Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile becoming producer of top sires
The Metropolitan Handicap has long been considered a stallion-making race, showcasing the brilliance so valued in the American marketplace and the ability to carry that speed beyond a true sprint distance. Now the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, inaugurated in 2007, also has begun to develop the looks of a stallion-making event.
“That mile is kind of a sweet spot,” said David Fiske, racing and farm manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds. “There’s a lot of sprint races in this country, fewer distance races, but if you can get a mile, many times you can stretch out successfully. They’re versatile. You can get a sprint horse out of them, a distance horse out of them – it depends on what mare you breed to them.”
Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing own this year’s Metropolitan winner, Silver State, who is pointing to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Saturday at Del Mar. He will seek to become the second horse to win both races, joining inaugural Dirt Mile winner Corinthian.
Silver State is ticketed for the stallion roster at Claiborne Farm in 2022, as prominent stallion farms continue to seek out winners of high-end mile races.
“We’re a big fan of that,” said Mark Toothaker, stallion sales manager at Spendthrift Farm, which stands 2013 and 2014 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents. Spendthrift also stands 2017 Met Mile winner Mor Spirit; 2019 Met Mile winner Mitole, who also won the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint; and 2020 Met Mile winner Vekoma. Next year, the farm will introduce By My Standards, by Goldencents, and Basin, by 2015 Dirt Mile winner Liam’s Map.
“That’s a major deal, a horse that can carry that speed a mile,” Toothaker continued. “It takes a special horse to be able to do that. We have really focused our attention on a lot of these milers.”
Goldencents and Liam’s Map, who stands at Lane’s End Farm, both showed the ability to carry their speed at longer distances. Now flying the flag for the Dirt Mile as stallions, both will be represented by Grade 1 winners in the upcoming Breeders’ Cup.
Goldencents, who won the 2013 Santa Anita Derby at nine furlongs and later shortened up, has been a leading young sire at each stage of his career, beginning when he finished second by earnings and first by winners on the 2018 freshman sire list. He led the class by earnings as a second-crop sire and third-crop sire the next two years. He leads the fourth-crop sire list by earnings and is a top-20 general sire, having recently recorded his first Grade 1 winner in Going to Vegas, a contender in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Goldencents, who was the most popular stallion in the country in 2021, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, also is the sire of graded stakes winners By My Standards, Mr. Money, Phantom Currency, and Wildman Jack.
“He’s such a solid sire,” Toothaker said. “He gets runners all over the country. He’s such a blue-collar horse.”
Liam’s Map finished second in the Grade 1 Whitney and won the Grade 1 Woodward, both at nine furlongs, before cutting back to win the Dirt Mile. He emerged from a stellar class of young sires to be represented by Grade 1 winners Basin, Colonel Liam, and Wicked Whisper. Making it a quartet of top-level winners for Liam’s Map was Juju’s Map, bound for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies after taking the Grade 1 Alcibiades.
Other Dirt Mile competitors have found their own success at stud. Tapizar (Gainesway Farm), winner of the 2012 edition, fired with two-time Eclipse Award champion Monomoy Girl in his second crop. However, he did not get to further capitalize on that success, as he was set to continue his stud career in Japan but died before export. Tapizar was campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, and Fiske noted that the operation has had other successes from the Dirt Mile. Tapiture (Darby Dan Farm), second for Winchell in the 2014 Dirt Mile to Goldencents, is a consistent young stallion. Gun Runner (Three Chimneys Farm) finished second in the 2016 Dirt Mile before winning the 2017 Classic to lock up Horse of the Year honors. He is currently the nation’s leading freshman sire.
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The Dirt Mile-to-Classic route is one that will be followed this year by Knicks Go. Winner of the 2020 Dirt Mile in track-record time at Keeneland last fall, Knicks Go has this year won the Pegasus World Cup and Whitney to emerge as a leading candidate for the Classic.
“He really is what a horse is supposed to be,” trainer Brad Cox said. “They are supposed to get faster and stronger as they get older. He’s a little bit of a throwback horse as far as accomplishing things early and then still being in training three years later.”
Knicks Go will enter stud in 2022 at Taylor Made Farm, which will hope commercial demand for stellar milers continues. City of Light, winner of the 2018 Dirt Mile and 2019 Pegasus World Cup, has been phenomenally successful for Lane’s End Farm this season with his first yearlings. A son of 2010 Met Mile winner Quality Road, City of Light sired the sale-topper at the Keeneland September yearling sale and finished as the sale’s leading first-crop sire by average.