First foal arrives for Justify

Triple Crown winner Justify has been represented by his first reported foal, a filly born on Friday night.

Breeder Audley Farm reported the arrival of the filly, out of the winning Exchange Rate mare Foreign Affair, on Saturday, saying the foal was born the night prior. Audley Farm is located in Virginia, but Foreign Affair was boarded and foaled at Amaroo Farm in Kentucky.

Justify retired to Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky – alongside 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah – after winning all six of his starts, including the 2018 Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes. He covered 252 mares in his first Northern Hemisphere breeding season in 2019, tying him with fellow first-year Ashford stallion Mendelssohn as the busiest stallion in North America, according to The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred. Both young stallions are by the late Coolmore sire Scat Daddy.

Justify's star-studded first book of mares included Eclipse Award champions Caledonia Road, Champagne Room, Groupie Doll, Havre de Grace, and Take Charge Brandi; plus Charming, the dam of Take Charge Brandi as well as Grade 1 winner Omaha Beach. He also covered the dams of champions in Bella Jolie, D’Wildcat Speed, Mining My Own, and Sambuca Classica, as well as Diva Delite, the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou, who is likely to earn an Eclipse Award for her 2019 season.

This is the first foal for Foreign Affair, who won once from 15 starts. The Exchange Rate mare was purchased for $385,000 by Audley Farm at last fall's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale.

Out of the winning Songandaprayer mare Hopeoverexperience, Foreign Affair is a half sister to Group 3 winner and multiple Group 1-placed So Perfect and to stakes-placed Scat Eddie. Both those runners are by Scat Daddy.