Scat Daddy's sons No Nay Never, Frac Daddy succeeding at stud

The late Scat Daddy’s best sons, including Triple Crown winner Justify, have come to stud in the last two years, but those already with young runners on the track are setting the bar high.

Second-crop sire No Nay Never, Europe’s leading freshman sire of 2018, had a winner at the Royal Ascot meeting this week. Meanwhile, Canadian-based Frac Daddy sits high on North America’s freshman sire list early in this season.

No Nay Never, who stands at Coolmore’s Irish headquarters, won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2013 and later that year captured the Group 1 Prix Morny in France. He won the Grade 3 Woodford Stakes over older horses as a 3-year-old, finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, and was Grade 2-placed on dirt before retiring.

Arizona, from the second crop of No Nay Never, won the Group 2 Coventry Stakes on the opening day of the Royal Ascot meeting Tuesday to become the 11th stakes winner for his sire. The stallion is led by Ten Sovereigns, who won last year’s Group 1 Middle Park Stakes in England and the Group 3 Round Tower Stakes in Ireland. Land Force won the Group 2 Richmond Stakes in England, was third in the Norfolk at Royal Ascot, and was a stakes winner in Ireland.

No Nay Never’s other standouts include Brooke, a Group 3 winner in Chile, where Scat Daddy was a leading sire, and stakes winners All The King’s Men, Chestnut Honey, Mae Never No, Never No More, No Needs Never, Onthewaytonevrland, and Servalan. Mae Never No and Onthewaytonevrland are both based in the U.S. with Wesley Ward, who trained No Nay Never.

Frac Daddy, who stands at Park Stud in Ontario, is third on the North American freshman sire list despite having fewer foals and runners than those above him. From 31 current 2-year-olds, the stallion has two maiden special weight winners at Woodbine from just three starters for earnings of $106,305 through Tuesday.

Above him on the freshman earnings list are Journeyman Stud’s Khozan (73 juveniles, 15 starters, 6 winners) at $285,160 and WinStar Farm’s Constitution (123, 5, 3) at $120,697.

Frac Daddy, who was trained by Ken McPeek, won the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes and Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes on synthetic tracks but also displayed the versatility typical of his sireline. He was a Grade 1-placed winner on dirt and a Grade 3-placed winner on turf.

Coolmore, which stood Scat Daddy, has a strong hand of young Scat Daddy stallions worldwide, with Justify and the versatile Mendelssohn entering stud this year at its Ashford Stud in Kentucky, and Group 1 winner Caravaggio’s first foals arriving this year, and Group 1 winner Sioux Nation finishing his first season at its Irish base.

Justify’s outstanding first book was reported to include Eclipse Award champions Caledonia Road, Champagne Room, Groupie Doll, Havre de Grace, and Take Charge Brandi; Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Found; Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Bar of Gold; and several Grade 1/Group 1 producers, including Bella Jolie, Charming, and Sambuca Classica, all the dams of Eclipse Award champions.