Breeding Watch – October 29, 2014

Posted on by DerbyMateo

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.

Breeding Watch, August 24

Posted on by DerbyMateo

Bayern’s impressive win in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Stakes two weekends back not only gave trainer Bob Baffert his seventh win in the Monmouth Park fixture, it also extended a rather incredible streak for Dr. William Solomon’s Pin Oak Lane Farm in New Freedom, Pennsylvania.

Stallions that stand or stood at Pin Oak Lane Farm have now sired the winners of the first three Breeders’ Cup Classic ‘Win and You’re In’ races.

Moonshine Mullin, by Albert the Great, took the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap June 14. Two weeks later Majestic Harbor, a son of the late Rockport Harbor, dominated the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita and now comes Bayern, a son of Offlee Wild.

Albert the Great previously stood at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky while Rockport Harbor and Offlee Wild are both graduates of the Darley USA stud barn. Rockport Harbor sadly lost a battle with laminitis during the first week of August last year but Albert the Great and Offlee Wild still anchor the roster at Pin Oak Lane along 2014 leading Pennsylvania sire Any Given Saturday.

Offlee Wild is a son of Wild Again out of a Seattle Slew half-sister to Dynaformer, so he’s certainly eligible to sire a good one. Bayern is, in fact, his second Grade 1 winner after She Be Wild, winner of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. The dams of both these top runners are bred along similar lines. Bayern is the third Grade 1 winner out of a mare by the Mr. Prospector (by Raise A Native) grandson Thunder Gulch and his second dam is by another great son of Raise a Native, Alydar. She Be Wild is out of a mare bred Seeking the Gold (by Mr. Prospector) over Affirmed, a Raise A Native grandson.

Bayern wasn’t the only stakes winner for Offlee Wild July 28 either. The 2-year-old filly Ethan’s Baby found the winner’s circle in the Angie C. Stakes at Emerald Downs. She’s the second stakes winner out of a mare by the Unbridled stallion Broken Vow.

A.P. Indy, Giant’s Causeway and Ghostzapper were also represented by a pair of stakes winners the last weekend of July.

A P. Indy is enjoying retirement at Lane’s End Farm, but that doesn’t mean his progeny are taking it easy.

Grade 2 Molly Pitcher Stakes winner Majestic River and Grade 3 Shuvee Handicap winner Antipathy are his two latest graded stakes winners, giving him 82 for his illustrious career.

Majestic River is A.P. Indy’s only starter out of mare by the Caro grandson (and fellow Breeders’ Cup Classic winner) Alphabet Soup. It looks like she’s also his only stakes winner of any kind with the larger Caro broodmare line. Antipathy is a result of the much more ubiquitous and successful A. P. Indy-Mr. Prospector cross. She’s the 22nd black-type winner from the 103 starters by A.P. Indy out of daughters of Mr. Prospector. That’s an incredible 21% strike rate and this sample doesn’t even include the top sire Malibu Moon.

The royally-bred Irish Surf is the 84th worldwide group or graded stakes winner for Giant’s Causeway after roaring home in the Grade 3 Cougar II Handicap at Del Mar. The 4-year-old colt is out of the champion mare Surfside (by Seattle Slew), herself a daughter of champion Flanders (by Seeking the Gold). Both were bred by the late William T. Young’s Overbrook Farm. Fed Biz has been among those 84 graded winners since annexing the Grade 2 San Fernando Stakes in early 2013 and he added the Grade 3 San Diego Handicap to his ledger July 26. Out of a mare by Wild Again, he too hails from a big female line. His dam is a stakes-winning half-sister to Tale of the Cat and to the dam of champion Johannesburg. His second dam is also the grandam of Pulpit.

With a trio of stakes winners literally across the country since July 18, Adena Springs’ Ghostzapper once again finds himself among the leading North American sires of stakes winners with nine.

Ghostzapper’s juvenile daughter My Fiona kicked off the streak in the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes for Cal-breds on the first Friday of the Del Mar meet. She’s Ghostzapper’s second black-type winner from four starters out of mares by the Maryland sire Two Punch.

Ghostzapper has also sired a pair of stakes winners out of a mare by the Two Punch son Smoke Glacken.

Better Lucky, a Grade 1 winner on grass, returned to the main track and ran down a pair of Grade 1-winning millionaires in the July 21 Shine Again Stakes at Saratoga. Five days later in Iowa, Serendip scored in the Prairie Meadows Handicap. The 4-year-old is out of the multiple Grade 1 winner Spoken Fur, a daughter of Notebook, and is Ghostzapper’s 40th lifetime stakes winner

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

Breeding Watch, August 8

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In a day and age when most Thoroughbreds are raised for the commercial market, seven-figure yearlings might as well count as Grade 1 winners on a stallion’s resume.

Storm Cat, for example, was able to command a $500,000 stud fee in the 1990s not only because of a long line of top class runners, but because he also rained down good-looking and pricey yearlings. On the other end of the spectrum, a prolific stallion like Dynaformer only saw three of his yearlings sell for $1 million or more and none until his 15th crop went through the ring.

Of course it’s a different world now than Storm Cat’s heyday, but it will be very interesting so see what Gainesway Farm does with Tapit’s 2015 service fee, especially after his two yearlings at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings sold for $1.15 million and $1 million, respectively.

Tapit stood the 2014 season for $150,000, his runners already do everything on the track and he’s odds-on to earn his first North American general sire title title at year’s end. Now the commercial market has jumped on board with both fists (full of cash), a trend that actually started last September when four Tapit yearlings commanded seven figures.

Another $150,000 stallion, War Front, sired the Saratoga sale topper with a filly out of Charming, by Seeking the Gold, going to Willis Horton for $1.25 million. That’s the fourth seven-figure youngster in six crops by the Claiborne Farm-based son of Danzig and his first to pass through the historic Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion.

Just down the street and across Union Avenue at the even more historic Saratoga Race Course, half brothers City Zip and Ghostzapper pulled off a rare Grade 1 double Aug. 2. City Zip’s Palace zipped home in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap in 1:08.56. Then, a little more than 90 minutes later, the Ghostzapper gelding Moreno got his Grade 1 in the Whitney Invitational Stakes.

Lane’s End Farm’s City Zip is no stranger to pulling off rare feats as he’s the last (and likely last) horse to sweep all three of the Saratoga graded races for juveniles. He’s also the unique stallion to have started his second career in New York before moving to Kentucky.

Palace is his fourth Grade 1 winner and is out of a mare by End Sweep, a son of the good Mr. Prospector stallion Forty Niner. That means he’s inbred tail-male to Mr. Prospector at 3×4. This pattern has been beneficial for City Zip as at least nine of his 51 career stakes winners are out of Mr. Prospector-line mares. The others include Grade 1 winner Bustin Stones (dam by Prospector’s Gamble) and Grade 2 winner/Grade 1-placed Reneesgotzip, who is out of a mare by Forty Niner’s top son Distorted Humor.

Adena Springs’ Ghostzapper was finishing up his Hall of Fame career in the 2005 Metropolitan Handicap about the time the first City Zip runners were hitting the races. He stood for $200,000 upon his retirement but that fee tumbled to as low as $20,000 before a steady stream of stakes winners began to emerge. He was represented by 16 stakes winners in both 2012 and 2013 and Moreno is among his 10 so far in 2014.

Out of a mare by A.P. Indy, Moreno is Ghostzapper’s seventh winner at the highest level from his first five crops to race. So far City Zip and Ghostzapper have sired a combined total of 91 stakes winners.

Classic winners Lookin At Lucky (Ashford Stud) and Super Saver (WinStar Farm) have been climbing up the first crop sire chart in recent weeks and both were represented by their first stakes winners Saturday.

Super Saver’s Hashtag Bourbon could do no better than third behind Zayat Stable’s Malibu Moon colt Mr. Z in a June 28 maiden at Churchill Downs. But that didn’t deter trainer Kellyn Gorder and owner Bourbon Lane Farm from trying Saturday’s $100,000 Mountaineer Juvenile. The $130,000 OBS March graduate rewarded that faith with a 4 1/2-length tally in the 6-furlong affair. Hashtag Bourbon is out a mare by Robyn Dancer, a son of Crafty Prospector, broodmare of the Grade 3 winner Whimsy by Super Saver’s sire Maria’s Mon.

We could well be reporting on Super Saver again the coming weeks after his high-priced Saratoga maiden winners High Dollar Woman (a $675,000 OBS March juvenile) and Competitive Edge ($750,000 Fasig-Tipton February purchase) run in the upcoming juvenile fixtures at the Spa.

Back in 2010, Lookin At Lucky avenged a troubled sixth-place Kentucky Derby finish behind Super Saver by running off with the Preakness Stakes. His first stakes winner is Four Leaf Chief, who remained undefeated in two starts with a 2-length score in the $50,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile Stakes. He’s out of a mare by Cure the Blues and is the first stakes winner by Smart Strike or his sons on this cross so far.

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

Breeding Watch – July 24

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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)

Breeding Watch, June 24

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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.