Two big names join Mid-Atlantic stallion ranks

No matter the location, Northview Stallion Station seems to have the market cornered when it comes to first-year stallions in the Mid-Atlantic region for 2019. The hard-knocking multiple Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity is set to enter stud at the Pennsylvania division in Peach Bottom, Pa. Meanwhile, classic-placed Irish War Cry will stand at the flagship farm in Chesapeake City, Md.

Hoppertunity, by former Pennsylvania stallion Any Given Saturday, retired with a record of 9-8-5 from 34 starts over five seasons of racing and was a graded stakes winner each of those seasons. He earned more than $4.7 million, which makes him the richest stallion prospect ever to begin his career in the Mid-Atlantic region.

“I could go on and on about his racing statistics, but everyone can look them up,” Northview’s general manager David Wade said. “What most haven’t seen yet is this horse. I went to Santa Anita to inspect him for purchase and I thought they had brought me the wrong one. How could a horse that’s run 34 times, 31 of them stakes races, have legs this clean and joints this tight? As a group, our breeders are very savvy and inspect our stallions diligently, so conformation is high up on our list when shopping for new stallions. This one certainly won’t disappoint anyone.”

A May foal, Hoppertunity was unraced as a juvenile and recorded his first stakes victory in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, his fourth career start, before finishing second to California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby. He was made the second choice on the morning line behind that eventual dual classic winner for the Kentucky Derby, but scratched two days before the race with a foot injury. In his second start off the subsequent layoff, he defeated older horses in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap. He made it back-to-back graded stakes triumphs by winning the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes to start his 2015 season.

Hoppertunity won his second Grade 1 by taking the 2016 Jockey Club Gold Cup. He also won the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes that season and scored a repeat victory in that race in 2017.

In his final season of racing, Hoppertunity won the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational Stakes and the Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup Stakes to bring his total number of graded stakes scores to eight. He placed in 11 graded stakes, and his seven Grade 1 placings include a third in the 2016 Dubai World Cup.

“Speed, class, stamina, and soundness will make you a multimillionaire in this business. Hoppertunity has them all,” said Bob Baffert, who trained Hoppertunity throughout his career. “He could dominate the breeding industry in that region.”

Hoppertunity is a half-brother to multiple Grade 1 winner Executiveprivilege, and his third dam is champion and Hall of Famer Davona Dale.

Grade 2 winner Irish War Cry, born in New Jersey, raced as a homebred for Isabelle De Tomaso. Irish War Cry’s breeding rights were purchased in May 2017 by a partnership led by Kentucky’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, which stands his sire, classic influence Curlin. But the emergence of champion Good Magic as another classic-placed son of that stallion sent Irish War Cry down a different path.

“It was always the intent of our partners to stand Irish War Cry in Kentucky,” Hill ‘n’ Dale’s John Sikura said. “With the addition of champion Good Magic – also by Curlin – and the strong track record of making stallions at Northview, we decided this was the ideal situation for Irish War Cry. They pursued the horse aggressively and made a great pitch for the horse. His credentials as a top-class racehorse and great physical specimen make him a standout in the vibrant Maryland market.”

Irish War Cry retired with a career record of 5-2-0 from 13 starts and earnings of $1,257,060. He won the 2016 Marylander Stakes as a juvenile; took the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes and Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes the following year; and won the Grade 3 Pimlico Special Stakes as a 4-year-old in 2018. He led into the stretch of the 2017 Belmont Stakes and finished second, beaten two lengths by Tapwrit.

“He has such a presence and is so beautifully balanced that I believe mare owners will line up after they see him,” Wade said.

Irish War Cry last raced when he was pulled up and vanned off in the Stephen Foster Handicap last June after struggling to cope with unseasonably hot weather the night of the race. He breezed several times at trainer Graham Motion’s Fair Hill Training Center base in Maryland following that incident.

“Irish War Cry is such a gorgeous and talented horse,” Motion said. “I have not had a horse since Animal Kingdom who has shown the kind of raw ability that he has.”

A number of well-related stallion prospects also enter stud in the Mid-Atlantic region for 2019, including Long River, a son of A.P. Indy out of Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Round Pond. A Group 1 winner at Meydan, he enters stud at Anchor and Hope Farm in Maryland.

No Never No More, a Scat Daddy horse from the immediate family of European champion freshman sire No Nay Never, enters stud at Maryland’s Winding Creek Farm, along with Cool Cash. Grade 2-placed Dolphus, a half-brother to Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra, is new to Cabin Creek Farm in Pennsylvania. The Keystone State also welcomes Grade 3-placed Eastwood to Diamond B Farm.