Sunday, June 7th, 2009
Yesterday my blog was about the young guns Medaglia d’Oro and Tapit. Both of them are second-crop sires with their oldest runners now 3-year-olds and they are 1-2 on the second crop list by earnings and by number of unrestricted SWs with 7 each. This may be one of the strongest crops of young stallions we’ve seen in a while, because you can add Birdstone to this list as the sire of two classic winners from his first crop! – Derby winner Mine That Bird and yesterday’s Belmont Stakes winner, Summer Bird (Click here to view pedigree). In fact, Medaglia d’Oro, Tapit, and Birdstone now rank 1-2-3 on the Thoroughbred Times’ 2009 Second-Crop Sire List!
Gainesway's Birdstone
People often question why breeders go crazy over new stallions each year and why buyers often prefer to buy the foals, yearlings and 2-year-olds by them at auction. Well, you don’t have to look past the classics this year for the answer. All three Triple Crown races this year were won by progeny from a stallion’s first crop! That’s right, Birdstone and Medaglia d’Oro dominated the Triple, and Medaglia d’Oro’s super filly Rachel Alexandra also won the Kentucky Oaks and his daughter Payton d’Oro won the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, the sister race of the Preakness – won by Rachel.
Yesterday, Medaglia d’Oro’s daughter Gabby’s Golden Gal, who won the Sunland Oaks earlier this year (how about the form at Sunland Park in New Mexico this year, considering that Mine That Bird also ran there!), won the G1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont – the first leg of New York’s “Triple Tiara” for fillies. Amazing – Darley buys Medaglia d’Oro on Thursday, and on Saturday the stallion gets his second G1 winner from his first crop – that’s how this business works, and you can usually go to the bank on it! (In the interest of full disclosure and tooting one’s horn: I bet $200 to win on Gabby’s Golden Gal, and I had a $50 exacta box on her with the 4/5 favorite, for a $5,102.50 return. Of course, like most betters, I only talk about my winning bets!).
After Medaglia d’Oro, Tapit, and Birdstone (both Tapit and Birdstone stand at Gainesway, which is huge coup for the farm), there are a few other stallions that are making a case to be included with them. One of them is Speightstown, a son of Gone West (sire of Elusive Quality), whose son Munnings (Click here to view pedigree) became his 5th unrestricted SW (7th SW overall) yesterday when he won the G2 Woody Stephens Stakes in 1:20 3/5 for 7 furlongs! I know the track was playing super fast yesterday, but that’s smoking! Speightstown’s sons and daughters, until Munnings yesterday, hadn’t really won a major race, but he certainly bears watching.
Another stallion with his first crop age 3 that has done extremely well is Candy Ride, who I’ve discussed before. Candy Ride’s Chocolate Candy was in the Belmont yesterday but didn’t handle the track as far as I could see. Candy Ride has 6 SWs (4 of them unrestricted SWs). He stands at John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm – the farm where Medaglia d’Oro’s first crop was conceived! (Medaglia d’Oro stood one season at Hill ‘n’ Dale in 2005 before moving to Stonewall Farm for the 2006 season.)
Coolmore’s Tale of the Cat stallion Lion Heart is also off to a strong start with 6 SWs (5 of them unrestricted), although he does have more foals than the others listed here.
One of the big names from this group of second-crop stallions is Smarty Jones, the Derby and Preakness winner who lost his Triple Crown bid to – Birdstone! Who would have thought that with their first crops at the races, it would be the Belmont Stakes winner (and a son of Grindstone!) who would have two classic winners to his credit, while the Derby winning son of Elusive Quality is off to a slow start with one SW? However, I caution against giving up on him too soon. There have been stallions over the years that have started off slow and then come on like gangbusters. The latest example is another Three Chimneys stallion Sky Mesa, who had been left for dead about this time last year only to make one of the most amazing comebacks I’ve ever seen. In fact, he currently ranks No. 2 on the Times 2009 Leading Third-Crop Sire List!
Finally, one last stallion I want to briefly mention from this group is Brazilian-bred Redattore, who stands for only $4,000 in California at Harris Farms. Redattore shuttles to Brazil for the Southern Hemisphere seasons. This son of Roi Normand is on fire in Brazil with his first crop of 2-year-olds, and collectively has 7 SWs with 6 of them graded!
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Saturday, June 6th, 2009
What a week it’s been with things going on all over the place! Before I get to my post today (which is on Tapit), I need to send congratulations to the Irish National Stud for its role in the pedigree of today’s Epsom Derby winner Sea the Stars (Click here to view pedigree)! Click here to read my post on the late Urban Sea, dam of Sea the Stars and Galileo – also an Epsom Derby winner! What an accomplishment for Urban Sea – producing two Epsom Derby winners (actually dual classic winners because Sea the Stars won the 2000 Guineas and Galileo won the Irish Derby, too)!
Darley needs to be recognized, too. Sheikh Mohammed’s stallion operation stands Cape Cross, one of the best stallions in Europe behind only Galileo, Montjeu, and Danehill Dancer – the big three at Coolmore.
Sheikh Mohammed is making a run, though, to build one of the biggest stallion operations in the world! He stands 27 stallions in Australia at three different farms; he’s got his European operation in England, Ireland, and France; he’s sending stallions to Brazil and Argentina; and he’s got Jonabell Farm in Kentucky as his Darley operation here. And the big news for Darley America was Sheikh Mohammed’s purchase yesterday of Medaglia d’Oro, the sire of Rachel Alexandra. What a score! Medaglia d’Oro is one of the best young stallions we’ve seen come up in a long time, so this is another huge boost for the Darley operation.
Now, finally, I have a lead in to Tapit!
Tapit, like Medaglia d’Oro, is represented by his first crop of 3-year-olds this year, and last year HE was the big young horse before Medaglia d’Oro! Remember that his daughter Stardom Bound (Click here to view pedigree) was spoken about last year as we speak about Rachel Alexandra this year? She won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at the end of the year, was named the champion 2-year-old filly, was purchased by IEAH Stable for $5.7 million at Fasig-Tipton and was supposed to run in the Kentucky Derby.
Well, Stardom Bound is on the sidelines right now, but her sire Tapit hasn’t stopped siring SWs! In fact, he’s been just as productive as Medaglia d’Oro, and Tapit is second on the second-crop list behind Medaglia d’Oro with not much separating them by earnings! Both are represented by 7 unrestricted SWs, with 4 Graded SWs for Tapit versus 3 Graded SWs for Medaglia d’Oro. (Tapit got his 7th yesterday when 3yo filly Malibu Beach (Click here to view pedigree) won the Alyssum Stakes at Belmont! And here’s something you might not know: Tapit could have easily had 5 Graded SWs, but his son As de Trebol (Click here to view pedigree) was disqualified from 1st to 2nd last Saturday in the G3 Prix du Palais-Royal in France!
Tapit stands for $35,000 at Gainesway Farm, and he’s bred on the very successful A.P. Indy/Fappiano cross as a son of Pulpit out of an Unbridled mare.
There’s no question in my mind that Tapit, like Medaglia d’Oro, is the real deal. There should be exciting times ahead for these two young guns!
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
Ok, I promise this will be the last Dynaformer blog for a while! I’ve been on a streak with Dynaformer (see last two posts), and I want to make a bold prediction before Friday’s G1 Epsom Oaks (Click here to view the entries) by picking Dynaformer’s Rainbow View (Click here to view pedigree)! She unexpectedly fizzled in the 1000 Guineas, but a mile and a half on turf should be just what the doctor ordered! John Gosden, her trainer, was quoted as saying that he’s sure she will stay a mile and a quarter, but maybe not a mile and a half. Well, she’s bred for the mile and a half. Her dam, by Nureyev, won the G1 Del Mar Oaks, and she’s a half-sister to E Dubai, a Mr. Prospector horse that won the G1 Suburban at 1¼ miles! The 2nd dam is by Lord at War, a stamina influence, and this is the family of G1 Breeder’s Cup Classic winner Raven’s Pass. If the family can get you top 1¼ runners like some of these, then Dynaformer can add the other¼ mile! Let’s face it (and it won’t kill his reputation anymore (because he’s a made man): Dynaformer is the premier source of turf stamina left in the country!
Speaking about Dynaformer 3-year-old fillies on the turf, did you happen to catch the winner of the 3rd race at Belmont yesterday? His daughter Dynaslew (Click here to view pedigree) won the 1 1/16-mile maiden special on turf by two lengths. Here’s another prediction: She will become a SW on the turf down the road. In her first start at 2 in a turf race at Saratoga last August, Dynaslew was second by a nose to future G1 winner Dream Empress! Today’s maiden was only her 3rd start. Put her in your stable mail and bet her next time out!
And finally, my big omission from the original Dynaformer post: His son McDynamo (Click here to view pedigree) won the Breeders’ Cup Steeplechase – the American Grand National – five years in a row, from 2003 to 2007 and is a multiple Eclipse Award-winning jumper. He’s also the richest steeplechaser in the US. The Grand National is at 2 1/8 miles on turf, but McDynamo broke his maiden at 1½ miles on the turf in a flat race! ‘Nuff said about Dynaformer’s stamina!
(Footnote: It’s not too late to start stocking up on Dynaformer mares for your broodmare band. Not only does he add the stamina needed for America’s classics and route races, but Dynaformer has a pedigree free of Mr. Prospector, Northern Dancer, and Seattle Slew, making him an ideal cross for most of the U.S. stallion population. He’s already the broodmare sire of 36 unrestricted SWs, including 4 G1 winners – Click here to view the list)
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Jack Werk (1944-2010)
