Kentucky Derby pedigree analysis: Iliad
Kentucky Derby pedigree analysis: Iliad
Nicole RussoApr 05, 2017
Kentucky Derby pedigree analysis: Iliad
Frost Giant was New York’s leading freshman sire of 2012, establishing a state record in progeny earnings for that category. He has continued to show prowess with the juvenile set, finishing as New York’s leading 2-year-old sire of 2016.
Whether based on traditional or new metrics for evaluating stallions, dual classic winner and champion Big Brown has proven a solid and competitive addition to the New York market.
Jump Start moved to Pennsylvania for the 2010 breeding season and immediately topped the state’s sire list by general progeny earnings on the strength of his Kentucky-sired runners. A half-decade later, Jump Start has rooted himself at the top of the list as a Pennsylvania resident.
The Mid-Atlantic region has several growing state programs, but it also has a stallion roster in transition.
No matter the year, no matter the surface, no matter what competition comes to his home state, Freud continues to hold sway in New York with no signs of slowing.
The pensioning of all-time leading Maryland sire Not For Love in 2015 and his death the following year left some colossal shoes to fill at the top of Maryland's stallion ranks. The most immediate heir to the throne to emerge is Great Notion.
When Mind Your Biscuits won the Group 1, $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen going away March 25, he became the latest New York-bred to hoist the flag for a statebred program consistently producing runners who can hold their own against any company.
The North American bloodstock industry has largely managed to climb out of the recession that hampered the early part of the decade, but the demand for Maryland-breds has bounced back particularly well.
When Empire Maker was exported to Japan in 2010, the chances of him establishing his own branch of the Fappiano male line looked extremely remote. Seven years later, with a Triple Crown winner, a champion 2-year-old male, and the possible favorite for the 2017 Kentucky Derby among his grandsons, the son of Unbridled is well on his way to living up to his name by building his own sire empire.