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.
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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