Sires To Watch: North American Freshmen Looking to Make An Impact

Justify leads this year's North American
freshmen.

With the breeding sheds opening this week, a new generation of young stallions will be starting their journey toward attempting to make an impact on the breed. In this week’s blog, we look at some new stallions in North America that are hitting the shed with strong credentials this year.  

Always Dreaming -  One of two Kentucky Derby winners retiring this year, Always Dreaming also won the Grade 1 Florida Derby and was third in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy (to fellow WinStar freshman Good Samaritan (Harlan’s Holiday) during his three-year-old season. The colt finished second in the Grade 2 Hardacre Mile as a 4-year-old as well. Out of graded stakes winner Above Perfection (In Excess), who also produced Grade 1 winner Hot Dixie Chick (Dixie Union) (dam of New York first-crop sire Union Jackson (Curlin)), he’ll stand for $25,000 this year.

Ashford’s Scat Daddys – A few years after losing star stallion Scat Daddy, Ashford has a formidable duo of his sons joining their roster.

Justify is the second Triple Crown winner to join their roster after American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), whose first foals hit the track this year. Justify not only broke the infamous “Apollo Curse” last year but went undefeated in his six starts with four of those being Grade 1 races and did it all in 112 days. The Horse of the Year has the pedigree to back up his sire credentials as one of two stakes winners out of Grade 3 placed Stage Magic (Ghostzapper). Justify’s third dam is excellent producer Voodoo Lily (Baldski), also the granddam of graded stakes winners Kid Cruz (Lemon Drop Kid) and Spellbound (Bernardini). Justify stands for $150,000 this year and is booked full.

Mendelssohn

Mendelssohn didn’t reach the heights of his studmate but he has both the race record and the pedigree to grab breeders' attention. Winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at 2 over a group that included multiple Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy (More Than Ready) and Epsom Derby winner Masar (New Approach) and finishing second to two-time champion U S Navy Flag (War Front) in the Grade 1 Dewhurst, at three the colt moved to dirt. The most impressive win in his career may be his 18 ½ length romp in the Grade 2 UAE Derby on the surface. The colt was also Grade 1 placed on the dirt, finishing second to Catholic Boy in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and making headlines when surviving a torrid pace against older horses to finish third in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. Mendelssohn has every right to become a top sire with Scat Daddy already looking like a sire-of-sires with No Nay Never having an outstanding 2018 with his first crop and Mendelssohn’s half-brother Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) being a top sire in the U.S. Mendelssohn is also a half-brother to four-time champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Daisy Mason, the dam of stakes winner Harry’s Holiday (Harlan’s Holiday). Mendelssohn is booked full at $35,000.

It’s also worth noting that Coolmore will stand Mo Town, a Grade 1 winning son of another top Ashford sire in Uncle Mo. A graded stakes winner on both dirt and turf, that colt is from another Glennwood mare in Grazie Millie (Bernardini), who is a half to two stakes winners. Mo Town will stand for $12,500 this year.

Bucchero – Bucchero (Kantharos) has three big things going for him in his first year at stud: His race record, the turf sprint division is starting to develop in North America, and he is a son of Kantharos - who has moved to Kentucky after starting his career in Florida. Bucchero broke his maiden at two and won a stakes every year from three to six years of age and

finished second in a stakes as a 2-year-old. Disadvantaged by a division with very few Grade 1s in North America, Bucchero headed to Royal Ascot in 2018 where he finished fifth but finished ahead of five Group winners led by champion Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy). Overall, Bucchero finished on the board in 14 stakes with seven stakes victories. Bucchero enters stud at $5,000 this year.

Collected

Collected – Grade 3 placed on turf and a Grade 1 winner on dirt, Collected showed many of the major versatility qualities of his sire City Zip. The stallion beat a group that included Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song) and Accelerate in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, finished second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic behind Gun Runner (Candy Ride) and won from 6 ½ furlongs on the turf to 10 furlongs on dirt. Seven of his eight career victories were in stakes races at some of the country’s best tracks so it’s no surprise he is booked full at $17,500 this year.

Funtastic – This More Than Ready son is an interesting prospect to the stallion ranks as a Grade 1 winner on turf who also has the breeding to be a top dirt sire. He won the Grade 1 United Nations at four and was second in the Gio Ponti Stakes at three and placed fourth in his only attempt at dirt in his debut. More Than Ready is obviously a stallion who can sire both dirt and turf horses with champions on both surfaces.

However, Funtastic’s female family leans more toward dirt. His dam is Grade 2 winner Quiet Dance, who also produced Horse of the Year Saint Liam (Saint Ballado) and Grade 2 winner Quiet Giant (Giant’s Causeway). Quiet Giant is the dam of Horse of the Year and fellow Three Chimneys stallion Gun Runner (Candy Ride). Saint Liam sired a Horse of the Year from a very limited number of foals, so the $7,500 fee Funtastic stands for may prove to be a bargain in a few years.

Good Magic – Good Magic (Curlin) had the bad misfortune of running into Justify (Scat Daddy) during most of his 3-year-old year but had a good enough 2-year-old season to earn championship honors before running into the Triple Crown winner at three. He was the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner against a field that included multiple Grade 1 winners and a European champion after finishing second in the Grade 1 Champagne as a 2-year-old to take that honor.

At three, he won the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational and Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes in addition to a second to Justify in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and third in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. While he finished off the board in the Grade 1 Preakness, that result is better than it looks with the colt pushing Justify for most of the race before finishing fifth. In an interesting connection, his granddam Magical Flash (Miswaki) produced another important family for Glennwood Farm, the same farm that bred Justify. Good Magic stands for $35,000 at Hill ‘n’ Dale in 2019.

Hoppertunity

Hoppertunity – A fan favorite during his five year career, Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) won at least one graded stakes race a year and was one of the favorites for the 2014 Kentucky Derby before injury derailed his Triple Crown hopes. He still won a Grade 1 that year when beating older horses in the Grade 1 Clark and was second in three Grade 1s the following year. At five he won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and finished third in the Grade 1 Dubai World Cup and at six was third in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap. Overall, Hoppertunity finished first second or third in nine Grade 1 races with 19 graded stakes top three finishes for $4.7 million in earnings. By the sire of Breeders’ Cup winner Mongolian Saturday, Hoppertunity is a half-brother to two-time Grade 1 winner Executiveprivilege (First Samurai) and his third dam is champion Davona Dale (Best Turn). Hoppertunity stands for $5,000 at Northview Pennsylvania.

The Lane’s End Trio – With two champions and a Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner retiring to Lane’s End Farm, this powerful trio is grouped together because it may be the strongest group of freshmen sires retiring to one farm in some time.

Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky) had been making waves since he won the Group 2 Los Alamitos Derby as a 3-year-old, always running good races in graded stakes company but his 5-year-old season saw him win all but one of his races – with five Grade 1 victories to be named the 2018 Horse of the Year. He’ll stand for $20,000 this year.

City of Light (Quality Road) won his first Group 1 at three to catch everyone’s attention. In 2018, he ran a five race campaign that saw him win the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Grade 1 Triple Bend among three victories at four and end his career with an impressive victory in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup only a few weeks ago. A grandson of the Grade 1 winning Fabulous Notion (Somethingfabulous), he stands for $35,000.

West Coast

The winner of six of his nine starts at three, West Coast (Flatter) didn’t step into the spotlight until half-way through his three-year-old year but when he did, he made a huge splash. He won both the Grade 1 Travers and Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby among the four stakes that saw him in the winner’s circle more often than not and won him Champion 3-Year-Old honors. Out of Champion 2-Year-Old filly Caressing (Honour And Glory), he will stand for $35,000 in 2019.

Oscar Performance – Mill Ridge sees Oscar Performance (Kitten’s Joy) joining Keep Up (Unbridled’s Song) on its small but select roster in 2019. Oscar Performance is one of the best – if not the best – Kitten’s Joy son standing in North America as the winner of eight of his 15 starts including the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at two; the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational and Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes and finishing thirst to his elders in the Grader 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at three; and winning the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile and breaking Elusive Quality’s Belmont track record in the Grade 3 Poker Stakes in his seasonal debut, winning his races with no Lasix. Oscar Performance is out of stakes winner Devine Actress and a full brother to multiple graded stakes winner Oscar Nominated, who ran in the 2016 Kentucky Derby. Impressively, each of Oscar’s first eight dams produced at least one stakes winner with multiple Grade 1 winner and bluehen Lady Pitt (Sword Dancer) his seventh dam. The stallion stands for $20,000 in 2019.

The Lieutenant – Justify wasn’t the only one making waves for his dam last year. His Street Sense half-brother The Lieutenant had won three of his seven starts at 3 and 4 but stepped up to another level in 2018. The horse won the Grade 3 All American, and finished on the board in three other stakes races, including the Grade 2 Suburban a month after his half-brother won the Belmont. According to the Stallion Register, The Lieutenant is the only Street Sense son to stand in New York. He stands at Sequel Stallions New York on a roster that includes super New York sire Freud (Storm Cat) for a fee of $6,500.