Ashland win by Speech gives Mr Speaker first Grade 1 win as sire

Regally bred Grade 1 winner Mr Speaker faced a hurdle early in his stud career, as he had to reintroduce himself to Kentucky breeders following an extended shuttle stint to Chile. His first-crop daughter Speech is doing her best to keep him in the discussion, as she made a statement with a three-length victory in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland, breaking the stakes and track records.

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Mr Speaker, who earned more than $1.2 million, was a graded stakes winner at ages 2, 3, and 4, highlighted by the Grade 1 Belmont Derby in 2014. Mr Speaker entered stud in 2016 at Lane’s End, and his pedigree helped make him a standout in a strong freshman sire class. The Pulpit horse is out of the graded stakes-placed Unbridled mare Salute, a daughter of unbeaten champion and blue hen Personal Ensign. Not only is he from the immediate family of classic sire Our Emblem, he is bred on the same cross as leading sire Tapit.

Mr Speaker covered 117 mares in his first season, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. Later that year, he shuttled to Haras Cordillera in Chile for the Southern Hemisphere season. However, upon arriving in Miami for mandated quarantine while re-entering the U.S., Mr Speaker tested positive for piroplasmosis, a tick-borne protozoa that can have a variety of symptoms, none of which the horse displayed. He was forced to return to Chile, thereby missing the 2017 Northern Hemisphere season. After undergoing treatment for the protozoa, he served his second Southern Hemisphere season before making a return to the United States for the 2018 breeding season. He covered 86 mares in that return season, and 46 mares in 2019, according to The Jockey Club.

Through Sunday, Mr Speaker was the sire of 22 winners from 71 first-crop starters, with Speech, of course, leading the way as his first Grade 1 winner. Speech came in to the Ashland with several strong efforts against divisional heavyweights, finishing second to Donna Veloce in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita; second by a neck to subsequent Grade 1 winner Gamine in an Oaklawn allowance; and second to Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks. She finished the 1 1/16 miles of the Ashland in 1:41.26, edging the stakes record established by Hall of Famer Silverbulletday in the 1999 edition of 1:41 3/5. The previous track mark on the current dirt surface, which was installed before the fall 2014 meet, was 1:41.36, set in an October 2017 allowance by Seeking the Soul, a subsequent Grade 1 winner.

Mr Speaker also is the sire of Elegancia, a Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed in Puerto Rico; Wandy Express, Group 2-placed in Puerto Rico; and Three Technique and You Should Talk, who are stakes-placed.