Medaglia d'Oro's influence felt with BC winners Thorpedo Anna, Soul of an Angel

Perennial leading sire Medaglia d’Oro’s best shot for a Breeders’ Cup victory appeared to be Juvenile favorite East Avenue, but the Grade 1-winning colt stumbled badly at the start of the race and was never involved. The sire did chalk up a few longshot placings, with Nitrogen finishing third in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Pleasant finishing third in the Filly and Mare Sprint.

But Medaglia d’Oro wasn’t completely shut out at the Breeders’ Cup. As his legacy continues to grow, two of his sons were represented by Breeders’ Cup winners.

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The late Fast Anna – who died in 2021 at Three Chimneys Farm after a battle with laminitis – is the sire, from limited crops, of Distaff winner and Horse of the Year candidate Thorpedo Anna. Medaglia d’Oro’s son Atreides, who moved from Hill ‘n’ Dale in Kentucky to River Oaks Farm in Oklahoma beginning with the 2020 season, sired Filly and Mare Sprint upset winner Soul of an Angel.

Medaglia d’Oro will turn 26 in 2025, and will stand for $75,000 in the coming season at Darley in Kentucky, coming to what bloodstock manager Michael Banahan described, prior to the Breeders’ Cup, as the “twilight” of his career. Along with East Avenue, who will one day in the future stand for Darley, the stallion has several sons to carry on his legacy.

Those are led by a strong duo in Kentucky, in the consistent Violence at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, and Bolt d’Oro, the leading freshman sire of 2022, at Spendthrift Farm. Violence is becoming a popular sire of sires himself. His champion son Forte entered stud this year at Spendthrift in Kentucky, while his Grade 1-winning son Dr. Schivel also debuted this year, at Taylor Made Farm. His Grade 1-winning son Volatile was popular early at Three Chimneys Farm, and is the sixth-leading freshman sire by earnings this season.

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