Jump Start faces competition from Pennsylvania newcomers

As he prepares to stand his 10th season in his adopted home of Pennsylvania, Jump Start continues to reign as the state’s leading sire. But with two solid newcomers joining him, a competitive stallion market looms in coming years for the Keystone State, which is in the national spotlight following the Eclipse Awards.

Pennsylvania – which historically has produced the likes of 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones, 1992 Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee, 2013 Kentucky Oaks winner Princess of Sylmar, and champions such as Finest City and Go for Wand – saw a pair of statebreds take home hardware at last week’s awards. Older dirt female Unique Bella earned a second Eclipse title, while Shamrock Rose was named outstanding female sprinter. Shamrock Rose, who secured her title with a win in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, became the fifth Pennsylvania-bred to win a Breeders’ Cup race, joining Go for Wand (1989 Juvenile Fillies), Tikkanen (1994 Turf), Alphabet Soup (1996 Classic), and Finest City (2016 Filly and Mare Sprint).

Jump Start, a Grade 2 winner for Overbrook Farm, moved to Pennsylvania in time for the 2010 breeding season, and since 2013 he has been the state’s leading general sire among living stallions with state-conceived progeny. The A.P. Indy horse continued that reign in 2018 at Northview Pennsylvania, siring 94 winners from 165 starters on the season for earnings of $5,459,994. Among stallions with state-sired progeny, Weigelia was a distant second with $1,941,267.

Jump Start’s leading runners on the season included Sue’s Fortune, who won the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes, and stakes winners Charlee’s Magic, Determined Vision, Johnny Jump Up, Startwithsilver, and Victory Rally. He also was represented by Sexy Reasons, a Group 1 winner in Argentina who was stakes placed at Aqueduct; Grade 2-winning steeplechase horse Personal Start; Trincheto, a Group 2 winner in Panama; and Fiesta Dorada, a Group 3 winner in Argentina.

Jump Start is set to get some competition, though, as Warrior’s Reward, a Grade 1-winning son of Medaglia d’Oro, has relocated to WynOaks Farm in Pennsylvania from Spendthrift Farm, while Flashback, a graded stakes-winning son of Tapit, has moved north to Diamond B Farm from Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm. Warrior’s Reward, the sire of multiple graded stakes winner Axelrod, had progeny earnings of $5,552,738 in 2018, which places him in strong stead in his new market. Warrior’s Reward, Jump Start, and Flashback, who was a freshman sire of 2018, had the biggest bankrolls from juvenile runners among stallions who will stand in Pennsylvania for 2019.