of the commitments Airdrie made when taking Collected on, according to Jones, was to support the young stallion with the best their farm had to offer.

Machmer Hall's Collected colt out of Androeah sells as Hip 340 at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale.

“That meant breeding our Kentucky Oaks winner [Believe You Can (Proud Citizen)] as well as multiple Grade I producers. It meant never slowing down on the support that we would give him. In his third year, we've bred another 20 mares to him and we'll do the same thing next year. We really believe in the horse and so we want to give him that opportunity.”

Jones said that Collected has received strong support from off the farm as well. He bred 156 mares in his first year at stud and an additional 155 last year.

“We've been unbelievably lucky with Collected. He has been very well received really from the start. He was booked full each of his first two years and we've got a wonderful syndicate behind the horse that made sure he has gotten not only the quantity, but the quality of mares. In his first year, the Comparable Index was a 2.25, which is the highest than I can ever remember us having for a first-year stallion and much higher than what the stud fee would generally reflect.”

Collected's fee has held steady at $17,500 in his first three years and Jones said that the stallion will end up seeing over 100 mares in his third book as well.

“Because of this horse's popularity and because of the syndicate behind him, he's really been able to get that support. There will be no small crops. No one has backed down. David Anderson is breeding 12 mares to the horse and Fred Hertrich III is breeding six. The Brogdens are great partners and Speedway Stable is sending some of their top fillies from off the track, so there's no shortage of support and it's really going to be up to him.”

At last year's weanling sales, Collected's first crop averaged $52,454 with 11 of 28 sold. His top lot, a filly out of the Giant's Causeway mare Mamasez, brought $135,000 at Keeneland November.

At the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale on July 13, Collected will be represented by 13 yearlings with notable pedigrees including Hip 19, a filly out a Bernardini half-sister to GISW and two-time GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf runner-up Film Maker (Dynaformer), as well as Hip 78, a filly out of a daughter of GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and Eclipse Champion She Be Wild (Offlee Wild). View Collected's full Fasig-Tipton roster here.

“When you first get the stallion, you're excited about their chances,” Jones explained. “Then the next thing is what sort of individuals are they getting. I couldn't be more excited to show off exactly what kind of foals this horse is getting in the July Sale and the fall sales as well.”

From there, Jones said he believes Collected's progeny will excel on all aspects once they hit the track.

“Collected, like City Zip, has the chance to throw a lot of different types. City Zip could certainly get your early horses and your sprinters, but he could also get you a horse like Collected or Improbable that can stretch out and win a Grade I at a mile and a quarter. There's no reason why Collected can't have a similar type of success. I think they'll be diverse on the track and that he's got an opportunity to have a lot of success with a lot of different types.”

The post Collected’s First Crop Reflecting His Pedigree’s Sire Power appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Champion Accelerate Stamping His First Crop of Yearlings

David Ingordo has undoubtedly inspected thousands of yearlings, many of whom went on to become Ingordo-purchased success stories, since he saw Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky) at the 2014 Keeneland September Sale. Nevertheless, the well-respected agent has a vivid memory of seeing Hip 1162 at the Bluewater Sales consignment, a May-foaled son of the stakes-placed Awesome Again mare Issues.

“When a horse first walks out, you get an impression–at least, that's what it is for me,” Ingordo said. “And he was an extremely well- balanced horse, plenty of substance to him. He caught my attention. He was a beautiful chestnut color and was really well prepared. When you see them, you project what they're going to turn into. What he looked like to me there is what I hoped he would grow up to be, which is this beautifully well-balanced older horse now.”

Flash forward seven years after Ingordo purchased the yearling colt for $380,000, and Accelerate is now an Eclipse-earning, Breeders' Cup Classic-winning Lane's End sire with first yearlings hitting the market this summer.

Aside from the quality physical Ingordo recognized in Accelerate as a yearling, there was one intangible trait, according to Ingordo, that made the son of Lookin at Lucky such a success on the track.

“The thing you can't see is his heart,” he explained. “We buy these horses and they're all balanced, they have the pedigrees, they're good walkers and they vet clean. You put them in training and put them in company and they move forward each week. But what you never know is when they get hooked in a race, how bad do they want it? And Accelerate, he wanted it badly every time.”

That competitive energy led the Hronis Racing colorbearer to 10 career victories, from an 8 3/4-length maiden score as a sophomore to a win two years later in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Between those bookend wins, the John Sadler trainee also brought home Grade I scores in the Santa Anita H., Gold Cup at Santa Anita S., Pacific Classic S. and Awesome Again S. during his championship 5-year-old season.

“The thing I remember about Accelerate's 5-year-old campaign was just how dominant he was,” Ingordo said. “When John led him over [in the Breeders' Cup Classic], there wasn't any doubt we were going to run well. But the way he did it, he drew outside and delivered with a powerful performance.”

Retiring to Lane's End with over $6.6 million in earnings, Accelerate served 167 mares in his first year at stud at a $20,000 fee. He held the same stud fee in 2020 and bred 137 mares in his second book. This year, his fee was adjusted to $17,500.

Look closely to see Accelerate's eventual purchaser inspecting the colt at the Bluewater consignment. | Lucas Marquardt

Ingordo has been busy visiting Accelerate's first crop of foals slated for the approaching yearling sales.

“When I go around looking at the offspring of a stallion, I expect to see the stallion in that foal,” he said. “So a lot of times before I go out looking at a crop of horses, I like to go see the stallion. So I'll come look at Accelerate and refresh myself about what I like about the horse. He's exceptionally well balanced, he's got a great shoulder, is very powerful behind, wide across his hips and has great bone.”

This physical description, Ingordo says, also fits the trends he's seeing in Accelerate's yearlings.

“They look like miniature versions of him. He's kind of throwing back to the Smart Strike part of his pedigree, which I think is an important element of what made Accelerate so good and I think that's going to help his offspring as they get to the track,” he said.

Ingordo also said he finds Accelerate's presence and demeanor reflected in his progeny.

“Accelerate is very regal. He's all class. I've noticed that same trait in his offspring. You can't teach that; they either have it or they don't, and they've definitely got his head and his eye, that presence,” he said.

One big boost to Accelerate's appeal to both breeders and buyers, according to Ingordo, is the support he received in his first books.

“What was great for the stallion, the syndicate and then for me as a buyer of the Accelerates this year is how solid of a book of mares people presented to the horse. We've also gotten some really good updates. I just saw a colt that's going to one of the later sales and is a half to [2021 GII San Pasqual S. winner] Express Train (Union Rags) and he is a killer. I looked at several others around town and they're all really, really nice. They remind me of him at that stage of his life.”

Accelerate, a late-blooming May foal, did not see the starting gate until his sophomore year.

“He was broke and trained at Mayberry Farm and he always did everything right, but we had to remind ourselves that he was almost a June foal,” Ingordo said. “He hit another growth spurt once he went out to California so we weren't able to really run him as a 2-year-old. Our program is not to force them. We could have gotten Accelerate there faster if we wanted to, but that didn't make any sense for the horse.”

Accelerate's belated start makes Ingordo all the more excited to see his first runners begin their career earlier than their sire was able.

“I think they're going to be Classic types,” he said. “We missed that opportunity with Accelerate just because of his age, but I see these foals and they're a little more mature than he was. I could see him getting the Classic horse that every breeder and owner wants to get to the Derby or even some of the earlier 2-year-old races.”

At last year's weanling sales, Accelerate's offspring averaged $46,159 with 22 of 30 sold. His top lot, a filly out of Grade III-placed Mystic Mama (Scat Daddy), sold for $140,000 to Buena Madera at the Keeneland November Sale. Two Accelerate colts, one out of Aspiring (Seeking the Gold) and another out of Onestaratatime (Cape Canaveral), brought $110,000 at Keeneland November.

Accelerate yearling out of West Coast Chick sells as Hip 95 at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale.

Accelerate has 11 yearlings cataloged for the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale on July 13.

Hip 95, a colt out of West Coast Chick (Malibu Moon), will sell with the Lane's End consignment. The youngster is the second foal from his winning dam, who was runner-up to GISW Paulassilverlining (Ghostzapper) in the 2016 GIII Vagrancy H. and is a half-sister to GISW and sire Klimt (Quality Road).

“The cross is very good,” Ingordo noted. I like the Accelerate, Lookin at Lucky, Smart Strike line bred over Malibu Moon. The colt is a bay version of his sire. He's an excellent mover, a good athletic type, and has the head, eye and shape that we've been talking about. I wish I owned him.”

Other Accelerate yearlings heading for the Fasig-Tipton July Sale include Hip 13, a colt out of a daughter of GISW and graded producer Harmony Lodge (Hennessy), Hip 61, a filly out of a full-sister to champion Trinniberg (Teuflesberg) as well as Hip 98, a filly out of a daughter of Grade III winner Win Crafty Lady (Crafty Prospector), the dam of three graded winners, including Harmony Lodge. See Accelerate's full Fasig-Tipton July roster here.

Ingordo said he has high hopes for this first crop of yearlings as they take on the sales, but added that he believes Accelerate and his progeny will find even greater success in coming years.

“I'm going to say this is the cheapest they're ever going be is out of this first crop,” he said. “I think they're going to be horses that are bought on the high end of a reasonable price. I'm pretty excited about them. I plan on every customer of mine that has an order is going to have one, because I'm a believer. Everybody has their own horses and they can get barn blind, but we like to put our money where our mouth is on this and this is a horse that I'm going to support at the sales, my clients want to support him at the sales, and hopefully we will help him then on the racetrack.”

Click here for the first feature in our 2021 First-Crop Yearling Sire series on Gainesway's Tapwrit.

The post Champion Accelerate Stamping His First Crop of Yearlings appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post