World of Trouble will be successful sireline's latest stallion
At age 25, Tale of the Cat has shown no signs of slowing down. Over the last decade, the Coolmore stallion is responsible for multiple Eclipse Award champion Gio Ponti and Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Stopchargingmaria, and in 2019 continued to light the board with several stakes-performing juveniles who will eye bigger things.
Meanwhile, Tale of the Cat’s legacy is secure through his sons and grandsons at stud, ensuring that his particular branch of the legendary Storm Cat’s sire line is fruitful. His classic-placed Grade 1 winner Lion Heart sired Kantharos, who got off to such a hot start at stud that he was “called up” from Florida to the epicenter of the North American stallion ranks in Kentucky. Kantharos, in turn, was represented by his first son at stud in 2019 in Bucchero, and has a newcomer in Kentucky for 2020 in the versatile and wickedly fast World of Trouble.
Kantharos was unbeaten in three starts as a juvenile, including graded stakes victories at Churchill Downs and Saratoga, before injury forced his retirement. He stood his first six seasons in Florida, and was such a smashing early success with graded stakes winners such as Mr. Jordan and X Y Jet – now a Group 1 winner – that he was moved to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Lexington, Ky., beginning with the 2017 season.
His two best sons were just about to hit the scene – and they are closely related. Bucchero, who entered stud this year at Pleasant Acres in Florida, is out of the winning General Meeting mare Meetmeontime. Her daughter Meets Expectations by Valid Expectations, produced Grade 1 winner World of Trouble, who now joins Kantharos at Hill ‘n’ Dale.
Bucchero, who had already won multiple stakes in his native Indiana, broke through to win three stakes in 2017 at three different tracks, highlighted by the first of his two victories in the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland. The following year, he repeated in the Woodford, placed in two other graded stakes in Kentucky, and finished fifth in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting.
Meanwhile, World of Trouble, who began his career in maiden-claiming company in 2017, tore through victories in four of seven starts in 2018. He gained national prominence in that campaign by finishing second by a neck to Stormy Liberal in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs. Stormy Liberal, who was subsequently voted Eclipse Award champion turf male, earned an eye-popping Beyer Speed Figure of 119, while World of Trouble was given a 118. Those figures trailed only Gun Runner’s figure of 120 earned in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational as the highest numbers of 2018.
That defeat ended up being World of Trouble’s only loss from his last eight starts, all in stakes. Trained by Jason Servis, World of Trouble won all four of his outings in 2019. After winning an off-the-turf edition of the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, he remained on the main track to win the Grade 1 Carter Handicap. He then moved back to turf, winning the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. He became a Grade 1 winner on grass by taking the Jaipur Invitational on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
That proved to be his final start, as World of Trouble enters stud a year earlier than planned. Hill ‘n’ Dale announced in June that it had acquired the rights to the 4-year-old colt, who was campaigned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Bethlehem Stables, and said that the partnership would continue to race the horse through 2020. However, World of Trouble was sidelined over the summer, and with the Breeders’ Cup and other major targets off the table, he was retired.
“He’s the fastest horse I ever owned,” Dubb said. “My jaw dropped every time he raced. He was such an easy horse, he could run on anything. He won Grade 1 races on both dirt and turf in New York this season, something that probably will not happen for me ever again. Since we couldn’t make the Breeders’ Cup due to a foot bruise, we decided it’s best for him to start making babies.”
If the way Bucchero was received was any indication, World of Trouble figures to attract a sizable book at Hill ‘n’ Dale – where Kantharos covered 171 mares in 2019, making him the farm’s busiest stallion, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. Bucchero was among Florida’s most active sires last year, breeding 130 mares.
“We were excited to bring the Kantharos bloodline back to Florida and are thrilled with the way breeders flocked to him in his first year,” Pleasant Acres owner Joe Barbazon said. “With a full book of quality mares, including graded stakes runners, graded stakes producers, and a sibling of a Breeders’ Cup champion, we are confident that his foals are going to be very well received.”
All three of Florida’s busiest stallions were from Tale of the Cat’s branch of Storm Cat’s sire line. Grade 1 winner Girvin, by Tale of the Cat’s son Tale of Ekati, bred 149 mares in his first season to be the most active stallion in the state.
Florida’s leading freshman sire of 2018 was Uncaptured, by Lion Heart. He covered 147 mares in 2019 as a result of that early success, followed on the list by Bucchero with 130 mares. Together, they were three of the four busiest stallions outside of Kentucky. Stay Thirsty, standing in California, covered 147 mares.
Tale of the Cat’s sons standing in Kentucky are Castleton Lyons’s Gio Ponti – whose most successful son, champion sprinter Drefong, stands in Japan – and Tale of Ekati at Darby Dan Farm. In addition to Girvin, Tale of Ekati will have another son with first foals arriving in 2020 in classic-placed Tale of Verve, standing alongside his sire at Darby Dan.
Meanwhile, Lion Heart, who stands overseas for the Turkish Jockey Club, will be joined as an expatriate by Uncaptured, who travels to Korea for 2020. He is still prominently represented in the U.S. by Kantharos, as well as sons in other regional markets. Those include Bourbon Courage, among Maryland’s leading freshman sires of 2019.