American Pharoah, Justify have a big week for Coolmore

Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify share a stallion barn at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky. As the anniversaries of their respective triumphs in the American classic series approach, both had a banner weekend internationally as they continue to build their careers as young sires.

American Pharoah, who secured the Triple Crown on June 6, 2015, and who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility last year, was represented by a pair of graded/group stakes winners on Sunday who showed off his versatility as a stallion. American Pharoah was represented by his fifth Grade 1/Group 1 winner as Above the Source won the Prix Saint-Alary in France going 10 furlongs on the turf. Later in the day, American Theorem won the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes going seven furlongs on the dirt in California.

American Pharoah, a leading freshman sire in 2019, is eighth on the North American general sire list, and is tied with breakout success Gun Runner with three Grade 1/Group 1 winners on the season. Above the Source is joined by a pair of dirt Grade 1 winners, as Cafe Pharoah won his second edition of the February Stakes in Japan, and As Time Goes By took the Beholder Mile. Overall, American Pharoah is the sire of 16 graded/group stakes winners in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia, with 11 of those on turf or synthetic and five on dirt.

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Meanwhile, fellow Horse of the Year Justify – who won the Belmont Stakes in his final career start on June 9, 2018 – is represented by his first juveniles this season. The son of Scat Daddy has two winners from four starters, and is also showing versatility as a sire. After being represented by his first winner, Tahoma, sprinting on dirt May 22 at Santa Anita, he recorded a second winner in Statuette, on the turf in Ireland, on May 28. The day prior, Justify got another starter on the board, as Justafever was second in a maiden race on dirt at Churchill Downs.

Both American Pharoah and Justify are approaching the end of the Northern Hemisphere breeding season. In late June, they will enter quarantine for several weeks to prepare for their shuttle trip for the Southern Hemisphere season at Coolmore Australia in New South Wales. That season begins Sept. 1, and North American shuttle stallions return to their home farms in December.

Mejias involved start to finish

Most of the time, breeze show riders at 2-year-old in training sales have a short relationship with the horses they ride, racing from the off-gap to the on-gap multiple times a day to board young horses they may not have met before for a short warm-up and a short breeze.

That was not the case with a Sharp Azteca filly sold at last week’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale, who breezed with owner Larry Mejias in the irons at the Maryland State Fairgrounds track in Timonium, Md.

The New York-bred filly, from the first crop of the Grade 1-winning Freud horse Sharp Azteca and out of the unraced Successful Appeal mare Roxie Dancer, was a $20,000 a pinhook purchase by Mejias out of Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale in early October 2021. Mejias bought the filly for All In Investors from the Perrone Sales consignment on behalf of breeder Apache Farm.

Roxie Dancer, the dam of four winners from as many starters, is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Declan’s Warrior, stakes winner Canonize, and stakes producer Sky Bird.

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Mejias, a stakes-winning former jockey who last raced in 2019, consigned her to the Midlantic juvenile sale with Jimbo and Tori Gladwell’s Top Line Sales as agent. He regularly rides for that outfit at the under-tack previews, along with McKathan Brothers Sales and Scanlon Training and Sales.

The filly worked in 10 seconds on the Timonium track with her owner in the irons.

“There were a lot of nerves going up there,” Jimbo Gladwell said. “Me on the pony, him on the horse. We had three or four plans and we just tried to keep it simple. Don’t over-ride, let the horse do the work.”

The filly’s work left her as part of a large group of juveniles tied with the second-fastest furlong at the under-tack preview. The bullet was held by a Bernardini colt who went in 9 4/5 seconds, the fastest breeze since 2012 at this sale; he subsequently sold for a sale-record $3.55 million.

While the Sharp Azteca filly didn’t reach those heights, she was a successful pinhook for Mejias. She sold for $75,000 – more than three times her yearling purchase price – to Kirk Wycoff’s Three Diamonds Farm.