High demand expected for juveniles by Scat Daddy and his sons

Among the standout offerings of last year’s commercial yearling market and expected to be among the headliners in the upcoming 2-year-old sale season in North America are juveniles from the final crop of internationally successful sire Scat Daddy. The stallion, who died at the young age of 11 in 2015 at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, led the bellwether Keeneland September yearling sale by gross in 2017, with 13 yearlings sold for a half-million dollars or more.

“It’s probably one of the biggest losses we’ve ever experienced,” Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier said at that sale.

Three sons of Scat Daddy entered stud in 2015, and their first crops of juveniles are coming to the track and the commercial arena this year. Led by Group 1 winner No Nay Never, based at Coolmore’s Irish headquarters, the trio also includes multiple graded stakes winners Handsome Mike at Pleasant Acres in Reddick, Fla., and Daddy Nose Best at BC Thoroughbred Farm in Hemet, Calif.

No Nay Never won 4 of 6 career starts and never was worse than second while running on turf, dirt, and synthetic in three countries. After winning the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting in England in 2013, he went on to capture the Group 1 Prix Morny in France. The following season, he was second in the Grade 2 Swale Stakes on Gulfstream Park’s main track, won the Grade 3 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland, and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, beaten a half-length by Bobby’s Kitten.

No Nay Never’s first crop was well received in Europe last year, with 63 yearlings sold for an average price of $145,454. He is represented by one 2-year-old at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale of 2-year-olds in training, an Irish-born filly consigned by Eddie Woods, as agent. The filly is out of the placed English Channel mare Lady Ederle. Lady Ederle is out of Italian Oaks winner Bright Generation and is a half-sister to Italian Group 3 winner Fathayer and to the dam of European champion Dabirsim.

Handsome Mike, a millionaire, and Daddy Nose Best, who earned $957,303, both also evidenced the versatility of Scat Daddy, who did all his running on dirt but has become a successful multi-surface sire internationally. Handsome Mike posted his biggest win in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at 1 1/8 miles on dirt, but also captured the Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes going seven furlongs on Keeneland’s synthetic track and was Grade 3-placed at distances up to a mile on turf.

Daddy Nose Best won the Grade 3 Sunland Derby on dirt, Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby on synthetic, and the Grade 3 Colonel E.R. Bradley Handicap on turf. Handsome Mike covered 101 mares in his first season at stud in 2015, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, and has five resulting juveniles cataloged at OBS March. Daddy Nose Best covered 35 mares in 2015.

North America’s most prominent first-crop yearling sires of 2017 also will have offerings at the upcoming 2-year-old sales. The leaders of that class included champion Will Take Charge, with 65 yearlings sold last year for an average of $166,015, and multiple graded stakes winner Cairo Prince, with 86 sold for an average of $138,297. Both young stallions, by Unbridled’s Song and Pioneerof the Nile, respectively, are from the Unbridled line. That line has been resurgent in recent years, with champions American Pharoah, Arrogate, Classic Empire, and Forever Unbridled on the track.

In addition to their offerings at OBS March, both Will Take Charge and Cairo Prince had multiple juveniles chosen for the elite, single-session Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale of selected 2-year-olds in training. Will Take Charge, who stands at Three Chimneys Farm, has five, and Cairo Prince, standing at Airdrie Stud in conjunction with Darley, has six.

Cairo Prince had “an outstanding group of yearlings, and the marketplace reflected it,” juvenile consignor Ciaran Dunne said. “It wasn’t just a handful, it seems. From July to October, every time you turned around, there was another good one by the horse. From what we’ve seen here at the farm, the physical prowess has translated into athletic prowess. They’re beautiful-moving horses and they’re very willing. They’re just nice horses.”