A GOLDEN GROUP : THE NEXT GENERATION

Medaglia d’Oro
(Photo : Darley Stud)

THIRD CROP STALLION POWER

One thing which constantly exercises the minds of stallion men, is where the next sire of sires is going to come from. After many years of doubting, Sadler’s Wells has truly arrived, and on the other side of the Atlantic, A.P. Indy has stamped his name in bold black type as the pre-eminent producer of young sires.

There’s been considerable conjecture of late in every facet of the racing media, including these columns, on the shift of the balance of stallion power back to Europe, a reversal of a trend which manifested itself for some thirty to forty years between the 1940’s through to the 1980’s. Somehow you wondered what was becoming of the American thoroughbred after so many years of dominance, but it seemed that with the weight of spending power so strongly concentrated in predominantly European hands, there would be no let up in the swing back.

A change in their respective strategies by the two power houses, Coolmore and the Maktoums which led to the establishment of their own operations in the USA, has to a degree, mitigated against the flow eastwards. The result has seen the emergence on the American continent of Coolmore’s Giants Causeway (Storm Cat) as Champion Sire, and for Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley, of the new giants, Street Cry (Machiavellian), and more recently, Medaglia d’Oro a grandson of Sadler’s Wells. Interestingly, both the latter two are by European-raced turf sires.

However, these horses are not alone, and the current group of third crop stallions is where the excitement rests. In a recent article labelled the Hot List, the Thoroughbred Daily News commented that this group was so good that Candy Ride (Arg) (Ride The Rails), sire of five Grade 1 winners, currently sits in fifth on that particular TDN Sire List by way of cumulative progeny earnings, while Birdstone (Grindstone), whose sons Mine That Bird and Summer Bird are both Classic winners, is sixth.

As it stands, with just about two weeks left in 2010, Medaglia d’Oro (El Prado) leads the stellar studs with $15,355,047 in progeny earnings. Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra accounts for $3,506,730 of that total, but of course Medaglia d’Oro is no one-trick pony. He sports a co-leading nine graded stakes winners and a co-leading five Grade/Group 1 winners.

The Darley stallion joins Tapit (Pulpit) and Speightstown (Gone West) as the only horse to be on the leaderboard on all five lists. From named foals, he hits at 5.93 percent clip with black-type winners (20), a 10.39-percent clip with black-type horses (35), a 2.67-percent clip with graded winners, and a 4.45-percent clip with graded runners (15).

Sitting behind Medaglia d’Oro is Gainesway resident Tapit, whose earners have bankrolled $14,330,588. The gray, sire of another top filly in the form of Stardom Bound, rivals Medaglia d’Oro in many statistical categories. His 23 black-type winners equates to a strike rate of 8.27 percent, with his 40 black-type horses checking in at a clip of 14.39 percent. His nine graded stakes winners matches Medaglia d’Oro’s number, but his 3.24-percent clip edges his rival.

In third, with $13,081,052 in earnings, is championsprinter Speightstown, who proved he could sire a Classic-distance horse when his four-year-old son Haynesfield wired the 1 1/4-mile G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont in October. The WinStar stallion now has four Grade I winners in all. Lion Heart, in fourth with $12,834,440 in earnings, has been exported to Turkey for the 2011 season, while Candy Ride sits with $11,265,565 in earnings.

Standing at Lane’s End, Candy Ride joins Medaglia d’Oro as the lone stallion of the group with five Grade 1 winners.

Interestingly, the writing was on the wall very early with this group. The top five third-crop sires now were the top five freshman sires then, albeit in a different order. At the conclusion of he 2008 season, Tapit led Lion Heart, Candy Ride (Arg), Medaglia d’Oro and Speightstown. The aforementioned Stardom Bound, heroine of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, flew the flag for Tapit and was his chief earner, while Medaglia d’Oro’s leading earner that year was a filly named… Retraceable. The Mark Casse-trained filly won the $250,000 Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Woodbine and earned $227,717 that season. Rachel Alexandra, winner of the G2 Golden Rod Stakes, earned $201,440.

RACHEL ALEXANDRA AWARDED ECLIPSE HORSE OF THE YEAR

Rachel Alexandra
(Photo : Science Blogs)

39th ECLIPSE AWARDS

Neither Zenyatta nor Rachel Alexandra were defeated on the racetrack in 2009 but last night at the annual Eclipse Awards staged at the prestigious Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, it was left to the ballot to deliver a decisive “Horse Of The Year” victory… 130 votes to 99… in favour of Rachel Alexandra over Zenyatta.

With the news that Zenyatta will remain in training for 2010, could we expect her to avenge this defeat in a mammoth racetrack showdown between filly and mare?

2009 ECLIPSE AWARD WINNERS

Horse Of The Year	RACHEL ALEXANDRA
Two-Year-Old-Male	LOOKIN AT LUCKY
Two-Year-Old-Filly	SHE BE WILD
Three-Year-Old-Male	SUMMER BIRD
Three-Year-Old-Filly	RACHEL ALEXANDRA
Older Male	GIO PONTI
Older Female	ZENYATTA
Female Sprinter	INFORMED DECISION
Male Sprinter	KODIAK KOWBOY
Male Turf Horse	GIO PONTI
Female Turf Horse	GOLDIKOVA
Steeplechase Horse	MIXED UP
Owner	GODOLPHIN RACING
Breeder	JUDDMONTE FARMS
Jockey	JULIEN LEPAROUX
Apprentice Jockey	CHRISTIAN SANTIAGO REYES
Trainer	STEVE ASMUSSEN

Classic double for the Becks at GAINESWAY FARM

Birdstone
(Photo : Stallion Register)

Just on twenty years ago, I was privy to a glimpse at an intimate connection at the Breeders’ Cup meeting of 1990 between local “el padrino”, Graham Beck, and the then founder not only of Gainesway Farm, but also of the Breeders’ Cup, John Gaines. Earlier that day, Buddy Bishop, renowned solicitor operating in Lexington, Kentucky, and legal counsel to what was then the principal opposition to Gainesway, the Hancock family’s famous Claiborne Farm, confided in me that a South African was rumoured to have purchased Gainesway. I was astonished, and dismissed it as conjecture. After all, this was the farm that housed the likes of Lyphard, Blushing Groom, Riverman, Vaguely Noble, Irish River, Cozzene, Afleet etc, and it was almost inconceivable that it should be a South African that had put up his hand for this iconic property, when all the world was there to compete for it.

It turned out that Buddy Bishop’s “intelligence” was spot-on, and that the enterprise of Graham Beck, the stuff of legend in South Africa, had indeed laid claim to one of the greatest titles in thoroughbred racing. I wrote about this property two weeks ago as a place of solace to me on the passing of my late mother, and today we can celebrate the fact that one of its resident stallions, Birdstone (who spoilt the party for Funny Cide in his quest for the American Triple Crown, by snatching the laurels in the final leg of the Belmont Stakes (Gr.1), has produced from his very first crop, two winners of separate legs of the Triple Crown.

The first and arguably the most famous leg, the Kentucky Derby (Gr.1) was taken in spectacular fashion by a 50-1 chance in the form of Mine That Bird (by Birdstone), who came from a shotgun position at the back of the field to land a storied victory by six, and who was the sole pursuer of the filly Rachel Alexandra, in the Preakness Stakes (Gr.1) a fortnight later.

In the absence of the filly, Mine That Bird was made a certainty by the bettors for Saturday, and he looked home and hosed shortly after they turned into Belmont’s fabled straight, only to be swamped by two foes, one of whom was his paternal half-brother, Summer Bird, who came home to proclaim his sire, if not yet quite in the same league as Medaglia D’Oro as a commercial stallion, certainly every bit as serious a property in reality.

Birdstone is the son of a Kentucky Derby winner himself, the rather unattractive and poor legged Grindstone, he in turn by Unbridled and tracing back, (no alarms), to Mr. Prospector, whose stamp on the American classics is as indelible as any stallion in history. As for Birdstone, he’s not a big fellow (I would say he stands 15’3 at the most) and he’s what one might describe as a “plain brown job”. However, and particularly considering his ancestral belongings, he’s a clean legged horse, well balanced and displays the touch of class that separates the serious from the ordinary.

Watch the 2009 Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Derby