It would be enough for a broodmare to have one undefeated stakes winner in training, but Magical World has two. The mare’s juvenile daughter Magic Dance could start in the Grade 2 Adirondack this Sunday at Saratoga, attempting to join older half-sister Guarana as a graded winner at the meeting. Both race as homebreds for Three Chimneys Farm.
When it comes to sons of international titan Galileo at stud, much of the discussion naturally turns to Frankel. The unbeaten two-time European Horse of the Year is off to a stellar start in his stallion career, with 45 stakes winners to date from his first four crops.
Yet one of Frankel’s old rivals and another son of Galileo, Nathaniel, has given European racing one of its most dazzling stars since Frankel in his daughter Enable, who added another major victory Saturday in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, a race her sire won in 2011.
The late Harlan’s Holiday sired a pair of standout juveniles in Eclipse Award divisional champion Shanghai Bobby and Grade 1 winner Into Mischief. Both of those have continued on to produce precocity and speed, continuing to carry on their sire’s line. Both had a solid weekend, as Shanghai Bobby’s son Shancelot dazzled winning the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga, while leading sire Into Mischief was represented by promising juvenile debut winners on both coasts.
Roaring Lion, the Kentucky-bred who earned the 2018 Cartier Award as Europe's Horse of the Year, underwent emergency colic surgery Saturday in New Zealand and will miss the Southern Hemisphere breeding season.
In a release posted at 11 a.m. Sunday morning in New Zealand’s local time, Cambridge Stud, which was expected to stand the shuttle stallion this season, reported that Roaring Lion had made a “favourable recovery” in the first 24 hours post-surgery.
Mucho Macho Man was good as a 2-year-old, better as a 3-year-old, and at his best as an older horse. If his progeny continue to follow in his footsteps, their futures look bright.
The 3-year-olds Mucho Unusual and Mucho Gusto, both from their sire’s first crop, turned in solid performances Saturday, with Mucho Unusual winning the Grade 2 San Clemente at Del Mar and Mucho Gusto finishing second in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth.
Basin became the first winner for freshman sire Liam’s Map when he won a maiden special weight by 1 1/4 lengths on Sunday at Saratoga.
Basin, who earned an 86 Beyer for Sunday’s victory, finished second by a nose in his career debut on June 14 at Churchill Downs. He was subsequently flattered when that race’s winner, By Your Side, returned to win the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes on opening weekend at Saratoga.
Lea was a versatile racehorse and is showing he could be just as versatile as a sire. The stallion recorded his first two winners in early July, one on dirt and one on turf.
Lea’s first winner was R Sea Smoke, who won a maiden-claiming race on the turf at Gulfstream Park. That was followed up by Vast, who won a maiden special weight on the dirt at Saratoga for owner-breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider and trainer Bill Mott – the same connections as her sire.
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah never started on turf during his racing career, but has been a standout on that surface early in his stud career. Sweet Melania won a maiden special weight on the Saratoga turf Sunday, becoming American Pharoah’s fifth winner, with all of those runners scoring turf victories.
Regally bred champion Honor Code was among the most anticipated sires in this deep freshman class, but was quiet through the first three months of the juvenile racing season, with few runners and no winners. As the calendar turned to July, however, with the major events in the division still on the horizon, Honor Code, something of a late-blooming runner himself, emerged with a vengeance with his first two winners in the span of 48 hours.
Perennial leading sire Tapit is relatively early in the legacy-building process of becoming a sire of sires. The Gainesway stallion’s oldest foals are 13, the oldest foals by his first sons at stud are 7, and many of his best sons, including his three Belmont Stakes winners, have nascent careers. However, he is already showing promise in this regard, with sons including Tapizar, the sire of champion Monomoy Girl.
