Bucchero (Kantharos), the sire of the current 2-year-old stakes winners Book'em Danno and Mattingly and of the stakes-placed and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint fifth-place finisher Shards, will take up residence at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds for the 2024 breeding season for a fee of $7,500. After breeding 471 mares while standing for five seasons at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Florida, Bucchero will join a powerhouse New York stallion lineup alongside Central Banker and Solomini.
“Traditionally, New York breeders have not had the opportunity to breed to a new stallion who was already on the upswing with proven runners on the ground, but that certainly should be changing in the future with the exceptional program New York has developed and actively improved,” said Bucchero Managing Partner Harlan Malter. “We have broken the mold a bit with Bucchero and we feel we are doing it again with our move to New York.”
Bucchero has celebrated a breakout season in 2023. His second crop has produced two unrestricted juvenile stakes winners, taking his total to three overall, and he has been represented by nine stakes-placed horses from 84 starters. Bucchero is the sire of 52 individual winners, a percentage of 62% that is second-best among his peers with 50 or more runners and higher than the likes of Justify and Good Magic. His runners have finished in the top three in over 47% of their combined appearances.
Bucchero is currently the second-leading sire of 2-year-olds by earnings outside the state of Kentucky ($856,604). In New York, his current 2-year-old progeny earnings would make him the #1 juvenile sire in the state and his total 2023 progeny earnings of $2,291,021 would make him the third-leading sire overall in New York behind only Central Banker and Tourist.
Led by Shards, who sold for $175,000 at the 2023 OBS March Sale, Bucchero has excelled in the 2-year-old market, with consistently quick under-tack previews that have translated to the sales ring. From a $5,000 stud fee, Bucchero averaged nearly 10 times his stud fee with a $48,595 average from 21 sold in 2022 and built upon that in 2023 with an average of $51,133 from 30 sold.
Bucchero has quickly become a “trainers'” stallion as many went right back to the well in the second crop after campaigning first-crop runners. Joe Orseno, the trainer of first-crop stakes winner Beauty of the Sea and second-crop stakes winner Mattingly (85 Beyer in his most recent stakes start) commented, “I have now trained eight of them and they do nothing but run. Mattingly is a perfect example, a stakes winner on synthetic, stakes placed short on the turf and seven furlongs on dirt and I am now pointing him to the $300K In Reality Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on the dirt. They are fast and smart, versatile and racy.”
“We are thrilled to bring Bucchero to McMahon and the New York program as we feel Bucchero is built for a program like this,” added John McMahon. “He has shown he produces fast, precocious and, most importantly for New York breeders going forward, runners that can win on anything.”
Malter, who campaigned Bucchero along with the current ownership group added, “All of us involved with Bucchero started as small breeders looking to survive in a very difficult market segment. Bucchero has proved he can get a breeder a quality sales horse and possibly even more importantly, a runner who will keep them looking forward to that 'mailbox money' small breeders depend on to succeed.”
On his way from Florida to New York, Bucchero will make a pit stop in Lexington during the second week of the Keeneland November Sale for a stallion show on November 14th from 1 – 4 pm at Kesmarc at 258 Shannon Run Rd, Versailles.
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