Inject gives Frosted his first win as stallion

An old maxim is that Thoroughbred breeders breed the best to the best and hope for the best. Another is that they go back to the well with what works.

Breeding the best to the best was what happened when My Meadowview LLC sent Grade 1 winner Appealing Zophie to the court of leading sire Tapit. The result was Tapwrit, who sold for $1.2 million as a yearling and went on to win the 2017 Belmont Stakes. My Meadowview stuck with that pedigree pattern when breeding Appealing Zophie to Tapit’s multiple Grade 1-winning son Frosted in his first season at stud at Darley in Kentucky. The result was continued success for the cross, as the resulting filly, Inject, became Frosted’s first winner.

Inject rolled by six lengths in a maiden special weight on Saturday at Ellis Park, covering the five furlongs in 57.67 seconds. Inject was a $390,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by bloodstock agent Hunter Rankin from the consignment of Denali Stud, as agent. She now races for owner Louis Wright and trainer Stanley Hough.

Frosted stood for an advertised fee of $50,000 in his first season at Darley, making him the highest-priced horse in his stallion class. A Grade 2-placed juvenile, the son of Tapit 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 Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, 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 dazzling Beyer Speed Figure of 123.

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.

In addition to Tapwrit, Appealing Zophie is the dam of another stakes performer in Grade 2 winner Ride a Comet, by Candy Ride. The mare, the dam of six winners from eight starters overall, went back to Tapit after producing Inject and had a filly by the leading sire in 2019. That Tapit filly is entered at the Keeneland September yearling sale.

Appealing Zophie produced a colt from the first crop of Triple Crown winner Justify this past April 20 and was bred back to that young stallion for next year.