HAT TRICK – THE WALMAC SLEEPER!
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009Now, having said that, I’ve also discussed in recent blogs that certain racing environments and bloodlines are important to the level of success for a stallion. In the case of the New Zealand Oaks winner Jungle Rocket (click here to view pedigree), I don’t believe her sire, Japanese-bred Jungle Pocket, would have been successful here as a son of Tony Bin out of a Nureyev mare. However, he does suit New Zealand, where they race on turf and over a distance. And Nureyev, you should note, is also the broodmare sire of the top New Zealand stallion Zabeel.
The filly who won the English 1000 Guineas last year, French-bred Natagora (click here to view pedigree), was sired by a Japanese-bred son of Sunday Silence named Divine Light. He wasn’t very popular in France and is now in Turkey, but he sure suited European racing. Sunday Silence was one of the best stallions in the world before he died at age 16, and his sons are now becoming top-level stallions in Japan as well. Sunday Silence sired a bunch of Japanese classic winners as well as some great 2-year-olds and milers, and he’s had stakes winners in Europe and the US, too, because they suited the environment. Divine Light is out of a mare by Linamix, one of the great stallions in France in recent years, and the fact that he got Natagora speaks well for Sunday Silence stallions outside of Japan.
This brings me to Walmac’s second-year Japanese-bred stallion Hat Trick (click here to view pedigree), one of the few sons of Sunday Silence at stud in the West. He stands for $12,500 live foal and his first-crop foals are just arriving this year. Plans are also in place for the horse to stand the Southern Hemisphere season in Argentina, which will make him the first son of Sunday Silence to stand in South America, but not the first Halo-line stallion. Halo’s son Southern Halo reshaped the breed in South America over the past 15 years, and no doubt, this was a major consideration for shuttling Hat Trick.
I think Hat Trick is a big-time sleeper and here’s why. He’s a Sunday Silence with a total American pedigree. And Sunday Silence has already proven he can get a high-class runner in the US. Remember Japanese-bred Silent Name (click here to view pedigree), who, by the way, now stands in Canada. He won the G2 Arcadia on the Santa Anita turf at a mile in 1:33.17, and he won the G2 Commonwealth Breeders’ Cup Stakes on Keeneland’s synthetic surface in 1:21.26 for 7 furlongs!
Hat Trick’s dam is Tricky Code, a daughter of Lost Code. Tricky Code was stakes winner at 2 and 3 and raced to age 6, when she was G3 placed. She won the $250,000 Miesque Stakes at 2 and was G1 placed in the Oak Leaf Stakes, and at 3 she won the G2 Santa Ynez Breeders’ Cup Stakes. She was a tough but classy mare who earned $603,981, and she was good on turf and dirt and had speed, too. The extended pedigree is made up of tough, old-fashioned American runners. This family runs in America!
Sunday Silence added his touch to Hat Trick’s pedigree, and Hat Trick won a Japanese G1 at a mile, and the G1 Hong Kong Mile. His record was 8 wins form 21 starts and more than $3 million in earnings. He had plenty of racing class, and he was a miler!
- HAT TRICK WINNING THE HONG KONG MILE
On pedigree, Hat Trick is a genuine rarity — total outcross through 6 generations — and get this – NO Northern Dancer, Mr. Prospector, and Seattle Slew in the pedigree!! These are the types of horses that are making their way up the stallion ranks these days, and you don’t need to look any further than Irish-bred In Excess (outcross through 6 generations), and his son Indian Charlie (outcross through 6 generations and out of a Northern Dancer-line mare) as examples. Hat Trick will suit a wide variety of mares here and he’s got the racing style (milers make sires) and class and family to succeed in the US. For the price, I think he’s excellent value with a world of potential.
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Jack Werk (1944-2010)
