Runners from 2015 Breeders' Cup at Keeneland return as sires

The Breeders’ Cup was contested at Keeneland for the first time in 2015, bringing one of the sport’s most prominent events home to Lexington, Ky., the epicenter of the Thoroughbred breeding industry in North America.

Five years later, as the Breeders’ Cup returns to Keeneland, a number of prominent young sires have already emerged from the track’s first time as host and will be represented by offspring in this year’s event, including Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and champion Nyquist. Their success on the racetrack has placed them in high regard as stallions, and their continued success at the Breeders’ Cup could spill over into strong results at the breeding stock sales at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland that immediately follow the races in Lexington. The following weeks also will impact the quality of the mares they attract in the coming breeding season.

A review of the stallions to emerge from the 2015 Breeders’ Cup must, of course, begin with the Classic, which featured a strong cast led by the hero the sport had long awaited.

Breeders’ Cup Classic

Triple Crown winner American Pharoah soared home by 6 1/2 lengths over Effinex to conclude his Horse of the Year campaign and racing career. That Monday, he was vanned to Coolmore’s Ashford Stud to take up residence and has garnered an outstanding book of mares in each of his seasons at stud. With that support, he got off to a quick start at stud in 2019. Led by Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Four Wheel Drive, he finished as North America’s leading freshman sire by earnings and was tied for the lead by individual winners.

This year, American Pharoah sired his first Grade/Group 1 winners in Harvey’s Lil Goil in Kentucky and Van Gogh in France. Harvey’s Lil Goil, who won the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on the Keeneland turf, and who also is a stakes winner on dirt, is entered in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

“She’s a little superstar,” said Kenny McCarthy, trainer Bill Mott’s Kentucky-based assistant who has supervised the filly. “She pretty much goes on any surface for us. At least in my mind, I think the turf probably is a little bit easier for her to handle.”

Four Wheel Drive, who returned to the work tab in October after a hiatus from the races, was pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint but did not get in.

Additional success at the Breeders’ Cup would likely bolster an already successful season commercially for American Pharoah, who is the sire of 11 stakes winners overall. He sired seven-figure lots at both the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky selected yearling showcase and the Keeneland September yearling sale and is averaging $246,187 this season overall.

American Pharoah’s fourth crop will come to the auction ring as weanlings in the days following the Breeders’ Cup. He has a chance for a major catalog update as his offerings at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale include a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Jackie’s Warrior, the likely Breeders’ Cup Juvenile favorite.

Classic runner-up Effinex, subsequent winner of the Grade 1 Clark Handicap, retired to stand in his home state of New York in 2017. However, he only stood one season before dying of a suspected cardiac event in fall 2017. The stallion is represented by two first-crop winners through Oct. 25.

Honor Code, who finished third in the Classic, was voted that season’s Eclipse Award champion older male. Standing at Lane’s End Farm, he was represented this season by Grade 1 winner Honor A. P. – who has retired to stand alongside him – and classic-placed Max Player. Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, fifth in the Classic, also stands at Lane’s End and could have a standout at the Keeneland November sale, as his multiple graded stakes-winning daughter Tonalist’s Shape is cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Frosted, seventh in the 2015 Classic, was sixth in the following year’s Classic at Santa Anita before retiring to Darley in Kentucky. Seventh on this year’s freshman sire list by earnings through Oct. 26, his son Likeable is entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Gleneagles, who finished eighth in the Classic, stands for Coolmore at its Irish headquarters and is the sire of four stakes winners to date.

Two members of this field have yet to have representatives on the track. Keen Ice, who was fourth, entered stud in 2018 at Calumet Farm, and his first foals are yearlings. Hard Aces, sixth, entered stud last year at Averett Farm in Louisiana.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile

Nyquist emulated his sire, Uncle Mo, by winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to complete an unbeaten championship campaign. He will now attempt to emulate his sire with a first-crop Breeders’ Cup winner to perhaps secure the freshman sire title. Nyquist, who sits second on the freshman list by both earnings and individual winners through Oct. 26, will be represented by Grade 1 winners Vequist in the Juvenile Fillies and Gretzky the Great in the Juvenile Turf.

“He is such an amazing horse,” jockey Kazushi Kimura said of Gretzky the Great following their win in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine. “When I came to the final turn, then came through the final stretch, he had a tremendous explosion. He sometimes was a little bit lugging in, but he’s just still a baby.”

Early Breeders’ Cup success would cement Nyquist’s reputation as a rising star in the sire ranks, and thus his commercial status – however, some of his sale offerings this November also could get big updates from other Breeders’ Cup runners. His mares in foal at the Fasig-Tipton November sale include Indelible, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile candidate Essential Quality. A day later, Is It Gold, a half-sister to Preakness Stakes winner and Breeders’ Cup contender Swiss Skydiver will be offered in foal to the young stallion at Keeneland.

Swipe, the runner-up to Nyquist, is leading the freshman sire ranks in Sweden, while two also-rans behind them are currently Kentucky top 10 freshmen in the United States. Spendthrift’s Brody’s Cause sits ninth on the list, while WinStar’s Exaggerator, who went on to defeat Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist in the Preakness, was 10th. Brody’s Cause has a Juvenile entrant in Sittin On Go.

Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile

Liam’s Map, who now stands at Lane’s End, bested Claiborne Farm’s Lea by 2 1/2 lengths in the Dirt Mile, which the Breeders’ Cup is hoping to establish as a stallion-making race.

“Mile races are so important to breeding that we thought it would,” said Bill Farish of Lane’s End, who is on the Breeders’ Cup board of directors. “It took a little time to catch on, but it’s certainly catching on in a big way.”

Liam’s Map is doing his part by building a strong stallion career.

He is the sire of six stakes winners, led by Grade 1 winners Basin and Wicked Whisper and graded stakes winner Rushie. The latter will attempt to emulate his sire by winning the Dirt Mile at Keeneland.

Liam’s Map also is the sire of Crazy Beautiful, who is entered to run in the Juvenile Fillies.

Finishing 10th behind Liam’s Map in the Dirt Mile was Tapiture, who has emerged as a successful young sire. His Jesus’ Team was third in the Preakness Stakes and is a candidate for the Dirt Mile.

Breeders’ Cup Mile

Karakontie finished 11th behind Tepin – whose first foal is an unnamed Curlin juvenile filly – in his bid to repeat in the Mile. Now standing at Gainesway Farm, Grade 3 winner Sole Volante leads his five stakes winners. The quintet also includes stakes winner and Breeders’ Cup candidate Spanish Loveaffair.

Two other current freshman sires were also-rans in this edition of the Mile – Taylor Made’s Mshawish finished fourth, and WinStar’s Tourist was eighth. The latter went on to win the 2016 Mile.

Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint

Defending winner Bobby’s Kitten was the top-placed colt or stallion in the 2015 edition at Keeneland, finishing fourth. He now stands at Lanwades Stud in England.

Breeders’ Cup Sprint

Eclipse Award divisional champion Runhappy, who earned his signature win at Keeneland, has been among the most heralded sires in this freshman class thanks to robust promotion by owner Jim McIngvale. The Claiborne Farm stallion has sired five individual winners through Oct. 26.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf

The victorious Hit It a Bomb, by War Front, stands at Spendthrift. He is currently 12th on the North American freshman sires list thanks to Weston, winner of the Grade 2 Best Pal and third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, and Miss Costa Rica, third in the Grade 1 Chandelier.

Breeders’ Cup Turf

The top-placing colt or stallion was Golden Horn, who lost a hard-fought battle to Found. He stands for Darley in England and is the sire of four stakes winners to date. Meanwhile, Found’s first foal, Battleground, is a leading Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf candidate.