City of Light emerged as the loudest of all the first-crop stallions during their 2021 debut yearling sale season – but had been very quiet to begin 2022 at the 2-year-old sales and races. His runners are beginning to rumble now, however, as he bookended this week with maiden special weight winners as he heads into some major-market yearling sales. City of Light, whose five graded stakes victories were highlighted by the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and Pegasus World Cup Invitational, retired to stand alongside sire Quality Road at Lane's End Farm in 2019. He achieved stellar sales results with his first yearlings last year, with his 75 lots sold averaging $318,017, against his introductory stud fee of $35,000. Those were led by a $1.7 million colt who topped the Keeneland September yearling sale, a rare accomplishment for a first-crop sire. :: DRF's Saratoga headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more City of Light was quieter at this year's 2-year-old sales. A smaller group was sold - perhaps because end users had already been bullish at the yearling sales - and those 17 traded averaged $167,588. He remained quiet for nearly four months after North American 2-year-old racing began in early April, not recording a winner as Sharp Azteca (14 individual winners through Friday) and Triple Crown winner Justify (seven) each got off the mark with multiple stakes winners, and Army Mule, Bolt d'Oro, Girvin, Good Magic, Mendelssohn, and Oscar Performance each recorded five or more individual winners. Allaire Ryan, director of sales for Lane's End, said the farm has expected City of Light's runners to be later developers, perhaps not ideally suited to early-season sprints for juveniles. "The word all along has been that people really like them, they're nice-training horses, but they're gonna take time - which you wouldn't be surprised by, based on the physicals you saw from him last year," Ryan said. "They're scopey, they have a lot of leg and size and length, and they're going to want two turns, without a doubt." City of Light bookended this week with winners who benefited from experience and from distance, respectively. On July 31, the stallion recorded his milestone first winner in the contiguous U.S. as Roja Ligera won her second career start, going 5 1/2 furlongs on a muddy dirt track at Ellis Park. To close out the week, Battle of Normandy won a maiden special weight at 1 1/16 miles on the Saratoga turf to start the Aug. 6 Whitney card. The stallion also has City of Knowledge, a winner in Puerto Rico. Battle of Normandy was the ninth starter for City of Light, who is also the sire of Sirius Light and Bourbon Bash, both second in maiden races at Saratoga, and Sendero, a runner-up at Colonial Downs. This winning colt was a $500,000 purchase out of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale last year by West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing. Those two groups, along with Talla Racing, teamed up to purchase the $1.7 million Keeneland September topper by the stallion last year. Now named Prosper, he is based with trainer John Sadler at Del Mar, but has yet to log an official work. "We’re big fans of City of Light," West Point's Terry Finley said. "We have a big group of partners that are shareholders in him. Obviously, we supported him last year at the yearling sales. We bought three or four of them. The stallion is right for us, this horse should get better and better." :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. Even before City of Light began recording winners, Lane’s End had been making plans to showcase the stallion. Of his six lots at this year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected sale, set for Monday and Tuesday, Lane’s End will consign one, a colt who is the second foal out of the unraced Giant’s Causeway mare Legal Tender, a half-sister to two stakes winners. Lane’s End will send the majority of its City of Light yearlings to the broad market at the Keeneland September yearling sale, but had ticketed one for the elite Saratoga sale to parade before the upper edge of the marketplace. “That was definitely on our minds as we kind of placed our yearlings in our Saratoga and September consignments,” Ryan said. “We have a really nice yearling colt [for] Saratoga that is just as solid a citizen as you could ask – awesome brain, and a really good way of going. I think it will show the market our confidence in the stallion.”