Rich Strike, who gave Calumet Farm a record-extending 10th Kentucky Derby victory as a breeder, will not be in Baltimore on Saturday. But Calumet homebred Happy Jack is expected to be in the starting gate for the Preakness Stakes, looking to extend the historic operation's record in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
Flatter, a consistently successful sire who carried on the legacy of A.P. Indy as a cornerstone of the Claiborne Farm roster for nearly two decades, was euthanized on Monday due to the infirmities of old age. He was 23.
Rich Strike, from the first crop of Calumet Farm stallion Keen Ice, pulled off the second-biggest upset in Kentucky Derby history on Saturday evening at Churchill Downs, shocking a full house as he overhauled favored Epicenter in the final stages and returning $163.60.
It will be Sunday morning in South Korea when the Kentucky Derby is run Saturday morning at Churchill Downs, and the Thoroughbred industry in that nation will be waking up to find out if one of its residents is a winning classic sire.
Try to name reliable classic lines in the United States, and a couple immediately come to mind: Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, who has founded a strong branch of the family tree for his grandsire, the prolific Mr. Prospector, and Belmont Stakes winner A.P. Indy, who represents Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew’s branch of the Bold Ruler line. Both are solidly represented in a Kentucky Derby field that is extremely hard to pick apart on pedigree.
Two successful classic sires – including one of the most successful stallions in the modern history of the Kentucky Oaks – are among those whose progeny should not be bothered by the expected wet track for Friday’s filly classic.
They say breed the best to the best, and hope for the best. Mandy Pope began seriously upgrading her broodmare band about a decade ago in order to follow that maxim, and has established one of the best in the country. That has led her to Kentucky Derby week, where she's hoping for the best with her lightly raced Charge It.
It often takes longer for a stallion to prove himself as a broodmare sire than as a sire of sires. With no expensive stud deals in the offing, fillies sometimes race longer than colts – and, of course, once retired, they only have one foal a year to begin building their resume, as compared to a stallion, who will have dozens of shots at stakes victories in each crop.
The Albaugh Family Stables’ Not This Time debuted for a $15,000 stud fee in 2017 at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Ky., after injury curtailed his promising career. He has since been on a breakout ascent in the stallion ranks. From just his second crop, the stallion will have two runners in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby - Epicenter and Simplification.
The month of April marked the start of 2-year-old racing in North America, and the first starters for the freshman sire class. As the calendar turns to May, Mo Town has stepped forward as the early leader of this class, and has the ability to make a statement this week at Churchill Downs.
