Coolmore, Pletcher get another by Scat Daddy

The international Coolmore operation has been aggressive in its pursuit of foals by its late sire Scat Daddy at auction, and it made another big strike Wednesday at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream select 2-year-olds in training sale, securing a colt from the sire’s final crop for $1 million.

Bred in New York by Sanford Bacon, the colt is the first foal out of the six-time stakes-winning Limehouse mare Risky Rachel, also a Bacon-homebred.

Trainer Todd Pletcher signed the ticket for the colt on behalf of the Coolmore partnership, continuing his long-running history with Scat Daddy, who died in 2015 at age 11.

Pletcher and his father, J.J., co-owned Scat Daddy in partnership with James Scatuorchio. The Pletchers sold their half of the horse to Coolmore’s Michael Tabor following his third start, having already won the Grade 2 Sanford Stakes and finished second in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes.

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Pletcher continued to train the colt for the new partnership and took him to wins in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and Florida Derby, as well as the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, before starting in the 2007 Kentucky Derby.

Scat Daddy remained a positive part of Pletcher’s résumé once at stud. The trainer’s most successful runners by his former charge include Grade 2 winner Azar and Grade 3 winners Finale and Seabhac.

“He’s by world-class stallion Scat Daddy, who is one of my all-time favorites,” Pletcher said. “Having trained him, it’s great to see him have so much success. It was a big loss for the industry, him going too soon.

Consigned by Steven Venosa’s SGV Thoroughbreds, the colt breezed an eighth of a mile in 10 seconds flat to tie for the fastest time at the distance during the pre-sale under-tack show.

“He’s a beautiful-moving horse,” Pletcher continued. “This is one that we had on the radar for a while and had been talking about. He had been training really well in Ocala. He came in here, had a super breeze, and came out of it in good order.”

Scat Daddy stood at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., and the list of his runners campaigned by Coolmore includes Mendelssohn, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.