Speightstown, Constitution Headline WinStar Farm’s 2021 Stallion Roster; Tiznow Pensioned From Stud Duty

WinStar Farm has set 2021 stud fees for its 22-stallion roster, headed by Speightstown who will stand for $90,000 S&N and leading second-crop sire Constitution who will stand for $85,000 S&N.

WinStar will further bolster its roster for the upcoming breeding season by welcoming new stallions Improbable, Laoban, Tom's d'Etat, Global Campaign, and Promises Fulfilled. WinStar has also announced that considering the current circumstances facing the industry that fees for most of the stallions on its roster will be reduced.

“During these times we felt it appropriate to drop 75 percent of our fees,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. “We gave two horses a bump—Speightstown, the co-leading sire this year with three Grade 1 winners and fourth general leading sire, and Constitution who has over-delivered at every point of his career. As always, our mission is to offer breeders stallions of the highest quality. We are excited about Laoban joining our roster and three very live horses in the Breeders' Cup Classic joining our roster for the 2021 breeding season.”

Added Liam O'Rourke, WinStar's director of bloodstock services, “We are offering breeders the opportunity to secure a limited number of seasons to Laoban, Outwork, and Improbable before the Breeders' Cup, with their prices subject to change based on their Breeders' Cup results.”

Improbable, City Zip's only four-time Grade 1 winner, has rattled off three consecutive Grade 1 scores in 2020 and is the early favorite for next month's $6-million Breeders' Cup Classic. He was a runaway winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita, earning a 105 Beyer and then shipped to Saratoga and dominated the historic G1 Whitney Stakes, earning a 106 Beyer. Most recently, he romped by 4 1/2 lengths in the G1 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita, defeating champion Maximum Security and earning a 108 Beyer.

Tom's d'Etat, by sire of sires Smart Strike, is also a top contender for the Breeders' Cup Classic for G M B Racing. He registered a brilliant 4 1/4-length victory in this year's G2 Stephen Foster Stakes, running a career-best 109 Beyer. Tom's d'Etat covered 1 1/8 miles in an eye-catching 1:47.30, geared down in the late stages. The final time came within a whisker of Victory Gallop's track and stakes record of 1:47.28 set in 1999.

The Al Stall trainee has recorded 10 triple-digit Beyers, including nine in a row in an illustrious career. Tom's d'Etat is out of the stakes-winning and multiple stakes-placed Giant's Causeway mare Julia Tuttle who is out of a full sister to Pacific Classic (G1) winner and leading sire Candy Ride (ARG).

Global Campaign, a son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, heads to the Breeders' Cup Classic following back-to-back graded stakes scores and is a winner in three of four starts in 2020 for WinStar Farm and Sagamore Farm. He emulated his sire by capturing the G1 Woodward Handicap in his most recent start, earning a career-best 104 Beyer for trainer Stanley Hough. The Woodward was his second straight graded win following a victory in the G3 Monmouth Cup Stakes in his prior outing.

Promises Fulfilled won five graded stakes at distances from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles—winning the G1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes, G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, G2 John A. Nerud Stakes, G2 Phoenix Stakes, and G3 Amsterdam Stakes, competing exclusively in graded stakes company following his first two victories at two. In front in 15-of-17 starts no matter the distance, Promises Fulfilled competed in 15 graded stakes, including eight Grade 1s, banking $1,455,530 in a stellar career for trainer Dale Romans.

The upcoming breeding season—with the influx of Grade 1 winners embarking on their stallion careers at WinStar—will also mark a changing of the guard. Tiznow, a multiple champion on the racetrack and an influential stallion who has made an indelible mark on the breed, will be retired from stud duty. Still the only two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic, Tiznow was a champion on the racetrack and in the breeding shed, siring numerous elite runners.

Known as “The Big Horse Sire,” Tiznow is the sire of 15 Grade 1 winners that have won many of the world's most prestigious events. He is the sire of Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed, G1 Travers Stakes winner Colonel John, and Breeders' Cup winners Folklore, winner of the 2005 Juvenile Fillies and Tourist, winner of the 2016 Mile. He has even made his mark as an emerging broodmare sire of 34 stakes winners, including multiple Grade 1 winner Tiz the Law.

Fees with an asterisk are good through Breeders' Cup and are subject to change pending results. For Tom's d'Etat and Global Campaign, fees will be announced after the Breeders' Cup.

The complete 2021 roster of stallions and fees for WinStar Farm are as follows:

Stallion S&N Fee
Tom's d'Etat – NEW TBD
Global Campaign – NEW TBD
Distorted Humor Private
Speightstown $90,000
Constitution $85,000
More Than Ready $65,000
Improbable – NEW $40,000*
Laoban – NEW $25,000*
Audible $22,500
Always Dreaming $17,500
Exaggerator $15,000
Outwork $15,000*
Take Charge Indy $15,000
Yoshida (JPN) $15,000
Speightster $10,000
Promises Fulfilled – NEW $10,000
Carpe Diem $7,500
Congrats $7,500
Good Samaritan $7,500
Paynter $7,500
Tourist $5,000
Fed Biz $5,000

The post Speightstown, Constitution Headline WinStar Farm’s 2021 Stallion Roster; Tiznow Pensioned From Stud Duty appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Taking Stock: The Daredevil Syndrome

You know this adage well: “Sell a stallion overseas and he’ll catch fire.” The latest example is Daredevil (More Than Ready), whose remarkable first-crop daughter Swiss Skydiver put on a show for the ages on Saturday to deny Gl Kentucky Derby winner Authentic (Into Mischief) the Gl Preakness S. at Pimlico. Trained by a daredevil in Kenny McPeek, Swiss Skydiver and Authentic engaged in a protracted head-to-head stretch duel, but the filly never let Authentic get the better of her at any stage and won the Classic by a neck, defeating a colt who is valued at more than $20 million and is a son of North America’s hottest sire, whose fee will be $225,000 live foal next year.

In contrast, McPeek purchased Swiss Skydiver for owner Peter J. Callahan for just $35,000 at the Keeneland September sale. Her sire Daredevil had entered stud at WinStar in 2016 for $12,500, and by the time she sold in the ring, he was down to $7,500. Last November, with his first runners only two, WinStar sold Daredevil (along with Derby winner Super Saver {Maria’s Mon}, sire of Runhappy) to The Turkish Jockey Club after completing just four years at stud at the Kentucky nursery.

What all of this points out, of course, is that you can never tell with any precision the price point from where a good sire or horse will come. Into Mischief, speaking of the devil, also started off for $12,500 at Spendthrift and was down to $7,500 before his runners took off, and racing history is full of examples of inexpensive yearlings that made good. Seattle Slew was a $17,500 yearling, Zenyatta cost $60,000, and Curlin made $57,000 on a bid from none other than McPeek.

However, the recent phenomenon of selling young stallions abroad before they’ve had a chance to prove themselves is directly a result of the commercialization of the industry, specifically in Kentucky. Those stallions in their third and fourth years at stud are particularly vulnerable because their patronage drops off precipitously in many cases, and here’s why: commercial breeders don’t like to assume the risks of selling yearlings from a stallion’s third and fourth crops, because the stallion’s oldest foals will be three and four and fully exposed on the racetrack by the time those yearlings sell. If the stallion isn’t successful, breeders will get punished in the sales ring.

By the way, this can apply to a stallion in his second year at stud as well, and Runhappy is the big example this year. His 2020 yearlings to date have averaged $47,270 versus $222,625 for his first-crop yearlings last year. Why? Because at this writing, he’s been represented by only four 2-year-old winners and no stakes horses.

Runhappy may very well turn things around by the end of the year and have success with his 3-year-olds like Daredevil, but that’s moot to the commercial yearling sellers who drive the stallion marketplace. As they’ve increased in numbers and scale, they’ve increasingly backed “risk-free” first-year horses or elite sires at the top end of the marketplace, leaving strings of crumbling books in their wake.

By the way, it’s primarily for this reason that The Jockey Club intervened with its 140-mare cap rule, which begins with foals of 2020. The thinking was that by limiting big books, overflow mares will go to younger horses in their third and fourth years or to mid-level proven horses, but that’s not going to happen with an industry dominated by commercial breeders, is it? What it likely will lead to is a greater number of sires entering stud–more first-crop sires on the front end to satisfy insatiable demand–but it’s not going to address the existing back-end issues of crops two to four, meaning we’re likely to see even more departures from Kentucky of young horses in the future.

Daredevil Syndrome

The Daredevil saga is a bit of deja vu for WinStar. The farm had sold GI Florida Derby winner Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy) to the Korea Racing Authority in November of 2016 after completing only three years at stud. By 2018, Take Charge Indy’s first-crop 3-year-olds included several notable runners on the Triple Crown trail, such as GII Rebel S. winner Long Range Toddy and GII Louisiana Derby winner Noble Indy, and GIII Forward Gal S. winner Take Charge Paula among a total of seven black-type winners.

WinStar exercised a clause in the sale of Take Charge Indy that allowed it to repurchase the horse and stand him again at WinStar in 2020, but Elliott Walden, president and CEO at WinStar, said on Tuesday that no such mechanism for repurchase existed in the sale of Daredevil. On the question of whether WinStar was pursuing a deal to bring Daredevil back, Walden was noncommittal.

Certainly, there’s a case to be made for bringing Daredevil back. For one, he was a 2-year-old Grade I winner of the Champagne S., trained by stallion-making trainer Todd Pletcher at that. He’s also been the first son of WinStar’s excellent sire and former Pletcher trainee More Than Ready to show life as a stallion in North America. Remember, Swiss Skydiver, Preakness aside, also won the GI Alabama S. and is odds-on to be named the champion 3-year-old filly.

To date, Daredevil is the sire of four black-type winners, and Swiss Skydiver isn’t his only top-level winner: Shedaresthedevil defeated Swiss Skydiver and the outstanding Into Mischief filly Gamine in the GI Kentucky Oaks. And Daredevil also is represented by the talented 2-year-old filly Esplanande, a stakes winner of three of four starts who was second in the GI Spinaway S. last month.

WinStar bred both Swiss Skydiver and Shedaresthedevil and is co-breeder and co-owner of Esplanande, but Walden will be the first to admit that he never expected Daredevil to do what he’s done. Furthermore, Walden noted that Daredevil “bred only 21 mares in 2019,” which meant that 2020 was projected to be a bigger struggle. Swiss Skydiver was only a maiden special weight winner and Shedaresthedevil only a graded-placed winner last year, and Daredevil was barely visible with a magnifying glass on freshman sire lists, much as Runhappy is now. In contrast, Take Charge Indy had finished second to Violence on the first-crop list of 2017, and it was easier to project improvement from his runners because the stallion himself was a Grade I winner at three and a son of late-developing A.P. Indy. The Daredevils were expected to make an impression at two based on the stallion’s own race record and his sire’s production history of precocious runners, but they didn’t.

To further complicate matters, the Daredevils as a group weren’t particularly fetching physical specimens, more just average types. Owner-breeder Chuck Fipke had one knockout colt that he bought back for $375,000 at the Keeneland sale in 2018, but the stallion’s first-crop yearling average that year was $34,811 for 56 sold–the average of what Swiss Skydiver brought.

The case of Daredevil isn’t isolated but rather the example of a syndrome. Gary and Mary West went through this with New Year’s Day (Street Cry {Ire}), the sire of their champion Maximum Security and Grade l winner Fighting Mad–both homebreds from the stallion’s second crop. Like Daredevil and Into Mischief, New Year’s Day was a Grade I winner at two who entered stud for a $12,500 fee. He was sold to Brazilian breeders after five seasons at stud because no one was breeding to him after his first few years except for the Wests, and after the success of Maximum Security, he was purchased by Shadai to stand in Japan.

There are other examples–California Chrome is a bigger name sold last November to Japan after three seasons–and depending on where you stand, it could be unfortunate or not. Most stallions are not going to make it, and a secondary market from Turkey, Korea, Japan, or South America is welcome relief for stallion investors.

But why this happens should not surprise anyone anymore. Unless more breeders step up to back stallions for four or five years and race the horses they produce, stallions will continue to become disposable after a few years at stud. That’s how this market works.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

The post Taking Stock: The Daredevil Syndrome appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Minnesota Oaks Winner Hotasapistol Takes On Open Company In Remington Park Oaks

The Grade 3, $100,000 Remington Park Oaks tops the undercard for Oklahoma Derby Sunday, Sept. 27. The 1-1/16 miles main track event will be drawn in the track racing office on Wednesday morning.

Clinton Stuart, a mainstay at Remington Park throughout the track's history, is expected to enter Hotasapistol in the oaks. The 3-year-old filly by Flat Out from the Dayjur mare Alacazar would make her first attempt away from Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn.

Owned by Gary and Brenda Bergsrud, Hotasapistol has made eight starts in her career, three as a juvenile and five this summer, all in Minnesota-bred company at Canterbury. The winner of the $100,000 Minnesota Oaks on Aug. 19, Hotasapistol put in her first local work for the Remington Park Oaks on Monday, Sept. 21. She went a half-mile in :49.72, handily, on a fast track.

Stuart is seeking his second Remington Park Oaks victory. He saddled standout War Thief to win the 1995 oaks, when it was contested at 1-1/16 miles over the turf.

Also targeting the Remington Park Oaks is the Simon Callaghan-trained Paige Anne. Arrived on Monday at Remington Park, she will make her first start outside of California in the Remington Park Oaks. Most recently, she was third in the Grade 3, $100,000 Torrey Pines at Del Mar on Aug. 22.

A daughter of Take Charge Indy from the Milwaukee Brew mare Forbidden, Paige Anne worked at Santa Anita on Sunday, Sept. 20, prior to traveling to Oklahoma City. She moved a half-mile in :50.1 handily on a fast track for trainer Simon Callaghan.

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