Examining 2019's North American Grade 1 Winners

Cambier Parc (Medaglia d'Oro) was the most expensive yearling purchase to win a Grade 1 in 2019.

No one would argue that 2019 wasn’t a challenging year for horse racing in the United States. But even with those struggles, new stars brightened the year and old favorites graced the winner's circle with 82 different horses winning the 110 Grade 1 races in North America.

Looking back on the year that was brings some interesting bloodstock facts to light, from a $4,500 yearling purchase winning a Grade 1 to interesting breeding patterns. Here are 10 points of interest I found when examining last year’s Grade 1 winners.

Numbers Breakdown – There were 66 dirt (or synthetic) Grade 1 races in 2019 and 44 turf Grade 1s. Of the 110 Grade 1 races run in North America, 24 were run under a mile with three on turf and 21 on dirt. Twenty-one Grade 1s were run at a mile with turf taking the advantage at that distance. Fourteen Grade 1s were run at a mile on turf with only seven dirt Grade 1s (three restricted to two or 3-year-olds).

Not surprisingly, the route division had the most Grade 1 races with 65 races across the continent. Dirt races again gain the advantage here with 38 Grade 1s (22 being restricted to 2- or 3-year-olds) to the 27 turf races (eight restricted to 3-year-olds, none to 2-year-olds).

Of the 82 horses to win at least one Grade 1, only World Of Trouble (Kantharos) won Grade 1s on both surfaces this year. He wasn’t the only horse to win more than one Grade 1 race though with 19 winning two or more at the level in North America.

Three-By-Three Inbreeding – Two Grade 1 winners find their parents are closely related through their sireline with the same sire in the third generation on both sides of the pedigree.

Five-time Grade 1 winner Bricks And Mortar’s sire Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat) is a grandson of Storm Bird, as is Bricks And Mortar's dam Beyond The Waves (Ocean Crest). That breeding trend seemed to work well here as Bricks And Mortar won all six of his starts in 2019 (including five Grade 1s, the most of any U.S. horse) and won 11 of his 13 starts overall. 

The stallion ended his career with a win against Europeans in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf in November and recently arrived in Japan, where he will commence stud duties this year.

He wasn’t the only three-by-three Grade 1 winner out there however, with Grade 1 Preakness Stakes winner War Of Will (War Front) bred 3 x 3 to Storm Bird’s sire Northern Dancer (Nearctic) through sons Danzig (War Front’s sire) and Sadler’s Wells (Visions of Clarity’s sire). 

War Of Will is one of those unique horses who can run on both dirt and turf – he was Grade 1 placed on turf in his second start as a 2-year-old and won the Preakness in May. The colt looks to be one of a group of talented colts to return in 2020.

Inbreeding – Many of the Grade 1 winners have inbreeding at least once in their pedigree but only 14 have the same sire line top and bottom (Mr. Prospector x Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer x Northern Dancer are the two combinations seen). Of those 14 who share the same sireline top and bottom, four of them (Code Of Honor, El Tormenta, Iridessa, and McKinzie) have 4 x 4 inbreeding to either Northern Dancer or Mr. Prospector (Raise a Native). Northern Dancer outnumbers Mr. Prospector three to one with three horses' sire and damsire hailing from Northern Dancer’s line.

Horse	Sire	Sireline	Dam	Sireline
Belvoir Bay	Equiano	Northern Dancer	Path Of Peace	Northern Dancer
Bricks And Mortar	Giant's Causeway	Northern Dancer	Beyond the Waves	Northern Dancer
Code of Honor	Noble Mission	Northern Dancer	Reunited	Northern Dancer
El Tormenta	Stormy Atlantic	Northern Dancer	Torreadora	Northern Dancer
Gift Box	Twirling Candy	Mr. Prospector	Special Me	Mr. Prospector
Henley's Joy	Kitten's Joy	Northern Dancer	Blue Grass Music	Northern Dancer
Iridessa	Ruler Of The World	Northern Dancer	Senta's Dream	Northern Dancer
McKinzie	Street Sense	Mr. Prospector	Runway Model	Mr. Prospector
Roadster	Quality Road	Mr. Prospector	Ghost Dancing	Mr. Prospector
She's a Julie	Elusive Quality	Mr. Prospector	Kydd Gloves	Mr. Prospector
Sistercharlie	Myboycharlie	Northern Dancer	Starlet's Sister	Northern Dancer
Street Band	Istan	Mr. Prospector	Stret Minstrl	Mr. Prospector
Vino Rosso	Curlin	Mr. Prospector	Mythical Bride	Mr. Prospector
War Of Will	War Front	Northern Dancer	Visions of Clarity	Northern Dancer

Fappiano – One of Mr. Prospector’s most influential sons – if not the most – Fappiano’s branch of the Mr. Prospector line was responsible for the sires of seven Grade 1 winners (Twirling Candy, Midnight Lute, Liam’s Map, Empire Maker, and Candy Ride [Twirling Candy’s sire]) all descending from the stallion.

Fappiano’s line is also responsible for the damsires of six Grade 1 winners (Buddha, Candy Ride, Empire Maker, Malabar Gold, Unbridled, and Unbridled’s Song). Going back to the inbreeding point, Gift Box (Twirling Candy) is from the Fappiano line on both top and bottom with the stallion’s son Cryptoclearance responsible for Candy Ride (Ride The Rails) and sons with another Fappiano son, Unbridled, the grandsire of Gift Box’s dam Special Me (Unbridled’s Song).

Age & Gender– The average age of Grade 1 winners in 2019 was 3.8 years old with 14 2-year-old winners, 26 3-year-old winners, 20 4-year-old winners, 11 5-year-old winners, eight 6-year-old winners, two 7-year-old winners, and one 8-year-old winner (Ohio). Thirty-five fillies or mares, seven geldings, and forty intact males had Grade 1 wins in 2019, with Bricks And Mortar having the most of any intact male, Bast (Uncle Mo), Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), and Sistercharlie (Myboycharlie) the most of any female with three each, and all the geldings winning one each.

Sales Prices – Fifty-seven of the 82 Grade 1 winners sold at public auction at least once in their lives, led by Blue Prize (Pure Prize) bringing $5 million at this year’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Taking out the prices of those who raced pre-sale, Cambier Parc (Medaglia d’Oro) was the most expensive yearling at $1.25 million with Structor (Palace Malice) the most expensive 2-year-old at $850,000. 

Secret Spice (Discreet Cat) was the least expensive of all horses when bringing $4,500 as a yearling ($500 less than Storm The Court as a short yearling). The Grade 1 Beholder Mile winner did see a 2,677.78 percent change when selling for $125,000 as a 2-year-old with an even bigger increase of 31,011 percent from that yearling price when sold for $1.4 million at this year’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

When adding in the 2019 November Breeding Stock sales prices back in, last year’s Grade 1 winners averaged $338,889 in the ring with a $140,000 median. Somewhat surprisingly, taking those post-Grade 1 sales out, the median only drops $15,000 to $125,000, though the average drops to $209,576.

Blue Prize was the most expensive of all Grade 1 winners in 2019.

Country Bred – Not surprisingly, 70 of the 82 Grade 1 winners in North America were bred in the United States with the horses hailing from California, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Ireland was the second most popular breeding spot with four horses while England and Canada tied at three each. Brazil and Argentina both take home unique honors with their one horse apiece – Brazilian-bred Ohio (Elusive Quality) was the oldest horse to win a Grade 1 this year while Argentinian Blue Prize was the most expensive sold at public auction.

Sires and Damsires – It takes a special stallion to have a top-level runner as either a sire or damsire and only exceptional sires can get Grade 1 winners as both in the same year. In 2019, 11 different stallions conquered that mountain with only Arch having two Grade 1 winners as both a sire and damsire. Three sires tie for the youngest to accomplish the sire/damsire feat with Empire Maker (Unbridled), Sky Mesa (Pulpit), and Stroll (Pulpit) all 19 years old in 2019.

Sire Numbers - Another achievement accomplished by 14 different stallions was that of siring at least two Grade 1 winners in North America in 2019. They were led by the quick rising Quality Road (whose sire Elusive Quality also sired two Grade 1 winners), with four different Grade 1 winners – three of them 3-year-olds. Others to sire more than two Grade 1 winners were Hard Spun (Danzig) and More Than Ready (Southern Halo).

As predicted, freshmen sires proved to be strong in 2019 with Constitution (Tapit), Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) and Palace Malice (Curlin) all siring Grade 1 winners.

On the damsire side, eight stallions were the damsires of multiple Grade 1 winners. This category was led impressively by 2019 16-year-old active sire Bernardini's (A.P. Indy)  daughters producing five Grade 1 winners. His success played a large part in the Seattle Slew sireline having 14 different Grade 1 winners as damsires. Seattle Slew himself was the damsire of Grade 1 winning 4-year-old Higher Power (Medaglia d’Oro) in 2019.

Breeders – Breeders play an important part in the success of Grade 1 races by planning matings and paying the bills to produce horses good enough to run in the races. Seventy-three different breeders bred the 82 Grade 1 winners in 2019 with Godolphin leading the pack with four Grade 1 winners followed by six other breeders who bred more than one Grade 1 winner. Notably, two of the top 3-year-old colts of 2019 are owned by their breeders - Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) and Code Of Honor (Noble Mission).

Did you know Melissa offers research services to the racing industry? Visit www.PyroisMedia.com for more information about her research and other services or send her an email at Melissa@PyroisMedia.com for more information.