The winners of six American classic races – plus several other major events – will be represented by their first weanlings in the sales ring this fall. But the horse who pulled off the sweep is the undisputed star of the show. Horse of the Year Justify, the undefeated winner of the 2018 Triple Crown, will look to continue to build on his early commercial popularity as his first foals take their first steps onto a major stage. Justify covered 252 mares at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in his first season, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. That tied with Ashford stablemate Mendelssohn as the busiest stallion in North America. Both young stallions are sons of Ashford’s late Scat Daddy, whose star was still very much on the rise when he died at age 11 in late 2015. The international demand for the stallion may now transfer to his sons, as has been seen from their early popularity. “The whole Storm Bird line has been instrumental in Coolmore America’s history,” Ashford’s Adrian Wallace said. “It is a line that is noted for 2-year-old brilliance, but also for horses that train on to be top class at 3. Giant’s Causeway is an excellent example of this, unbeaten at 2 and a six-time Group 1 winner who went on to be a champion sire three times. The whole line is synonymous with Ashford Stud and what we are trying to achieve, which is not only to get precocious 2-year-olds but for them to go on to be classic horses.” Justify, as expected, garnered an outstanding book of mares in his first season at stud, including Eclipse Award champions Caledonia Road, Champagne Room, Groupie Doll, Havre de Grace, and Take Charge Brandi; Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Found; and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Bar of Gold. Proven producers in his book included African Jade, dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Lord Nelson; Grade 1 winner Appealing Zophie, dam of Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit; Bella Jolie, dam of champion sprinter Runhappy; Charming, dam of champion Take Charge Brandi and Grade 1 winner Omaha Beach; well-bred multiple Group 1 producers Cherry Hinton and Misty For Me; D’Wildcat Speed, dam of champion Lady Aurelia, who is by Scat Daddy; Diva Delite, dam of champion Midnight Bisou; Mining My Own, dam of Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and Grade 1 winner Dullahan; Sambuca Classica, dam of champion Classic Empire; Storm Dixie, dam of Kentucky Oaks winner Princess of Sylmar; and Untouched Talent, dam of Grade 1 winner and young classic sire Bodemeister. Against an advertised conception stud fee of $150,000, Justify averaged $796,419 from 22 mares in foal from his first season sold in 2019. Those included Take Charge Brandi, who led the Keeneland November breeding stock sale at $3.2 million; Conquest, a full sister to the outstanding filly Minding, sold for $1.25 million at Keeneland; Diva Delite, who fetched $1.2 million at Fasig-Tipton November; and Hourglass, a half-sister to champion and prominent sire Shamardal, sold for $1.1 million at Keeneland. Following that early response, expectations are now high for the resulting first weanlings for Justify, many of whom are marked with the chrome that made their sire so recognizable on the racetrack. Justify has nine weanlings cataloged for this year’s Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale, a solid number for a first-crop sire at that auction. The one-night Fasig-Tipton sale offers fewer weanlings, selected based on pedigree and conformation, than the longer Keeneland November sale, which slots its weanlings into the various books of the marketplace. Justify’s Fasig-Tipton weanlings make it clear that many breeders capitalized on crosses that worked with the late Scat Daddy to support his most famous son. Justify’s group in this catalog includes a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Nickname, by Scat Daddy. His Fasig-Tipton representatives also include the half-sister to Lord Nelson. Justify is then represented by 16 weanlings at Keeneland November, with 11 selected based on pedigree and conformation for the elite Book 1 portion. Cataloged at Keeneland are the half-sister to Princess of Sylmar; a half-sister to champion Points Offthebench; a half-brother to U.A.E. Oaks winner Divine Image, who is by Scat Daddy; a half-brother to Pretty N Cool, who is a multiple graded stakes winner by Scat Daddy; and a filly out of Grade 1 winner Emma’s Encore. Mendelssohn led the 2016 Keeneland September sale when Coolmore purchased him for $3 million. Not only was he from the penultimate crop by Scat Daddy, he is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner and leading sire Into Mischief and four-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder. He went on to become another standout from his family, winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and the U.A.E. Derby, and placing in multiple Grade 1 events on dirt in the United States. Mendelssohn continued to be commercially popular as his 15 mares sold in foal last year averaged $117,467, against a $35,000 conception stud fee. He has six weanlings cataloged at Fasig-Tipton and 31 at Keeneland November, with the latter group including a half-brother to Japanese Group 1 winner Apollo Kentucky. “All of our team loved Mendelssohn from the first time we saw him as a yearling, and he has developed into a magnificent-looking horse,” Ashford manager Dermot Ryan said upon the colt’s retirement. “Being by our own Scat Daddy and a half-brother to Into Mischief and Beholder, you couldn’t ask for a better pedigree.” While Ashford secured two major sons of Scat Daddy for this class, the Farish family’s Lane’s End Farm also continues to invest in its major sire lines, as seen with its three first-crop weanling sires, Accelerate, City of Light, and West Coast. Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Eclipse Award champion Accelerate is by Lookin At Lucky, a son of Lane’s End’s late classic sire Smart Strike. “He’s an interesting horse for us, because obviously Smart Strike meant a lot to us here and had a lot to do with building our farm,” Bill Farish said. “Having a grandson of his is a big plus for us. I think some people might look at Lookin At Lucky as not being the obvious sire of sires, but we’re pretty excited about that sire line.” Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light, who defeated Accelerate in the final start for both to win the Pegasus World Cup, is by Lane’s End’s star Quality Road. Eclipse champion West Coast is a grandson of the legendary A.P. Indy. Joining Justify as American classic winners in this group of first-crop weanling sires are the three stallions who swept the 2017 Triple Crown races – Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (WinStar Farm), Preakness winner Cloud Computing (Spendthrift Farm), and Belmont winner Tapwrit (Gainesway). Good Magic won the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to secure an Eclipse Award divisional championship. A creditable second to Justify in the Kentucky Derby, he later added another Grade 1 win in the Haskell Invitational. He stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm alongside his sire, Curlin. Other Grade 1 winners with their first weanlings this season in North America are Army Mule (Hill ‘n’ Dale), Bee Jersey (Darby Dan), Bolt d’Oro (Spendthrift), Collected (Airdrie Stud), Free Drop Billy (Spendthrift), Funtastic (Three Chimneys), Girvin (Ocala Stud), Hoppertunity (Northview Stallions), Long On Value (Pleasant Acres), Mo Town (Ashford Stud), Mor Spirit (Spendthrift), Oscar Performance (Mill Ridge), Ransom the Moon (Calumet Farm), and Sharp Azteca (Three Chimneys).