Maryland stallions: Golden Lad's first crop came out running

The Maryland bloodstock industry has shown strength in recent years, with strong results at Fasig-Tipton’s regional sales, prominent runners emerging from the state such as Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia, and solid young stallions recruited to stand in the state. That was evident in 2019, as a competitive class of freshman sires dueled in their adopted home state and made some impact on a strong national freshman sire list.

Golden Lad, standing at the powerhouse Northview Stallion Station, led the way, topping Maryland’s freshman and juvenile sire earnings lists and finishing 10th among living and active sires on the Maryland general sires list. The son of Medaglia d’Oro had 10 winners from 18 starters, a solid 56 percent strike rate, for seasonal progeny earnings of $666,471. That placed him in the top 20 nationally, one of just three non-Kentucky-based stallions to make that list. Golden Lad had far fewer starters than any of the stallions above him – the next-fewest starters belonged to Florida’s The Big Beast, with 33.

Next on Maryland’s freshman earnings list were Anchor and Hope Farm’s duo of Bourbon Courage, with earnings of $567,242, and Imagining with $416,937. They finished second and fourth, respectively, on Maryland’s overall juvenile sires list.

Golden Lad raced as a homebred for Robsham Stables and is a half-brother to that operation’s graded stakes winner and Kentucky Oaks runner-up Broadway’s Alibi, as well as stakes winner R Gypsy Gold. This is the extended family of champion Eliza, Grade 1 winner and solid young sire Dialed In, Grade 1 winner Dinard, and others. Golden Lad emerged as a 4-year-old to win the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn. The following year, he won the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn and the Mountainview Handicap at Penn National before concluding his career with another Grade 3 win in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap.

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring a horse of Golden Lad’s caliber to Maryland,” Northview general manager David Wade said at the time of his retirement. “He has the sire power, a wonderful family, an impressive race record, and his conformation is outstanding. Rarely does a stallion prospect like this get introduced into a regional market.”

Golden Lad is the only son of Medaglia d’Oro standing in Maryland.

“Given his level of talent and pedigree, I was certain he would end up at stud in Kentucky,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “This is a major score for Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region.”

Golden Lad’s first crop was led by Hello Beautiful, who won the Maryland Million Lassie by 3 3/4 lengths before romping by 11 3/4 lengths in the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship. Meanwhile, Laddie Liam finished third in the Maryland Million Nursery Stakes before scoring a 4 1/2-length win in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity.

Laddie Liam gave Golden Lad a chance to show off his strength in the commercial arena, and the strength of the regional sales market in general. The colt set a sale record when sold for $450,000 to DJ Stable at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic winter mixed sale just days after his Futurity win. The second-highest price of the sale was fetched by another son of Golden Lad, as Mine Not Mine sold for $210,000 to Charles Zacney. Bolstered by those two, the sale posted across-the-board gains.

The first crop of Grade 2 winner Bourbon Courage, who also was multiple Grade 1-placed, was topped by Raging Whiskey, who finished third in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes, then hit the road to win the Capote Stakes in California. The Lion Heart stallion also was represented by Stone Courageous, second in both the Maryland Million Nursery and Maryland Juvenile Futurity; and Worstbestideaever, third in the Maryland Million Lassie. His stablemate, Grade 1 winner Imagining, is a Giant’s Causeway horse from a strong Phipps female family. He broke through with his first stakes winner, Monday Morning Qb, in December.

Bourbon Courage and Imagining are part of a young and growing roster for Anchor and Hope, which is successfully rebuilding from a destructive fire in August that its two freshmen escaped. A fire broke out in the farm’s main barn the morning of Aug. 12. Bourbon Courage and Imagining were inside, along with yearlings and mares. Forewoman Heather Cellinesi, who was first to discover the fire, managed to open the doors on each stall and get the horses out of the barn without any loss of life. For her efforts, Cellinesi was chosen to receive the 2019 Joe Kelly Maryland Million Unsung Hero Award, presented annually by the board of directors of the Maryland Million Ltd.

Great Notion, Friesan Fire tops

It wasn’t surprising that Great Notion would finish atop the Maryland sire list for 2019. He and rival Friesan Fire have held the top two positions among living sires atop the list each year since 2016, and Great Notion again prevailed in 2019 thanks to his stalwarts Lewisfield, who again performed creditably in graded company, and Anna’s Bandit, one of the winningest horses in the nation.

Great Notion, a 20-year-old son of Elusive Quality, stands at Northview Stallion Station and has become one of the stalwart leading sires for that operation. He was represented by 54 winners from 92 starters in 2019, a strike rate of 59 percent, for progeny earnings of $3,182,402 on the season. Just behind was Country Life Farms’ Friesan Fire, with earnings of $2,723,790. The 14-year-old A.P. Indy horse had 51 winners from 98 starters for a 52 percent rate. Great Notion also led Friesan Fire on the 2018 Maryland general sire list. In 2017, Friesan Fire was the leader, with Great Notion the next living sire, behind the state’s all-time leader, Not For Love. The latter, who had died in 2016, had the top earnings of any state sire in 2016, with the leading living sires Great Notion and Friesan Fire, in that order.

Lewisfield, a Maryland-bred gelding bred and owned by Linda Zang, has been a standout over the last several years for Great Notion. Unraced as a juvenile, he was stakes-placed as a 3-year-old in 2017, then blossomed as he moved into the older horse ranks in 2018, winning the Maryland Million Sprint Handicap, as well as the Not For Love Stakes. He placed in five other stakes that season, with several creditable performances in graded stakes company, including a third in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Stakes on Preakness Stakes weekend.

Lewisfield bookended his 2019 season with stakes triumphs at Laurel, repeating in the Not For Love in March with a standout Beyer Speed Figure of 105, and then winning the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial Stakes in December. In between, he placed in four stakes, including another third in the Maryland Sprint and a third in the Maryland Million Sprint.

Anna’s Bandit was bred by trainer John Robb in West Virginia and races on the Mid-Atlantic circuit for Maryland-based No Guts No Glory Farm and Robb. Anna’s Bandit was stakes-placed against open company as a juvenile in 2016 at Belmont and Churchill Downs, but, like Lewisfield, blossomed as an older runner. In 2018, she won the Conniver Stakes at Laurel and Down Town Allen Stakes and Sadie Hawkins Stakes at Charles Town. Her four stakes placings that season also included a solid open-company performance on Preakness weekend, as she finished third in the The Very One Stakes. She also acquitted herself well on state showcase programs, finishing third in the Maryland Million Distaff Handicap and third in the West Virginia Cavada Breeders’ Classic Stakes.

Last year, Anna’s Bandit was one of the winningest horses in the country, taking 9 of her 11 starts. She was one of seven horses tied for the most wins on the season. With the exception of Florida-bred filly Frosty Star, who won 9 of 10 starts, she did so in the fewest number of outings. Anna’s Bandit stepped up to win both the Maryland Million Distaff and the West Virginia Cavada Classic, both prizes that had eluded her in the prior year, plus five other stakes.

Although Friesan Fire lost out to rival Great Notion on the earnings list, he was the only Maryland-based sire represented by a graded stakes winner in 2019, his Pennsylvania-born son Call Paul. He was a standout as a juvenile, winning the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and later the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes against his brethren, as well as finishing third in both the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and Grade 3 Nashua Stakes.

He started his 2019 campaign by winning the Grade 3 Swale Stakes in Florida. He also finished third in the Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes and was in the win column on the Mid-Atlantic circuit, taking the Danzig Stakes against Pennsylvania-breds and the New Castle Stakes for Delaware-certified runners. His stakes placings included a second, beaten less than a length, in the Maryland Million Sprint.