Ashford Stud

It’s easy to take stallions like Lemon Drop Kid and Tale of the Cat for granted, but the last two weekends we were reminded that they’re still two of the most consistent and underrated sires and broodmare sires in North America.

Hangover Kid kicked off a sensational mini-run for Lemon Drop Kid when he earned his first graded stakes victory in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Handicap July 12 at Belmont Park. The 6-year-old horse is out of a mare by Rakeen, a Northern Dancer half-brother to Saint Ballado and Devil’s Bag, and he’s Lemon Drop Kid’s 33rd career graded stakes winner.

The following afternoon at Woodbine, Unspurned went gate-to-wire in the $250,000 Bison City Stakes, the second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown for fillies. Unspurned is her sire’s 77th stakes winner and is out of a mare by the Storm Cat grandson Snow Ridge (by Tabasco Cat).

Fast-forward to July 19 and it was Aurelia’s Belle who received her second graded stakes trophy in the Grade 3 Arlington Oaks and Somali Lemonade who reached the highest level in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga. The latter makes it six Grade 1 winners for Lemon Drop Kid, who stands at the Farish family’s Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, and she’s on the verge of becoming his third millionaire.

Somali Lemonade is out of a mare bred Nureyev over Mr. Prospector, the reverse of the cross that produced Lemon Drop Kid’s sire Kingmambo. She’s among 11 Grade or Group 1 winners around the world that show a double of Nureyev and one of the five total Lemon Drop Kid stakes winners that show this pattern.

Lemon Drop Kid’s 2014 scorecard reads: nine stakes winners, six graded stakes winners and a No. 4 ranking on the North American general sire list. It’s worth noting that in addition to Unspurned, another three of these stakes winners are also out of Storm Cat-line mares: Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap winner Lemon Drop Dream is out of mare by Storm Cat while graded stakes winner Kid Cruz and listed winner Candy Kitty are both out of daughters of the Storm Cat son Tale of the Cat. In fact, of the five foals by Lemon Drop Kid out of Tale of the Cat mares, all are winners, three are stakes winners (two graded) plus an additional Grade 2-placed runner.

Tale of the Cat, who stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, also added another Grade 1 winner to his resume during Saratoga’s opening weekend.

Repole Stable’s Stopchargingmaria (out of a Montbrook mare) was already a three-time graded winner when she broke from the gate in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks July 19. When she crossed the wire 5 lengths ahead of Unbridled Forever, she became Tale of the Cat’s 10th lifetime Grade 1 winner. Stakes winner Unbridled Forever (by Unbridled’s Song), incidentally, is out of Lemon Drop Kid’s Kentucky Oaks winner Lemons Forever.

Tale of the Cat also figures prominently in the pedigrees of two big opening weekend winners across the country at Del Mar. His multiple Grade 1-winning son, Lion Heart, is the sire of Tom’s Tribute, who scored the Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes July 20. The 4-year-old is the third Grade 1 winner for Lion Heart, who now stands in Turkey, and the sixth Grade 1 winner out of a mare by the late El Prado.

A day earlier down at old Del Mar, the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes fell to Istanford one of the 34 stakes winners so far out of mares by Tale of the Cat. Istanford is by the Airdrie Stud stallion Istan, a son of Gone West out of a mare by the Storm Bird stallion Bluebird. Tale of the Cat is a product of the reverse of this Mr. Prospector/Storm Bird cross and Istanford shows a double of Storm Bird at 4×4. She’s among the 77 stakes winners inbred to Storm Bird within four generations (3.5% from starters).

We saw Tiznow and Unbridled’s Song combine on a couple of stakes winners during the Opening Day card at Saratoga. Fashion Alert, by Unbridled’s Song’s very promising second crop son Old Fashioned, made it two stakes wins in two starts in Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes. She’s the third graded stakes-winning filly this year for the Taylor Made Farm stallion who ranks as the third leading second-crop sire in North America. Fashion Alert is among the six stakes winners and three graded winners out of mares by WinStar Farm’s Tiznow.

Later that afternoon at the Spa, Tourist, by Tiznow out of an Unbridled’s Song mare, navigated his way to the winner’s circle for the Sir Cat Stakes. He’s the first stakes winner from five starters on this cross along and is Tiznow’s 52nd lifetime stakes winner and the 68th for the daughters of the late Unbridled’s Song.

(originally published on http://www.thisishorseracing.com)