Kentucky Sires for 2021: Third-Crop Sires, Part I

It's now or never, guys!

The deeper we go into our survey of Kentucky covering options for 2021, the fewer stallions remain standing. And those we reach today, about to launch a third crop of juveniles, have entered a decisive stage of their climb. Two or three are ascending confidently toward the next ridge; a handful are clinging tenaciously to a ledge; but many are now slithering unhappily down through the scree.

Several have already disappeared into regional or overseas programs. For now, the leading Bluegrass farms are persevering with 18 stallions from this group. It's a safe bet, however, that by this time next year, half of them will have been moved on. In each of the three preceding intakes, the same farms now retain no more than seven or eight.

In the course of this series, we've repeatedly remarked how unproven stallions are first supported and then abandoned with equal haste. But the foals conceived by these stallions this spring will have a far more legible value at the yearling sales of 2023. With a fifth crop on the track, their sires will by then have given us a legitimate sense of how their stock develop with maturity. There will be no more excuses.

The stakes, then, are now extremely steep. The rewards are potentially high, with fees generally tumbling, but the risk for the majority is clear. As such, it's no surprise that many commercial stallions should find their books virtually evaporating. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. If you launch your stallion to appeal to short-term opportunists, you can't complain when they quit the scene in the same tearing rush as they first arrived.

Unless you're talking about a two-turn horse under restrained management–with the scope to become another Blame, say–these stallions tend to require immediate momentum from their first couple of crops. There can be no stalling as the lights go green. It's extremely rare, certainly, that the more commercial types get a reprieve after the remarkable fashion, in this group, of Daredevil.

Among those drinking in the last-chance saloon, then, who deserves the funding to go back up to the bar and order one more round? Who deserves one final opportunity to secure a viable stud career in Kentucky? At a time when generous fee cuts are being made across the roster, there will surely be a bargain or two for those bold enough to take a gamble.

Harvey's Lil Goil is one of two scorers at the top level for American Pharoah Coady

Naturally we start with AMERICAN PHAROAH (Pioneerof the Nile–Littleprincess-emma, by Yankee Gentlemen), who continues to do everything required by his stellar status and six-figure fee: champion freshman, now champion second-crop sire and once again well clear with his yearling averages too. But bold gambles need not be confined to the strugglers, and I do hope that someday his owners might think about giving this horse at least a year on their farm in Ireland.

The fact is that only one of American Pharoah's six graded stakes winners in 2020 came on dirt (and that was in Japan). Partly this reflects the fact that he already has quite good representation in Europe–not least through the homebred Van Gogh, among the favorites for Epsom after rounding off his first season at Ballydoyle with a four-length Group 1 success in France. American Pharoah's other elite scorer, however, is Harvey's Lil Goil, who left the main track to win the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup and then got within half a length in the Filly & Mare Turf at the Breeders' Cup. The slightly startling bottom line is that American Pharoah, by North American dirt earnings, finished behind nine other second-crop stallions with two black-type winners from 82 starters in 2020.

Ashford is offering him at $100,000 for 2020, having soon listed him as “private” after launching him at $200,000, and he's not going to lack either quality or quantity any time soon. After a Breeders' Cup winner from his first crop of juveniles, he welcomed another 153 mares last spring, following nearly 800 across his first four years. And he had two outstanding sophomores on dirt in Japan, so we're plainly talking about a versatile sire rather than any kind of strict specialist.

In this day and age, after all, it should only be an increasing asset–including in the domestic market–for a Triple Crown winner to parlay his class into different environments. (His own sire, remember, broke his maiden on turf and took a synthetic route to the Kentucky Derby where he finished second in the slop.)

A sojourn in Europe would give breeders there a thrilling opportunity. But American breeders will doubtless remain so jealous of this historic achiever that the Europeans will just have to keep shipping mares if they want competition for Galileo (Ire) and his sons. Certainly it's none of my business to tell the best in the business how to run their business. They will know the English expression, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” And American Pharoah's third crop of yearlings averaged $227,820 for 49 sold of 68 into the ring, including a couple of seven-figure sales.

That was admittedly well down on his first couple of crops, which both exceeded $400,000. But it's a very solid yield compared with most of these stallions. The market for third-crop yearlings, remember, is notoriously porous at the best of times; and this cycle, collectively, was under freakish additional pressure in the pandemic economy. To be broadsided in this fashion, precisely when most commercially vulnerable, demands an invisible asterisk for every yearling they sold in 2020.

Constitution | Sarah Andrew

The one who has bucked that trend most comprehensively is CONSTITUTION (Tapit–Baffled, by Distorted Humor). With his flagship Tiz the Law continuing to thrive as a sophomore, WinStar's comet advanced his third crop of yearlings to $137,351, up again from $95,314 after a big debut crop had been rather coolly received at $71,424. His fee has taken parallel steps, having been cut to $15,000 from an opening $25,000 before earning hikes to $40,000 and now $85,000. Last year, similarly, having slipped to 85 mares in his fourth season, he broke into the top five books in the nation with no fewer than 231 covers.

Besides the stellar Tiz the Law, in 2020 Constitution admittedly mustered just one other graded stakes winner in Laura's Light (scored at both Grade II and III level). But no fewer than 19 black-type performers represented nearly 14% of starters, building on the unarguable breadth of impact (eight graded stakes horses) made by his first juveniles the previous year. For what it may be worth, his sojourn in Chile has been no less productive with three youngsters winning Group 1s.

Constitution has put himself in the vanguard of those sons of Tapit contesting the eventual succession, and his own profile–unraced at two, clocked a 111 Beyer in the GI Donn at four–suggests that his stock should continue to consolidate from here. Like American Pharoah, his family has been seeded by one or two quirky names, but there are good horses close up on his page and, one way or another, everything is falling into place. He is becoming a model of what farms hope to achieve with a young commercial stallion.

Daredevil | Louise Reinagel

This time last year, the game already appeared to be up for Constitution's former studmate DAREDEVIL (More Than Ready–Chasethewildwind, by Forty Niner). We should congratulate The Jockey Club of Turkey, in fact, for profiting from the panicky temperament of the American commercial market. Having imported a modest but presentable freshman sire, with 13 winners from 41 starters, they saw two of his first sophomores improve into Grade I winners and were immediately able to repatriate Daredevil to Lane's End to stand at $25,000.

Of course, it may yet prove that everyone has now overreacted to his triumph no less than they did in dismissing him as a $7,500 dud. In percentage terms, none of these stallions owes so much to their principal earner as does Daredevil to his extraordinary GI Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver–and we know that any sire can come up with one freaky good horse. Hence the vital importance of Shedaresthedevil beating Swiss Skydiver in their stunning GI Kentucky Oaks one-two; moreover, Daredevil's only other black-type winner of 2020 graduated from Ohio-bred company to chase home Vequist (Nyquist), albeit at a respectful distance, in the GI Spinaway S.

So Daredevil had 'only' three black-type horses. And he had 'as many as' three Grade I horses. You decide. He has been priced strictly for believers, but let's remember that he did all this from not quite half as many starters as American Pharoah. Naturally, Daredevil was another of the few to drive up his third crop of yearlings, who rallied to $42,403 for 28 sales (of 42 offered) from $14,260 for his second.

After such a wild ride to date, it'll be fascinating to see how he stabilizes from here. If Daredevil himself couldn't go on from a juvenile Grade I success, it's encouraging that he's half-brother to an older campaigner as hard-knocking as Albertus Maximus (Albert the Great). His big problem will be the looming bump in the road resulting from just 21 covers in 2019.

Tapiture | EquiSport Photos

There will be no break in the traffic for TAPITURE (Tapit–Free Spin, by Olympio) at Darby Dan, where he significantly secured marginally his biggest book to date in his fifth year, up to 186 from 114 the previous year (after 525 covers across his first three seasons). He made the most of that footprint in 2020, with 16 black-type horses, albeit only one–Hopeful Growth in the GIII Monmouth Oaks–actually achieved graded stakes success. His principal earner was instead the $30,000 yearling Jesus' Team, who achieved a Classic podium in the GI Preakness S. and also emulated his sire as runner-up in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

His prolific output secured Tapiture third place in the second-crop prize money table, albeit his percentages can duly be matched by a number of sires apparently struggling in his wake; and even he endured a declining yield at the yearling sales, down to $20,605 for 44 sold (from 67 into the ring) from $39,101 the previous year. (But that, as already noted, is pretty standard at the best of times–never mind in a pandemic market.)

In the round, he has done enough actually to advance his fee to $10,000 from $7,500, a rare distinction for a stallion at this stage of his career. His damsire introduces a backwater of the Nasrullah line but, judging from serial graded stakes performance or production by siblings, something is functioning consistently well. And, relative to many commercial sires, his key advantage is that his precocious returns could yet be consolidated by maturing stock: he won graded stakes at two, three and four.

Liam's Map | Asuncion Pineyrua

That should also prove true of LIAM'S MAP (Unbridled's Song–Miss Macy Sue, by Trippi), who was a late starter on the track but clocked 114 Beyers for both his Grade Is at four, and arguably surpassed even those performances when run down by Honor Code in a Whitney for the ages.

The first three home in that epic all ended up at Lane's End and, while I retain no less faith in the other two, it is Liam's Map who seems to have caught a following wind to this point. He first prospered from a very useful opportunism: the two stakes winners in his first crop of juveniles did the job properly, both scoring at Grade I level. Now Liam's Map has followed through with a solid fifth in the second-crop table, with seven stakes winners at essentially the same clip as American Pharoah and Constitution. If eking a second Grade I win out of Basin was candidly a bonus, the easy winner being later disqualified, then the GII Pat Day Mile success of Rushie was a validly fresh string to their sire's bow.

By the prudent standards of his farm, 156 mares in his fifth book–despite a hike from $20,000 to $35,000–represented a return to full subscription after Liam's Map had eased slightly, in familiar fashion, to 114 the previous year. A trim back to $30,000 will doubtless help to maintain momentum, and overall he appears to be in good shape. His third crop of yearlings averaged $80,435 for 39 sold of 54, holding up their value very well (second crop $118,801) relative to most in this intake.

That can be no surprise in one who himself cost $800,000 as a yearling, and whose pedigree has only grown more aristocratic with the flying start made at stud by half-brother Not This Time (Giant's Causeway). A family like theirs, combined with six triple-digit Beyers in eight starts, meant that Liam's Map always seemed destined to make the grade. And he could not be in better hands to stay on course now.

Honor Code | Lane's End

Somehow things don't seem to have fallen quite so obligingly for HONOR CODE (A.P. Indy–Serena's Cat, by Storm Cat) on the same roster, but I believe he remains well qualified to succeed in the long term. He was unlucky that fate restricted his flagship Honor A. P. to a single performance that did justice of his true merit, in the GI Santa Anita Derby. Moreover, the odds against Honor Code are potentially now compounded by the arrival of his physically stunning son as a rival in the same stallion shed–and a rival, moreover, priced as the outstanding value of Kentucky's entire new intake.

Honor Code's quiet start with his first juveniles left him chasing the pace somewhat, and he was cut to $30,000 from an opening $40,000 to receive 85 mares last spring, following four basically full books of around 150. Half a dozen stakes horses in 2020 represented a steady gain, Honor A. P. finding his best support from the GIII Withers success/GI Travers podium of Max Player, and another cut (to $20,000) should help to maintain his appeal to more patient breeders. He certainly throws a seductive foal and $50,068 for 51 (of 73) yearlings sold from his third crop was a familiar kind of slip–for this vulnerable group, in this market–from $75,494.

He should certainly retain his appeal to anyone who might be disposed to retain a filly. The maternal line is obviously regal, while the cross between sire and damsire combines twin bulwarks of Secretariat's broodmare prowess. With plenty of maturing talent on stream, Honor Code could yet replicate his Whitney performance, when taking off from the rear and running down the trail-blazing Liam's Map. But there's no denying this looks an important year for him.

The second half of this instalment in our ongoing series will appear [in tomorrow's edition], among others featuring the likes of Tonalist, Karakontie (Jpn), Summer Front and Palace Malice, as well as our latest value podium.

 

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Joseph Eyes Florida Derby Preps After Allowance Win By Moonlite Strike

Sonata Stable's Moonlite Strike is likely to embark on the Road to the Florida Derby (G1) following his gutsy victory in Thursday's featured optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Moonlite Strike ($4.80) withstood race-long outside pressure before prevailing by a head over Peachtree Stable's Kiger, a stablemate in trainer Saffie Joseph Jr's. barn, in the mile optional claiming allowance for 2-year-olds carded as Race 8 on a 10-race program.

“All races are under consideration. Kiger didn't win so he'll probably go back in one of those [optional claiming allowances] again, just because we have the option to develop him more. There are only stakes for Moonlite Strike,” Joseph said. “The Mucho Macho Man will be under consideration in about three weeks again. There is also the Holy Bull (G3) if we want to give him more time.”

The mile $100,000 Mucho Macho Man is scheduled to kick off Gulfstream's Road to the Florida Derby on Jan. 2. The 1 1/16-mile $200,000 Holy Bull (G3) is scheduled for Jan. 30.

Moonlite Strike, who graduated by two lengths over a sloppy Gulfstream Park West in his second career start Nov. 14, broke cleanly from his No. 1 post position but was immediately confronted on the outside by Advance Cash and Real Talk. Jockey Edgard Zayas let the son of Liam's Map settle into stride while racing inside of the early leaders before sending him to the lead on the far turn. Real Talk continued to press him into the stretch before tiring while Moonlite Strike forged ahead to open a clear lead in mid-stretch.

Kiger, who was rated behind the early speeders by Emisael Jaramillo, made a steady run through the stretch but was unable to get the better of his stablemate. Hercules finished third 5 ¼ lengths farther back.

“Moonlite Strike had kind of a tough trip and did it the hard way,” Joseph said. “Kiger got the run of the race, basically. Both ran well. Kiger didn't switch leads. He's a bit of a weird horse. There's a lot more talent there, but he just waits, waits, waits. He got a good education today.”

Moonlite Strike, who ran a mile in 1:38.96, was sold at the 2019 Keeneland September sale for $120,000.

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Respite Farm, Breeder Of Uncle Mo, Sends Athletic Weanlings To Keeneland November Sale

If you've been following the North American bloodstock world in 2020, you're probably familiar with the handiwork of Dr. Michael Cavey and Dr. Nancy Temple's Respite Farm.

The Paris, Ky., operation bred champion Uncle Mo, whose quick-starting reputation as a sire of runners has been matched by his quick-starting reputation as a sire of sires. One of those young stallions making noise with his first crop is Grade 2 winner Laoban, whose freshman season was so brilliant, he earned a call-up from New York to WinStar Farm for 2021. Like his sire, Laoban was also a Respite Farm product.

Outside of that family tree, Respite Farm bred and sold Champagne Room, the champion 2-year-old filly and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner of 2016.

Echoes of that success reverberate through the slate of weanlings Respite Farm has to offer at this year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, through the Denali Stud consignment.

Though Cavey is a commercial breeder, and he sells his entire crop at auction as weanlings, the breeder said he does not breed or raise his young horses through the typical means for a commercial prospect. Instead, he brings them up as though he planned to race them himself. The horses have to end up in the right hands, of course, but the high-level results of the Respite program prove it works.

“I had an agent who was selling horses for us who came to our farm, looked at our young horses, and told us we were making a mistake because we were raising and prepping them like racehorses, not sale horses, and he thought we should change our program,” Cavey said. “We didn't change our program. We still try to raise racehorses.

“Our philosophy is to hopefully sell sound weanlings,” he continued. “If a pinhooker buys them, hopefully they'll make money with them, then come back and buy another one. Uncle Mo and Champagne Room are both really good examples. People bought them reasonably as weanlings, they sold them again as yearlings, and then those people sold them as 2-year-olds, and everybody made money. I'm happy about that.”

Champagne Room

The process of raising a racehorse for the sale ring begins with a carefully planned mating.

Cavey takes a great influence from the methods of John Nerud's Tartan Farms program, going so far as to buy broodmares from Nerud's dispersal that serve as the pivot points of today's Respite Farm broodmare band.

From Nerud and others, Cavey said, he learned it's okay for the two components of the mating to have flaws, as long as the partner's strengths complement them.

“[Nerud] said he looks at their hip, their hind leg, the strength of their back, the layback to their shoulder, and the quality of their head,” Cavey said. “That's pretty much the way I look at it. The motor is the hip. The strength is carried through the hip and back. They have to have a nice length of neck to provide balance, and that's what we look for.”

When it came to breeding Uncle Mo, Cavey said the outcross potential he presented was carefully crafted, and advanced through the Indian Charlie/In Excess sire line. This, in turn, has helped his appeal as a stallion in a marketplace increasingly saturated by a smaller group of bloodlines.

“We bred five generations of his family, and we avoided most of Mr. Prospector, Storm Cat, most of the more popular horses, attempting to improve his pedigree with what we call in the cattle business, hybrid vigor,” Cavey said. “His success now, I think, is based on the fact that he can be crossed back to any of those families, and he's bringing something to those families that they don't have.”

Laoban (Uncle Mo) and jockey Jose Ortiz win the Jim Dandy

Nobody knew Uncle Mo or his pedigree like Cavey did when the champion retired to Ashford Stud, so when it came time to plan the mating that would produce Laoban, the breeder knew what he needed to see in a stallion to mesh with the Speightstown mare Chattertown.

“She was very attractive, well-muscled, not overly large,” he said. “She had a good, solid female family. We knew he would put some daylight under her, because he's a big horse, but not heavy-bodied. He's a big, athletic horse. We felt Speightstown would cross well with the female family, and it worked. It doesn't always work, but here, it did.”

Using the philosophy he has developed over decades of cultivation, Cavey shared the thought process behind the matings for two of his standout Keeneland November weanlings, and how the end product matched his expectations.

Hip 943
Dk b. or br. f., Nyquist x Cayman Sunrise, by Petionville
Barn 36 & 37 – Sells Wednesday, Nov. 11
Catalog Page

“We crossed Nyquist to a family we've been working with for a few years. It produced a big, good-looking filly with a good way of going, well-balanced. We just like everything about her, and the Nyquists are obviously running.

“Cayman Sunrise was a late-developing mare herself. She was a spectacular-looking animal and had lightning speed, but unfortunately, she got hurt. Her foals that we've produced prior to this one, they needed some strength and daylight, and Nyquist brought the strength that we were looking for and put a little more leg under them. Her Bodemeister colt (Empire Power) was a stakes-placed winner at two, and he's still racing.

“We're hoping that breeding her to a precocious 2-year-old in Nyquist, who brings some strength and precocity to the pedigree, will produce a precocious 2-year-old filly that then will run on. We were just looking for something to improve the slowness of the maturity, and have her mature a little faster, and get a little more speed into her.

“This filly is very different from the other foals the mare has produced. She's just stronger. She has a little bit more size, more hip, and more strength to her back.”

Hip 1572
Gr. or ro. f., Liam's Map x Rooms, by Giant's Causeway
Barn 5 – Sells Friday, Nov. 13
Catalog Page

“This is Rooms' first foal, a really well-balanced, big, strong filly. She's really impressive.

“The mare is by Giant's Causeway, who is a leading broodmare sire. You just can't go wrong with a Giant's Causeway. The mare herself ran fourth by a neck to Champagne Room in a graded stakes race at two. She showed a great deal of ability. She was then trained by Peter Eurton, who trained Champagne Room. There's really nothing about her I don't like. She's just a good quality mare who has a good female family.

“Liam's Map is a big, stretchy, athletic horse who could really run, and the Giant's Causeways can be a little compact and small. So, I was looking for something that could put a little more size on her, and her first foal is surprisingly good-sized for a first foal.”

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Into Mischief Yearlings Highlight Opening Session Of Fasig-Tipton October Sale

A pair of yearlings by leading sire Into Mischief stole the spotlight during the first session of the 2020 Kentucky October Yearlings sale on Monday in Lexington, Ky.

A well-related filly by Into Mischief topped the session when sold for $300,000 to Willis Horton Racing (video).

The bay filly, offered as Hip 202 by Wynnstay Sales, agent, is out of the stakes placed Lemon Drop Kid mare Kid Majic, making her a full-sister to two-time Canadian champion Miss Mischief. Hip 202 is also a half-sister to current stakes-placed winning filly Mind Out (Tapit) and to Rosemonde (Indian Charlie), dam of current multiple Grade 1 placed winner Rowayton, also by Into Mischief. Kid Majic herself is out of stakes winner Call Her Magic, who produced Grade 1 winner J P's Gusto and Magic Appeal, dam of champion and graded stakes winner Letruska. Hip 202 was bred in Kentucky by H. Allen Poindexter.

The session's top colt, also by into Mischief, sold for $260,000 to Juddmonte Farms from the consignment of Lane's End, agent (video).

Offered as Hip 24, the bay colt is the second foal out of the More Than Ready mare Golden Cropper (AUS). That mare's first foal Tete a Tete (Malibu Moon) is a winner this year at two. Golden Cropper is out of Australian group stakes winner Sliding Cube, making her a half-sister to Group 2 winner Rubick. The immediate family includes champion and three-time leading sire Redoute's Choice and additional Group 1 winners Manahattan Rain, Platinum Scissors, and Shoals. Hip 24 was bred in Kentucky by Mt Brilliant Farm & Ranch.

Four other yearlings sold for $200,000 or more during the session, including:

  • Hip 342, a colt by Maclean's Music out of Microburst (Awesome Again), sold for $240,000 to Mike Ryan, agent from the consignment of St George Sales, agent. Out of a half-sister to 2018 Grade 1 Champagne Stakes winner Complexity, Hip 342 was bred in Kentucky by Susan Moulton.
  • Hip 282, a colt from the second crop of Liam's Map out of Locked On (Bodemeister), sold for $220,000 to Ten Strike Racing/Rick Kueber from the consignment of Castle Park Farm (Noel Murphy), agent. From the immediate family of champions Weekend Trip and Heavenly Prize, Hip 282 was bred in New York by Loch Grove Farm.
  • Hip 324, a filly by record-breaking champion first-crop sire Uncle Mo out of Manda Bay (Empire Maker), sold for $200,000 to Nice Guys Stable from the consignment of Denali Stud, agent. A half-sister to Grade 1 placed Voting Control was bred in Kentucky by Three Chimneys Farm.
  • Hip 91, a colt from the first crop of champion Arrogate out of Hero's Amor (Street Hero), sold for $200,000 to Marc Tacher from the consignment of Woods Edge Farm (Peter O'Callaghan), agent. The first foal out a multiple stakes-winning full-sister to stakes winner Threefiveindia, Hip 91 was bred in Kentucky by Elevated Bloodstock and Raxon Cho.

During Monday's session, 248 yearlings sold for $8,393,800, good for an average of $33,846. The median was $15,000.

The Kentucky October Yearlings sale resumes Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m.

Results are available online.

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