I’ll Have Another may have California-breds in first crop

I’ll Have Another is bound for stud duty in Japan next year, and it is possible that some foals from his first crop in 2014 will be California-breds.

Owner Paul Reddam, who campaigned I’ll Have Another to wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, said earlier this week that he has not ruled out acquiring broodmares bred to the stallion and sending them back to the United States.

While he emphasized that the plan is only in the discussion stages, Reddam said he was enthusiastic about the potential of racing the first crop by I’ll Have Another.

“I thought I might buy some mares that are in foal to him and bring them back,” he said.

Reddam said such a plan would require the advice of bloodstock advisers who can find mares bred to I’ll Have Another who would be suitable to stallions in California, specifically the Reddam-owned Square Eddie, who stands at Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall, Calif.

“I think it would be interesting to try,” Reddam said. “You’d have to have the right pedigrees.”

Square Eddie, who won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in 2008, stands for $5,000 at Vessels. Square Eddie, whose oldest foals are yearlings this year, is by Smart Strike and won 3 of 15 starts and $854,76.

Any Japanese-based mares who are shipped to California would not arrive in the state until the autumn of 2013, well after they are pronounced in foal, Reddam said.

I’ll Have Another was sold for $10 million to Big Red Farm of Japan last month. Reddam said earlier this week that offers from Japan far exceeded the value of offers from Kentucky-based farms.

I’ll Have Another won 5 of 7 starts and $2,693,600. Purchased for $35,000 as a 2-year-old in-training, I’ll Have Another was unbeaten in four starts this year – the Robert Lewis Stakes in February, the Santa Anita Derby in April and the first two legs of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

I’ll Have Another was retired on June 8, the day before an expected start in the Belmont Stakes, after he was diagnosed with a tear in a tendon.

*The inaugural Del Mar Paddock Sale of horses of racing age on July 22 has a catalog of 44 prospects, ranging in ages from unraced 2-year-olds to the 6-year-old Soul Warrior, who won the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby in 2009.

The sale will be held after the final race on the first Sunday of the meeting, and is designed by organizers as a chance for owners to purchase horses who can race at Del Mar. The Del Mar meeting runs from Wednesday through Sept. 5.

Two of the entrants were graded stakes-placed during the Betfair Hollywood Park meeting.

Mega Dream was second in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes on turf on July 7. A 5-year-old mare by Medgalia d’Oro, Mega Dream won the minor Great Lady M Stakes for turf sprinters in May.

Zafeen’s Pearl, a 5-year-old British-bred mare by Zafeen, was third in the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap on June 16 in her U.S. debut. She was a three-time winner of minor races in England.