Because of Claiborne Farm’s more cautious, traditional approach to stallion management than the norm, Claiborne stallions tend to be at a bit of a disadvantage early in their careers. Since Claiborne restricts its stallions to not many more than 100 mares a year, they usually do not have the numbers to compete statistically with stallions standing at farms that take full advantage of the big-book era. The emergence of Blame this year as a prominent sire five crops into his stallion career is evidence enough that patience is often a virtue in evaluating stallions, particularly those that stand at Claiborne, but such traditional values carry little weight in a culture that communicates in 144 character bursts. The victory of Sippican Harbor in the Grade 1 Spinaway last Saturday, however, hints that it is possible Claiborne has another late bloomer in her sire, Orb. Orb’s first crop of 94 named 3-year-olds includes only two stakes winners, 2017 P.G. Johnson Stakes winner Orbolution (out of My Rachel, by Horse Chestnut) and 2018 Super Derby Prelude winner Autumn Warrior (Kinsolving, by Posse). So there is no denying that the son of Malibu Moon was badly in need of a graded stakes winner before Sippican Harbor’s come-from-behind win at Saratoga. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales Bred at Claiborne by Stuart Janney III and Phipps Stable, Orb earned his place as a stallion at his birthplace through his consecutive victories in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, Grade 1 Florida Derby, and Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in 2013. The best he could do after those wins, though, was third in the Belmont and third in the Travers. That left the impression he was a somewhat one-paced horse who had benefitted in his string of victories from overeager opponents burning themselves out on the front end. In both the Fountain of Youth and Kentucky Derby the front-runners took off at a 45-and-change pace, setting up Orb’s powerful finishing run perfectly. The pace for his Florida Derby victory was more sedate, but in retrospect, with champion-2-year-old Shanghai Bobby running well below form, he had little to beat. Orb, however, presented a striking picture to breeders upon inspection after his retirement to Claiborne. A big, strong, handsome, correct horse, he combines the elegance of the A.P. Indy male line with the power and bone of his broodmare sire, Unbridled. His pedigree certainly gave breeders every excuse to back him. Orb is perhaps the best of 16 Grade 1 winners sired by Malibu Moon, and Orb’s dam, Liberty Lady, by Unbridled, was a daughter of Grade 1 Black-Eyed Susan winner Mesabi Maiden, by Cox’s Ridge. Liberty Lady is from the great family descending from Bold Irish, which includes the immortal Ruffian and successful sires Icecapade, Green Forest, Fusaichi Pegasus, Pine Bluff, and Irish Castle. Orb’s first crop was well received, particularly at the 2-year-old sales in 2017. His first yearlings averaged $147,325, while his 2-year-olds doubled that to $294,739, topped by a $1.25 million colt out of Remember, by Forest Wildcat, at OBS March. They have not yet followed through on the racetrack, and Sippican Harbor is only his third stakes winner and first graded winner. Bred in Kentucky by Justin Spaeth, Kalvert Spaeth, and Equine Equity Partners, Sippican Harbor, is a $260,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga purchase by her trainer, Gary Contessa, for Lee Pokoik. She is the seventh foal out of Blossomed, by Deputy Minister, whose fifth foal, Bodacious Babe, by Mineshaft, has placed in three stakes including the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl in 2017. Blossomed has since produced a yearling colt by Bodemeister, and a weanling colt by Orb’s sire, Malibu Moon. She was bred back this year to another son of A.P. Indy, Honor Code. The unraced Blossomed is half-sister Grade 3 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes winner Cinemine, by Mining, and stakes winner Flick, by Dehere. Flick is the dam of Grade 3 Stars and Stripes Stakes winner Greengrassofwyoming, by Quest. Sippican Harbor’s third dam, stakes winner French Flick, by Silent Screen, is the dam of Group 1 Racing Post Trophy winner Peter Davies, by Bering, and her fifth dam is champion Leallah, by Nasrullah. Sippican Harbor’s pedigree is a complete outcross through six generations, except for sixth-generation duplications of Native Dancer and Wild Risk. In a broodmare population and stallion pool saturated with Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector, that will make her quite an interesting broodmare prospect when she eventually retires to stud.