Whether they stand in Kentucky's finest stallion station or a remote outpost in Alaska, the best-case scenario for any North American sire involves having a runner from his first crop win a Triple Crown race.
History has proven this to be easier said than done, but a young sire that manages to achieve the feat is more often than not set up for a long, bountiful stud career.
This year's Triple Crown series saw Constitution become the 10th horse to sire a North American classic winner in his first crop since 1995, when Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes in June. In October, Daredevil became the 11th stallion to join the club when his daughter Swiss Skydiver shocked the Preakness Stakes.
It was the first time two first-crop sires were represented by classic winners since 2017, when Always Dreaming won the Kentucky Derby for Bodemeister and Cloud Computing upset the Preakness Stakes for Maclean's Music.
Of course, there are no sure-fire indicators of future success or failure in a young stallion. There are plenty of examples of one-hit wonders whose Triple Crown race winner was their only upper-crust runner of note. Some of them just have their time in the sun earlier than others.
The market has proven, though, that a stallion that hits early will get more chances to succeed, and many of the 11 horses in the “First-Crop Club” took advantage of that trend and continued to do well.
The debate over the club member with the most successful stud career depends on the metric one wants to use.
For those counting by earnings, the winner is Street Cry, who saw champion Street Sense take the 2007 Derby. Street Cry currently sits with progeny earnings in excess of $170 million.
The late resident of Darley's Jonabell Farm became an international star at stud, siring arguably the best fillies of this century on both sides of the world: Hall of Famer Zenyatta in the Northern Hemisphere, and Australian superstar Winx in the Southern Hemisphere. He's also responsible for another top filly, Australian-born Oh Susanna, who was named South Africa's Horse of Year in 2018.
Street Cry's four progeny Breeders' Cup victories tied him with fellow Darley stallion Medaglia d'Oro for the most among the club members.
Medaglia d'Oro can also stake a claim for producing the top Northern Hemisphere filly of the century, in Rachel Alexandra, who won the 2009 Preakness as part of her sire's first crop.
Like Street Cry, Medaglia d'Oro has fashioned himself into an international sire, capable of getting a winner over any ground put before his foals. His runners have made 34 starts in Breeders' Cup races, giving him the most in the club, and his 78 graded or group stakes winners is highly likely to pass leader Street Cry's 82 before long.
Currently one of North America's most reliable high-level commercial sires, Medaglia d'Oro is also responsible for two-time champion Songbird, Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot, and Breeders' Cup winners Talismanic, Bar of Gold, and New Money Honey.
Looking at the overall body of work, Unbridled has a case for being named the most successful member of the club, as well. He became the first member of the club to post a first- crop classic winner after 1995, when Grindstone won the 1996 Derby.
Since then, Unbridled rests as the club's leader by Eclipse Award winners (four) and classic winners (three) and co-leader by classic starters. This made all the more impressive considering he did it with just 10 crops – less than five of his contemporaries.
In the years that followed Grindstone's Derby victory, Unbridled added 2000 Preakness winner Red Bullet and 2003 Belmont winner Empire Maker. He had a pair of champion 3-year-old fillies in Banshee Breeze and Smuggler, and a pair of 2-year-old Breeders' Cup winners who won their respective Eclipse Award categories in Half- bridled and Anees.
Of course, any conversation about the impact of Unbridled on the racetrack and beyond can't take place without Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and leading sire Unbridled's Song, as well.
Unbridled is one of three sires in the club to have another classic winner after their initial success. Maria's Mon punched his ticket when Monarchos won the 2001 Derby, then Super Saver won the same race nine years later.
Distorted Humor saw Funny Cide claim the Derby and Preakness in 2003, making him the only first-crop sire since 1995 to take two legs of the Triple Crown with the same runner. In 2010, Drosselmeyer scored the upset in the Belmont Stakes to give him another classic triumph. A year later, Drosselmeyer shocked the world once again winning the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Distorted Humor is the most experienced member of the club, with 19 crops of racing age through 2020, and more to come. The WinStar Farm resident's 167 stakes winners is the most of the horses in this group, and his 30 Breeders' Cup starts is second. He is also tied for the club's most classic starters, with nine.
Birdstone's admission into the club was unique, being the only sire in the group to punch his ticket with two different classic winners. In 2009, Mine That Bird skimmed the rail to upset the Kentucky Derby, then Summer Bird won the Belmont Stakes en route to securing that year's champion 3-year-old male honors.
Getting two classic winners and a champion out of a first crop seems like it ought to project to a massive stallion career, but Birdstone was never quite able to follow up on that early momentum. Noble Bird became a Grade 1 winner for his sire, and Swipe finished second in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile by just half a length, but Birdstone never had another classic starter after his first crop. Though he had a stud career that many stallions could only strive to attain, it lagged behind his breed-shaping contemporaries who entered the club around the same time.
After Birdstone and Medaglia d'Oro punched their tickets into the club, there was a seven-year gap before another stallion joined them, but that newcomer proved to be worth the wait.
With just six crops of racing age, Ashford Stud's Uncle Mo is on pace to compete for the mantle as the club's most successful member. After his first crop of juveniles set the earnings record for a freshman sire, led by champion 2-year-old male and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Nyquist, the same horse won the 2016 Derby.
Uncle Mo is already tied for the group's most classic starters, with nine, including three in his first Derby. His 69 stakes winners is the fourth-most among his contemporaries, and his 41 graded/group stakes winners is in the top four. With blazing speed, Uncle Mo proved himself as a sire of the highest-quality runners, and his reward was a place in the upper echelon of today's commercial sires.
A year after Uncle Mo punched his ticket, Bodemeister joined the group with Always Dreaming in the Derby, and Maclean's Music earned his place with Cloud Computing in the Preakness.
Despite entering stud as one the more lauded prospects in his class, Bodemeister never caught the same spark after Always Dreaming's high-level run in the spring of 2017. He has no Breeders' Cup starters through his first four crops of racing age. The grandson of Unbridled through sire Empire Maker was sold to stand in Turkey at the end of the 2019 breeding season, which means time is running out for him to sire another significant top-shelf U.S. runner.
Maclean's Music, a resident of Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, has high-level results almost in lockstep with Bodemeister, with about half the starters. The son of fellow club member Distorted Humor has been on the upswing heading into this year's Breeders' Cup, with multiple Grade 1 winner Jackie's Warrior pointing toward the Juvenile and Grade 1 winner Complexity contending for the Dirt Mile.
Much like the last two stallions to accomplish the feat in the same year, Constitution and Daredevil are on different trajectories, even though they started in the same place at WinStar Farm.
Constitution, a son of Tapit, appears destined for stardom at stud. In one of the deepest sire classes in recent memory – one including Triple Crown winner American Pharoah – Constitution has stood out as the kind of stallion that will aim to compete for a spot on the top shelf as a sire of runners and top-dollar horses. He had several buzzed-about runners on this year's Triple Crown trail, including Grade 3 winner Independence Hall and multiple Grade 1-placed Gouverneur Morris. He's also responsible for a pair of Group 1 winners in Chile.
Like Bodemeister, Daredevil was sent to Turkey after the 2019 breeding season. Because the pipeline of new foals was already at a trickle before he was exported, the son of More Than Ready's mission to carry on the momentum set by Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver and Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil will be more of an uphill climb than his contemporary. However, that positive momentum on the racetrack earned Daredevil a ticket back stateside, following the announcement that he'll stand at Lane's End in 2021 as property of the Turkish Jockey Club. The race, it appears, is far from over.
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