Scat Daddy was a talented and tough racehorse who debuted with brilliancy and continued on to become a Grade 1 winner at both 2, when he took the Champagne Stakes, and at 3, when he rolled in the Florida Derby. He typically dug in when facing a challenge in the stretch. The only glitches in his consistency came at Churchill Downs. He was fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and 18th in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, the only two times in his career he finished off the board. He emerged from the Derby with the beginnings of a tendon injury that would force his retirement the following month. Scat Daddy is gone now. He died of a suspected cardiac event in December 2015 at the young age of 11. But the late stallion gets a shot at Kentucky Derby redemption Saturday with a staggering four starters from his penultimate crop, including morning-line favorite Justify and second choice Mendelssohn. :: View a complete list of DRF resources and content related to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 5 “He’s one of my all-time favorites,” said Todd Pletcher, who purchased Scat Daddy as a yearling and trained him throughout his career for Jim Scatuorchio and, later, the Coolmore partners, who stood him. “I guess my first reaction is, how sad we are we lost him as early as we did. This year really shows you it’s just a tremendous loss to the industry to lose a stallion like that who’s really just hitting his prime.” Unbeaten Justify, who punched his ticket to Louisville with a three-length victory in the Santa Anita Derby, was a $500,000 purchase by the China Horse Club and WinStar out of the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale, less than a year after Scat Daddy’s death. Topping that same sale with a $3 million bid from Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier was Mendelssohn, who won last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, then transferred his form to dirt to romp in the UAE Derby. “[Scat Daddy] means an awful lot to us,” Coolmore representative Adrian Wallace said while representing Mendelssohn’s team at the Derby trainers’ dinner. “It would be very fitting for our organization.” Scat Daddy was an internationally successful standout for the Coolmore group. His star runners in Europe have included champion Lady Aurelia, twice a winner at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting, and fellow Group 1-winning sprinters Caravaggio and No Nay Never. His Grade 1 winners on turf in the U.S., most at route distances, include Celestine, Daddys Lil Darling, Harmonize, and Lady of Shamrock. He also has dirt Grade 1 winner Nickname to his credit. Scat Daddy, also a popular shuttle stallion, has been leading sire in Chile four times and is represented by nine champions there, led by Horse of the Year honorees Il Campione and Solaria, as well as Dacita, now a Grade 1 winner in the U.S. The major accomplishment missing on Scat Daddy’s résumé is an American classic winner. He has been represented by three Kentucky Derby starters. From his first crop came Daddy Nose Best, 10th to I’ll Have Another in 2012, and Daddy Long Legs, who was eased in the same race. The following year, Frac Daddy finished 16th. The common criticism leveled at Scat Daddy is that his dirt runners are not as brilliant as his turf runners. But he is a son of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Johannesburg, a champion on two continents, and has tapped into that versatility. Daddys Lil Darling is both a Grade 1 winner on turf and a Grade 2 winner on dirt, and finished second in the Kentucky Oaks last year. Mendelssohn is a graded/group stakes winner on dirt, turf, and synthetic. Lady Aurelia romped in her debut on Keeneland’s dirt track, and No Nay Never was Grade 2-placed on dirt. Flameaway – who along with graded stakes-placed Combatant round out Scat Daddy’s Kentucky Derby quartet – also exemplifies this versatility. The colt is a graded stakes winner on both fast and sloppy dirt tracks, is a stakes winner on turf, and won his debut on a synthetic surface. “They can do a little bit of anything,” trainer Mark Casse said. “He’s probably one of the best sires in the last hundred years.” :: Visit DRF's Kentucky Derby and Oaks one-stop shop for all your handicapping needs! Should Scat Daddy’s foursome falter Saturday, the sire will have both the quantity and quality to take one more shot at Derby glory. Scat Daddy was among the most active stallions in North America in his final years, and covered 217 mares in his 2015 North American book, resulting in the 2-year-olds of 2018. As is a common trend, the quality of mares sent to his court skyrocketed with his success, resulting in his final books being his strongest. The mares bred to him in 2015 included a number of Grade 1/Group 1 winners or producers, including Mekko Hokte, the dam of Caravaggio, and Mesa Fresca, the dam of Harmonize. With supply and demand dynamics in play, Scat Daddy’s final crop has already been in hot demand in auction. He was represented by a pair of seven-figure yearlings at last year’s bellwether Keeneland September yearling sale, including a colt purchased by Magnier for $1.1 million. Pletcher, acting as agent for Magnier, signed the ticket on a $1 million colt at Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream in March. “[These crops are] sort of the reflection on his success leading up to that, to start getting the quality of mares he was getting,” Pletcher said. “We’re proud of the fact that we bought him as a yearling and campaigned him, and we enjoy his success.”