Preakness 2025: American Promise can land Justify his first American classic

Fresh off recording his second English classic winner, 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify looks for his first American classic winner as American Promise goes in Saturday's Preakness Stakes. It would be the latest international checkpoint for the young stallion, who has already sired champions in the U.S., Australia, and Europe, and who was third on last year’s North American general sires list, a high placing this early in his career.

“Justify’s trajectory has been immense,” said Adrian Mansergh Wallace, part of the nominations and sales division at Coolmore America, which stands Justify, as well as fellow Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, who has also been represented in the classics this spring.

Justify is the sire of the 2024 Cartier European Horse of the Year City of Troy, whose four Group 1 victories included the Epsom Derby. He added another classic winner in England when Ruling Court won the 2000 Guineas two weeks ago.

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Justify never raced on turf, but he gets the ability to sire top-flight horses on that surface from his late sire Scat Daddy. That versatile stallion and international success was represented by everything from crack turf sprinter Lady Aurelia, a European champion, to Justify, who, of course, completed his own championship season in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes on dirt. Justify has been a worthy heir with his own versatility. His ability to impart stamina, on both turf and dirt, is shown in runners such as City of Troy, a top-flight performer at up to 1 1/2 miles; and Eclipse Award champion Just F Y I, whose biggest win came in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at 1 1/16 miles. Meanwhile, Justify’s daughter Learning to Fly, sired during his years shuttling to Australia, earned a championship with multiple group stakes wins sprinting.

Justify’s other Grade/Group 1 winners are Aspen Grove and Opera Singer, whose top-level wins came at 1 1/4 miles on turf; Hard to Justify, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at a mile; and Arabian Lion and Ramatuelle, winners at seven furlongs on dirt and turf, respectively.

Virginia Derby winner American Promise finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby, but gave Justify the remarkable accomplishment of producing a Kentucky Derby starter from each of his first three crops to race. Verifying earned his way into the 2023 Derby with multiple Grade 1 placings; he finished 16th that year, but went on to be a Grade 3 winner. Just a Touch was Grade 1-placed in just his third start before finishing 20th in the Kentucky Derby. He has emerged as a prominent older horse this year.

Justify’s consistency in producing classic horses is unusual, as some stallions who have success with their first crops then go through a quiet period, until the foals conceived as a result of that early success hit the track.

“You see that a lot with stallions – they’ve got some peaks and troughs,” Wallace said. “That can be down to luck, or it can be down to maybe getting a stellar book of mares in your first crop, and then the quality and amount might dwindle before they have their first runners. But Justify has been a horse that has had immense support from the moment he’s been at stud. He’s always had that support, so I think you can look for Justify to continue [his success]. The quality of mares that he’s covering is really second to none.”

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