Seven Stallions Star On Wet And Wild Weekend at Pimlico

A wet and interesting weekend at Pimlico Race Course had more than a few talking points when everyone headed home on Saturday night. Justify (Scat Daddy) gave Bob Baffert his second Triple Crown chance in four years when he raced through the fog to win the Preakness Stakes as the biggest winner of the two-day festival but he wasn’t the only big story.

Seven different stallions had spectacular weekends that saw Pimlico playing a leading role with just a few weeks before breeding sheds close around the northern hemisphere. Here are the leading men who didn’t let a little mud or fog in Maryland stop them from making headlines.

Awesome Again/Deputy Minister – At 24 years old and still an active stallion, Awesome Again (Deputy Minister) is already impressive. But add in the fact that that he plays a major role in the pedigrees of the top two Preakness finishers, the Black Eye Susan second and the Chick Lang third and it was a great weekend for the Adena Spring stallion.

In the Preakness, it was a family affair with the stallion’s son Ghostzapper as the broodmare sire of Justify (Scat Daddy) while Awesome Again is the sire of Calumet bred and raced second-place finisher Bravazo. Bravazo was bred the year after Calumet won the Preakness Stakes with Awesome Again’s Oxbow, who also represented his sire well over the weekend when Coach Rocks finished second in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan after becoming her sire’s first graded stakes winner earlier this year. Not to be outdone by his little brother, Oxbow’s full brother Awesome Patriot added a third stakes placed horse to his resume when Clouded Judgement finished third in the Chick Lang Stakes. Awesome Again stood for a private fee at Adena Springs Kentucky division for the first time in 2017 and bred 69 mares.

Calumet played a big part in Awesome Again's weekend.

While Awesome Again provided his late sire with many of the accomplishments over the weekend, Deputy Minister’s other branches also helped out. Outside of the Awesome Again horses, seven runners from other branches of Deputy Minister’s line had horses hit the top three. Included in that was Silver Deputy giving his sire a pair of victories through Caleb’s Posse’s (Posse) Girls Know Best in The Very One Stakes and Spring at Last (Silver Deputy) with Song of Spring in the Allaire DuPont Distaff. Deputy Minister was Vice Regent’s (Northern Dancer) only son whose branch had runners hit the board in Pimlico stakes races this weekend.

Curlin – Curlin’s streak of having a Triple Crown race placer every year he’s had 3-year-olds was safe when Good Magic was second in the Kentucky Derby but that wasn’t where success ended for the sire on this year’s trail. At Pimlico, Curlin’s very promising Irish War Cry – who helped keep the aforementioned Triple Crown streak alive last year – won the Pimlico Special while Tenfold and Peach of a Gal both finished third in their respective races. Curlin also had a fourth place finisher in the Preakness when Good Magic finished one spot behind Tenfold.

Interestingly enough, both of Curlin’s Friday placers (Irish War Cry and Peach of a Gal) are out of Polish Numbers mares. That cross has proved to be a successful nick with all nine foals of racing age bred on it making at least one start with seven winners and two stakes winners.

Fappiano – Fappiano is making a strong case for being the most successful son of Mr. Prospector with his branch’s successes on the track and that continued this weekend. Four stakes runners at Pimlico with sires or broodmare sires from his line won a race there (two apiece for the sire side & broodmare sire side) with a farther three placing in the races. Three of those were thanks to his late grandson Unbridled’s Song (Unbridled), who was the sire of the Dixie Stakes runner-up, grandsire of the Chick Lang second, and broodmare sire of Miss Preakness third Buy Sell Hold (Violence).

Buy Sell Hold

Giant’s Causeway– The late Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat) put on a show at Pimlico through his sons and daughters over the weekend. The stallion’s sons sired two winners with Japan-based Eskendereya siring the freaky fast Mitole and the late Giant Oak starting the weekend off with Skipat winner Vertical Oak.

As a broodmare sire, the stallion showed why he is leading the Broodmare Sire standings this year (and would still be in the top three if Pegasus earnings were removed) when his daughter produced Grade 3 Pimlico Special third Untrapped. His son First Samurai is also proving to be more than useful himself as the broodmare sire of Skipat third Ms Locust Point to make sure Giant’s Causeway’s line is alive and well for years to come.

Great Notion – It’s only fitting for a Maryland-based stallion to star on one of Maryland’s biggest days and this year, Great Notion (Elusive Quality) was the headliner. A leading sire in the state, all three of the horses he had in Saturday’s stakes races (as a sire or broodmare sire) finished third with those three coming in consecutive races. Lewisfield and Anna’s Bandit were both sired by the stallion while Prince Lucky (Corinthian) is out of his daughter Lucky Notion.

Indian Charlie– If you’re an Indian Charlie (In Excess) fan, this weekend was the one for you. While his best son Uncle Mo led the charge with four winners – including Ultra Brat at Pimlico – on Saturday, Indian Charlie’s daughters also did their parts. Indian Charlie sired the dams of Chick Lang winner and third place finishers Mitole and Clouded Judgement, while Switzerland was another winner for the stallion in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint.

Indian Charlie was the big winner of the Caro line over the weekend but was far from the only representative. Three other sires descending from the line had stakes placed horses at Pimlico over the weekend with Mizzen Mast (Cozzene) siring the dam of Miss Preakness second Artistic Diva and being the sire of a placer himself in Gallorette third Brooks House.

Indian Charlie's best son, Uncle Mo

Scat Daddy – For any sire, a Preakness Stakes victory would be more than enough to seal up a stellar weekend. But for the late Scat Daddy (Johannesburg), it was just one race in a big weekend. He started Friday off with an allowance winner at Churchill Downs (Soglio) followed by Tap Daddy winning the James W. Murphy on the Preakness undercard on Saturday seven races before Justify’s victory. Giving Scat Daddy a third winner on the day and a cross-country accomplishment was Daddysprize winning his second race in three starts with a victory at Golden Gate.

To really top of the weekend, the stallion hit the major milestone of 100 career stakes winners when Sergei Prokofiev started a three-race win sequence for the sire when winning the listed Rochestown Stakes at Naas.  That was followed by his First Crop Sire son No Nay Never getting that stallion’s first stakes winner in the Irish EBF Fillies’ Sprint Stakes followed up by Scat Daddy getting another stakes winner on the weekend when Group 1 winner Sioux Nation won his first race of the season in the Group 3 Lacken Stakes. Overall, since last Saturday, Scat Daddy has sired eight winners (four stakes winners) and two stakes placed horses.