Sire Scat Daddy has big weekend

Scat Daddy’s legacy was already growing Saturday, even before Justify emerged from the fog to win the Preakness Stakes and set himself up for a Triple Crown bid for his late sire.

Scat Daddy, who died in December 2015 at age 11 at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, was represented by his 100th stakes winner earlier on Saturday’s Pimlico card when Tap Daddy cruised in the off-the-turf James Murphy Stakes. On Sunday, the stallion’s international influence stood out, as his son Sioux Nation won the Group 3 Goffs Lacken Stakes at Naas in Ireland, and Sergei Prokofiev won the listed Rochestown Stakes on the same card.

Scat Daddy’s final foals are juveniles of 2018. Meanwhile, three of his sons have their first juveniles on the track this year, led by No Nay Never, who was represented by his first stakes winner on that Sunday card at Naas when his daughter Servalan won the Coolmore Stud Irish EF Fillies Sprint Stakes.

No Nay Never, who stands at the international Coolmore operation’s Irish base, has four first-crop winners, including Mae Never No. Her maiden win on May 3 at Belmont, over next-out winner Abyssinian, earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 72, the second-highest by a juvenile in 2018.

No Nay Never won 4 of 6 career starts and never was worse than second while running on turf, dirt, and synthetic in three countries. After winning the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting in England in 2013, he went on to capture the Group 1 Prix Morny in France. The following season, he was second in the Grade 2 Swale Stakes on Gulfstream Park’s main track, won the Grade 3 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland, and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, beaten a half-length by Bobby’s Kitten.

Scat Daddy’s other sons with their first juveniles this year are multiple graded stakes winners Handsome Mike at Pleasant Acres in Reddick, Fla., and Daddy Nose Best at BC Thoroughbred Farm in Hemet, Calif.

Like No Nay Never, both showed the versatility of Scat Daddy, who did all his running on dirt but has become a successful multi-surface sire internationally. Millionaire Handsome Mike posted his biggest win in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at 1 1/8 miles on dirt, but also captured the Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes going seven furlongs on Keeneland’s synthetic track and was Grade 3-placed at distances up to a mile on turf. Daddy Nose Best won the Grade 3 Sunland Derby on dirt, Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby on synthetic, and the Grade 3 Colonel E.R. Bradley Handicap on turf.