Spendthrift Farm

Last week saw the end of the yearling sales season in North America and the release of the 2014 Jockey Club Report of Mares Bred. Let’s take a look at some figures and trends from the Jockey Club data followed by some insights on 2014 yearling averages.

Ramsey Farm’s Kitten’s Joy led all stallions with 204 mares bred in 2014. He was among a trio of stallions that bred over 200 mares along with Into Mischief (203 at Spendthrift Farm) and Scat Daddy (202 at Ashford Stud). A pair of Hill n’ Dale Farm stallions rank next: Midnight Lute (186 mares) and Violence (181 mares).

The latter was the most popular first year stallion in Kentucky this year and is among four new stallions that covered more than 150 mares. Spendthrift’s Flat Out covered 169 mares, Ashford’s Shanghai Bobby greeted 160 and WinStar Farm’s Overanalyze courted 151 dams. Animal Kingdom is right behind having covered 148 mares at Darley America after a busy Southern Hemisphere season in Australia.

Among stallions standing their second seasons Winstar’s Bodemeister retained his immense popularity. The speedy son of Empire Maker covered 176 mares, two more than his first year. Two Lane’s End Farm stallions, The Factor and Union Rags saw their book size increase as well. The Factor bred 151 mares in 2014, up from 135 in 2013 and Union Rags saw 141 mares, four more than last year.

Breeders apparently like what they see in the first foals by the third year stallions Uncle Mo and Gio Ponti. The former covered 166, mares a 28% increase from 2013 and Gio Ponti bred 154 in his third season, up from 113 last year (an increase of 38%)

Not surprisingly the most popular fourth year stallions can be found near the top of the freshman sire standings. Warrior’s Reward bred a crop-high 164 mares (166 last year) while Super Saver saw 154 mares, a 58% increase over the 97 mares he bred in 2013.

Curlin was among the biggest winners from last year covering 152 mares, 98 more than last season. That’s an increase of 181%, highest among Kentucky stallions that bred at least 20 mares in 2013. Claiborne Farm’s Stroll saw his book increase by 89% with Tale of the Cat (up 71%), Runaway and Hide (up 64%) and Artie Schiller (up 64%) rounding out the top five in percent increase of mares bred.

The three-day Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling sale in Kentucky was the last major yearling showcase in America so we can safely crunch some numbers.

It’s certainly not surprising to see that Tapit finished the sales year tops among North American stallions with a 2014 yearling average of $611,125. That figure is buoyed by six seven figure youngsters, including a $2.2 million colt at Keeneland September, and is 49% higher than Tapit’s 2013 average.

Everyone wanted a War Front yearling in 2014 too. The Clairborne Farm-based son of Danzig is the only other stallion with a 2014 average over $400,000 and his $539,556 average is 40% higher than last year. Medaglia d’Oro ($337,550), Bernardini ($332,968) and Distorted Humor ($272,375) round out the top five by 2014 yearling average. It’s interesting to note that Bernardini’s 2015 service fee is dropping a bit from $100,000 to $85,000 even with his yearling average increasing 26% this year. On the other hand, his barn mate at Darley, Medaglia d’Oro, saw his 2014 yearling average dip by 11%, yet he’ll stand the 2015 season for $125,000, $25,000 more than 2014.

Five Kentucky stallions (who stood for $10,000 or more in 2014) saw their yearling averages increase by 50% or more over the past year. Kitten’s Joy leads this group with an average 76% higher than 2013 ($184,475, up from $104,451). 2014 freshman sire Majesticperfection doesn’t have a stakes winner yet but yearling buyers were sold on his second crop through the ring. His yearling average rose from $61,031 to $105,750, an increase of 73%. English Channel (55% increase), Flatter (54%) and Awesome Again (53%) are the other three big commercial winners this year.

Pioneerof the Nile kept hold of the top spot on North America’s second-crop sire list with a pair of stakes victories on a weekend that also saw some first-crop stallions start to assert themselves.

The Hollywood Oaks is now the Summertime Oaks and the Grade 2 race went to Zayat Stables Jojo Warrior last Saturday at Santa Anita Park. The 3-year-old filly is the fourth stakes winner from 94 first crop foals by Pioneerof the Nile, a multiple Grade 1 winner by the Unbridled stallion Empire Maker who stands at Kenny Troutt’s WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky.

Another of those, Conquest Top Gun, is now a two-time stakes winner after conquering the feature at Woodbine the following afternoon. The 3-year-old colt took the Marine Stakes on May 25 and he easily vanquished three rivals in the Victoria Park Stakes Sunday. Conquest Top Gun is the second stakes winner out a mare by the A.P. Indy son Jump Start and is at least the 10th stakes winner bred on the larger Unbridled-A.P. Indy cross that’s also produced Empire Maker’s own multiple champion Royal Delta.

Getting back to Jojo Warrior, she’s the fourth stakes winner out of the Carson City mare Carson Jen, who now has to at least be in the conversation as a candidate for Broodmare of the Year honors. She’s already the dam of Bernardini’s first North American Grade 1 winner, 2010 Frizette Stakes victor A Z Warrior. Also to her credit are graded stakes-winning juvenile E Z Warrior (to the cover of the Storm Cat son Exploit) and the four-time listed winner J Z Warrior, who’s by the Storm Cat grandson Harlan’s Holiday. Jojo Warrior makes it 109 stakes winners for the daughters of the late Carson City, who stood alongside Storm Cat at the Young family’s Overbrook Farm in Lexington.

The first round of serious juvenile stakes are in the books in both North America and Europe and progeny of 2014 first-crop sires factored heavily in the results.

Lane’s End Farm’s Quality Road has been among the commercial leaders of his crop and is the first of his generation to sire a stakes winner. His son, the Wesley Ward-trained Hootenanny, took the Windsor Castle Stakes on the opening card of the Royal Ascot meeting. The bay colt is out of a mare by the Storm Cat son Hennessy, his 46th stakes winner as a dam sire.

Warrior’s Reward was mentioned in the June 11 edition of Breeding Watch after his three-winner outburst May 30. Two of those winners are now stakes-placed with Liatris (dam by A. P. Indy) finishing second in the Astoria Stakes June 14 at Belmont Park and Unbridled Reward (dam by Unbridled) the runner-up in the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs. The Spendthrift Farm stallion added another starter and winner to his burgeoning resume when Bad Read Sanchez romped by 10 lengths in his debut June 20 at Santa Anita.

We also saw the first black-type horses emerge by Darley’s and Sequel Stallions New York’s Desert Party (by Street Cry) and Airdrie Stud’s Majesticperfection (by Harlan’s Holiday).

Desert Party’s Rousanne, out of a daughter of Valiant Nature, earned the show spot in Churchill’s Debutante while Majesticperfection’s son Homer Matt, out of a daughter of Indian Charlie, placed third in the Santa Anita Juvenile. Lookin At Lucky leads all first-crop stallions with seven winners and we expect to report on his first black-type runners shortly.

The Texas-based Silver City has but 19 juveniles in his first crop but four of them have already graduated at the maiden special weight level.

Among those is the unbeaten Promise Me Silver, who proved best in the aforementioned Debutante going 6 furlongs. Based at Valor Farm in Pilot Point, Silver City won Oaklawn Park’s Dixieland Stakes as a 3-year-old in 2009 before completing an Unbridled’s Song-sired exacta behind Old Fashioned in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes. Promise Me Silver is the first stakes winner out of a mare by Macho Uno and is inbred to Blushing Groom at 4×4. There are now 99 black-type winners that show a double of Blushing Groom within four generations, about 4% from starters carrying this pattern.

The black-type winner strike rate for starters inbred to Storm Cat within four generations is closer to 3% but we can report the 21st such stakes winner – Mark My Way, winner of the male division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Belmont. The 3-year-old gelding is out of a Storm Cat daughter and is by Noonmark, a son of Unbridled’s Song and the Storm Cat mare In The Storm, so he’s inbred to Storm Cat at 2×3. Noonmark previously stood at Becky Thomas’ Sequel Stallions New York before being sold to interests in the Philippines.

Breeding Watch – October 29, 2014

Breeding Watch, June 24