When juvenile racing heats up this summer and fall, all eyes will now be on two in particular, who got big catalog updates from their siblings' performances under the twin spires over the weekend.
Elliott Walden has a roadmap in mind when buying horses for WinStar Farm and its partners, and the success of Kentucky Derby winner Justify and third-place finisher Audible are the latest examples of trusting the process.
Sparkman: Scat Daddy's remarkable run continues with Justify's victory in the Kentucky Derby
The late stallion Scat Daddy gets a shot at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday with a staggering four starters from his penultimate crop, including morning-line favorite Justify and second choice Mendelssohn.
One of the biggest variables that can only be forecasted at this point is the ability to handle the Derby's 1 1/4-mile distance. It's a distance no horse in the field has faced, and one that many in the field will never see again in competition.
Despite finishing outside the top 10 by first-crop average yearling sale price with his debut foals and being sold to stand in Korea before that group hit the track, Take Charge Indy sits atop the North American second-crop sire standings by winners, stakes winners, and earnings as the calendar rolls into Triple Crown season.
The class shift toward Europe has been particularly visible in longer American turf races, which are routinely won these days by European imports like Queen Blossom, winner of the Grade 3 Santa Barbara Handicap over 1 ½ miles at Santa Anita last Saturday.
Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., will stand Grade 1 winner and Kentucky Derby hopeful Free Drop Billy upon his retirement from racing.
Trainer Mark Casse said that, despite having some famously high-strung relatives, Blue Grass Stakes runner-up Flameaway is a laid-back horse whom he feels confident about leading through the Kentucky Derby hoopla.
Of the 14 different stallions likely to be represented by Kentucky Derby starters, only Malibu Moon has sired a previous Derby winner. That was Orb in 2013.
