Medaglia d'Oro continues to build on success

Medaglia d’Oro, who is enjoying a major run of success on the racetrack and in the auction ring, stole the show at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale. Now, heading into the Keeneland September yearling sale, he is set with a star contingent of yearlings ready to take their place at center stage.

Medaglia d’Oro, an El Prado horse who stands for Darley, sired 2009 Horse of the Year and eventual Hall of Fame inductee Rachel Alexandra in his first crop. Rachel Alexandra won the 2009 Kentucky Oaks, and two years later Medaglia d’Oro was represented by a second Kentucky Oaks winner in Plum Pretty. His daughter Songbird was an Eclipse Award champion in 2015 and 2016. But still, the stallion climbed to even greater heights in 2017, with seven Grade 1 winners in North America, including a pair of Breeders’ Cup winners, with five of those becoming Eclipse Award finalists. He joined Danzig, Mr. Prospector, and Storm Cat as the only American stallions to sire seven top-level winners in a calendar year. Medaglia d’Oro had five runners record Beyer Speed Figures of 100 or higher, placing him in the top 10 in Daily Racing Form’s Beyer Sire Performance Standings by that metric.

Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Bar of Gold and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Talismanic put the exclamation points on their sire’s outstanding year, showchasing his versatility at the same time. Songbird returned to become a multiple Grade 1 winner in 2017 before her retirement. Medaglia d’Oro’s other top-level winners were Bolt d’Oro, Dickinson, Elate, and New Money Honey.

:: BEYER SIRE PERFORMANCE STANDINGS: View complete charts ::

“He’s been a dynamite sire for a long time, but he does seem to have his best [group] in terms of racetrack performance,” said Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s vice president of racing and sales.

Off that strong season, Medaglia d’Oro is among the most commercially popular stallions in the country for 2018, beginning with a strong showing in the 2-year-old market. He topped the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale with a $1.2 million filly, and less than two months later topped the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale with a $1.2 million colt, now named Lebron J.

At the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale, Medaglia d’Oro was represented by three seven-figure lots in a single night, led by a $1.35 million colt sold to a partnership including West Point Thoroughbreds, Robert Masiello, Chris Larsen, and Siena Farm to top the sale. The stallion also was responsible for a $1.3 million filly sold to Phoenix Thoroughbreds and a $1 million filly sold to Lael Stable.

Medaglia d’Oro was represented by 54 yearlings in the Keeneland September catalog prior to scratches. His star offering is a colt out of Broodmare of the Year Leslie’s Lady, making him a half-brother to four-time Eclipse Award champion Beholder, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn, and Grade 1 winner and leading sire Into Mischief. Mendelssohn topped the 2016 edition of Keeneland September when he sold for $3 million from the consignment of Fred and Nancy Mitchell’s Clarkland Farm, which owns Leslie’s Lady.

Elliston called the Mitchells “the nicest people on the planet.”

“It doesn’t matter if they have a consignment of five or 55, they’re the same folks,” he said. “If they sold a champion like they have, or an incredible stallion like Into Mischief, they’re the same people as if they sold one in Book 5 for $20,000. You root for folks like that. They’re good people, and they raise a great horse.”

Medaglia d’Oro’s other standout offerings in the Keeneland September catalog include a filly out of Canadian Horse of the Year Sealy Hill, dam of Canadian champion Hillaby and graded stakes winners Belle Hill and Gale Force; a colt out of champion Dayatthespa; a half-brother to Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Stopchargingmaria; a half-brother to Grade 1 winners Meadow Breeze and Overanalyze; and yearlings out of Grade 1 winners Aubby K and Grace Hall.