Frosted, Nyquist bring sire's reputations to stud

Uncle Mo was expected to be a good sire of juveniles; after all, he had been an Eclipse Award champion 2-year-old himself. However, he surpassed all expectations, as his first crop came roaring out in 2015 to make him not only the leading freshman sire, but the leading overall juvenile sire. Moreover, his seasonal earnings of $3,632,314 were a freshman-season record, shattering the $2,811,337 amassed in 2008 by Tapit. Fine company indeed, as Tapit – who had broken the great Danzig’s 24-year-old record during his own freshman season – went on to become a leading general sire.

Five years later, Uncle Mo’s first sons at stud will have their first juveniles in the sales ring and on the track this year, looking to continue on the family pattern of a fast start at stud. They’ll have to contend on the freshman list with some of the latest sons of Tapit, who also has emerged as a sire of sires. Those two storylines collide this year for the international Darley operation’s stallion roster, which has multiple Grade 1-winning sons of both stallions in Nyquist and Frosted in this freshman class. Frosted, by Gainesway’s Tapit, stood for an advertised fee of $50,000 in his first season, making him the highest-priced horse in his stallion class. Nyquist, by Coolmore’s Uncle Mo, was tied for second in the group, at $40,000.

Nyquist followed in Uncle Mo’s footsteps by putting together an unbeaten juvenile campaign in 2015 to earn the divisional Eclipse Award. He scored three successive Grade 1 triumphs in the Del Mar Futurity, FrontRunner Stakes, and finally, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to end that season. Earlier, he won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes.

Nyquist opened 2016 by winning the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes and Grade 1 Florida Derby. He then won the Kentucky Derby, making him just the second horse to pull off the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile-Kentucky Derby double, along with Street Sense (2006-07).

“An Eclipse champion who was undefeated when winning the Derby hasn’t happened since Seattle Slew, so it’s an exceptional accomplishment,” Darren Fox, sales manager for Darley America, said of the double.

Nyquist was represented by 48 yearlings from his first crop sold in the Northern Hemisphere in 2019 for an average price of $226,625, more than 5.5 times his introductory stud fee. Those were led by a $550,000 colt and a $500,000 colt at Keene-land September.

Uncle Mo is represented by six sons who have their first juveniles this year, including another Grade 1 winner in Outwork. Outwork was a precocious runner, winning his debut sprinting 4 1/2 furlongs in April 2015 at Keeneland. He then stretched that speed out to win the following season’s Wood Memorial.

“Outwork has always reminded me so much of Uncle Mo,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “Both are big colts with similar qualities, including their uncanny speed and precociousness for their size. Both were always very forward in the mornings and among the best work horses in the barn, and obviously they both went on to do great things stretching out their speed to win major Grade 1 races.”

Outwork, who is from the family of solid young sire Cairo Prince, entered stud at WinStar Farm for an introductory fee of $15,000. He averaged $81,014 from 73 yearlings sold last year, also more than five times his stud fee. Those included a filly who sold for $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale in Saratoga to become the second highest-priced filly in the history of that sale. She was consigned by Denali Stud, as agent for breeder WinStar.

“We’ve had a few,” Denali’s Conrad Bandoroff said of offspring of Outwork. “They all have very nice profiles, very smooth, athletic horses. They look a lot like Uncle Mo and a lot like that sireline. They put a beautiful neck and shoulder on them. Good movers, athletic horses.”

Along with Nyquist and Outwork, Uncle Mo’s first sons to stud are Laoban at Sequel Stallions in New York, Mo for the Money at Anderson Farms in Arkansas, Uncle Lino at Northview Pennsylvania, and Uncle Vinny at Equistar in Pennsylvania.

While Uncle Mo is a newcomer as a second-generation stallion, Tapit has been steadily emerging as a sire of sires. A perennial leading general sire who holds the single-season earnings record for a North American stallion, Tapit is represented by a pair of sons with Eclipse Award champions in Tapizar, sire of 2018 champion 3-year-old filly Monomoy Girl, and Flashback, the sire of last year’s champion juvenile filly, British Idiom. Additionally, Tapit had four sons in the top 20 on last year’s freshman sire list. That quartet was led by Constitution, the sire of four graded stakes winners, including Grade 1 winner and leading Kentucky Derby hopeful Tiz the Law.

One of Tapit’s most anticipated sons is his multiple Grade 1 winner Frosted, whose biggest triumphs all came in New York. That included a dazzling performance in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, which has history as a stallion-making race. Frosted’s early reputation showed in last year’s sale results, as his 70 yearlings sold averaged $222,079, more than quadruple his class-leading stud fee. He was represented by high-ticket yearlings at America’s marquee yearling sales, with an $850,000 filly, a $575,000 filly, and a $500,000 colt at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, and a $600,000 filly, a $550,000 filly, and a $500,000 filly at the Keeneland September sale.

“She looks the part, and I don’t think you can lose in the long term,” Larry Best of OXO Equine said after signing the ticket for the $850,000 filly at Saratoga. “I love Frosted and I love [broodmare sire] Victory Gallop. The physical matched the promise. I expected to go in this [price] range.”

A Grade 2-placed juvenile, Frosted went on to win the Grade 1 Wood Memorial and Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at 3. His graded stakes placings included a second in the 2015 Belmont Stakes to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Frosted blossomed to post his best season in 2016. His signature win came in the Met Mile, as he romped by 14 1/4 lengths. His final time was 1:32.73, missing the track record by .40 of a second. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 123, not only the top number of the year, but also the top number of Tapit’s stud career. Finishing second to Frosted in the Met Mile was another son of Tapit, Anchor Down, who also will have his first runners this year.

Frosted, who is from the female family of juvenile champion and solid Darley stallion Midshipman, also won the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga and the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge in Dubai in 2016.

“It’s very special to [stand] a horse of Frosted’s caliber but even more so in that he accomplished so much as a homebred, racing in Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin silks,” Dan Pride, chief operating officer of Darley’s American operations, said upon the horse’s retirement. “His Metropolitan Handicap was one for the ages, and add to that his great pedigree and tremendous physical appearance and you’ve got all the pieces in place for a sire of the future.”

Anchor Down, who stands alongside sire Tapit at Gainesway, emerged as a solid miler in 2016, winning the Grade 2 Kelso and Grade 3 Westchester going that distance at Belmont, in addition to his runner-up effort in the Met Mile. In the Kelso, he defeated subsequent Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz while running the mile in 1:32.90, earning a 108 Beyer.

“He had the ability to set a high cruising speed, which historically bodes well for him as a stallion prospect,” Pletcher said. “I believe Anchor Down is one of only four horses ever to run a sub-1:33 mile at Belmont, so that’s rarefied air.”

Anchor Down, who stood his introductory season for $10,000, averaged $44,079 from 38 yearlings sold last year.

Along with Frosted and Anchor Down in Kentucky, Tapit’s other sons in this freshman class include Heaven’s Glory at Milky Way Farm in California, Juba at Taylor Mountain Farm in West Virginia, and Taprize at R Star Stallions in Indiana.