Royal Ascot winner adds to dream year for breeders of Justify

A dream year for breeders John and Tanya Gunther continued as Without Parole carried their colors to victory in the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes on the opening day of the Royal Ascot meeting.

The father-daughter team, who operate Glennwood Farm in Kentucky, are the breeders of Triple Crown winner Justify. They sold the colt for $500,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale to WinStar Farm and China Horse Club, which campaign the colt with other partners. The Gunthers had two representatives in this year’s American classics series, as they also bred Wood Memorial winner Vino Rosso.

Without Parole is out of the unraced Lemon Drop Kid mare Without You Babe, whose first foal was Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz. The mare is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, classic-placed graded stakes winner Andromeda’s Hero, and Grade 1-placed stakes winner Superfly. She has been based in Europe to meet European stallions for the Gunthers, and has a juvenile filly by Kingman named She’s Got You and an unnamed yearling filly by Oasis Dream.

Meanwhile, back in Kentucky, yearlings at Glennwood include a Will Take Charge colt who is a half-brother to Justify. Speaking at the Kentucky Derby trophy presentation ceremony last week at Churchill Downs, Tanya Gunther said her family may keep the colt and campaign him themselves.

“It’s so tempting to keep him and try to live the dream a little bit longer,” she said.

◗ Lemon Drop Kid, whose daughter Without You Babe is the dam of Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz and newly-minted Royal Ascot Group 1 winner Without Parole, continues to emerge as a broodmare sire.

The Lane’s End stallion’s other standouts in that regard include champions Finest City and Forever Unbridled, Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Bar of Gold, and additional Grade/Group 1 winners including Beach Patrol, Divisidero, Elusive Kate, Lochte, Romantic Vision, Unbridled Forever, and Yellow Agate

◗ Juvenile champion Shanghai Bobby was represented by a Royal Ascot winner from his second crop, as his daughter Shang Shang Shang defeated males in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes.

Shanghai Bobby, a son of Harlan’s Holiday, is based at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky. In addition to Shang Shang Shang, he is the sire of Brazilian Group 1 winners Habile Bobby and Inforcer, and stakes winners Gotta Go, March X Press, Mr. Pete, and Seducao de Birigui.