King's Plate pedigree profile: Essex Serpent
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Essex Serpent
Gelding by Honor Code – Eileen’s Girl, by Medaglia d’Oro
Bred in Ontario by Conrad Farms
Manfred and Penny Conrad’s homebred Essex Serpent was late to the party, but he is making up for lost time. Unraced at 2, the gelding has two wins and a runner-up effort from three starts this year.
Most recently, he won the Grade 3 Marine Stakes on June 29. His performance was flattered when runner-up Cameo Performance came back to win a stakes at Ellis Park.
Essex Serpent is by the impeccably bred Honor Code, a son of the influential A.P. Indy and from the female line of fellow Hall of Famer and blue hen Serena’s Song. Honor Code was a graded stakes winner at 2, but developed into an Eclipse Award champion at age 4, winning the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap and Grade 1 Whitney, and finishing third to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Honor Code, who began his career in Kentucky but now stands in Japan, is the sire of 19 career stakes winners. His offspring include Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Max Player, who was third in both the 2020 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes; Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks winner Maracuja; and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A. P.
Essex Serpent is among his other graded stakes winners, along with Cavalry Charge, Essential Wager, Honor D Lady, Honor Marie, and Medoro.
Eileen’s Girl won twice from 10 starts, at a mile and 1 1/16 miles on the turf in California. She is now the dam of two winners from three starters, with Essex Serpent her first stakes horse.
Out of Grade 2-placed stakes winner Ciao, Eileen’s Dream is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Untamed Domain.
Medaglia d’Oro, an outstanding filly sire, was expected to be a strong broodmare sire, and he is delivering. He is the broodmare sire of 121 career stakes winners, including, in the United States alone, Preakness Stakes winner National Treasure and Grade 1 winners Competitionofideas, Marketsegmentation, Olympiad, Prince of Monaco, Rachel’s Valentina, Rock Fall, and Santin.
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