Two successful stallions from two of the world’s most prominent breeding and racing programs have continued to make their mark at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting over the past week – and have continued to bolster the legacies of their respective sires for another titan of the industry.
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DRF Past Performances
Aheadbyacentury
Midnight Lute – Sunful, by Touch Gold
Bred in Ontario by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms ($51,121 purchase by John Ross, agent, at 2016 Canadian September yearling sale)
Aheadbyacentury, a stakes-winning juvenile who has continued to acquit himself well in his sophomore season, is from a sire line that has proven successful in Canada and from a prominent female family.
The euthanization of Smart Strike due to laminitis on March 25, 2015 brought to an end a magnificent stud career that included two North American sire championships, but his best days were already in the rear-view mirror.
ROSE’S VISION
Artie Schiller-Essential Rose, by Bernardini
(Bred in Ontario by Chiefswood Stable)
Rose’s Vision punched his ticket to the Queen’s Plate with a strong performance as a longshot in the Plate Trial, finishing second to favored Telekinesis. The Artie Schiller colt, a third-generation homebred for Chiefswood Stable, is from a family that has consistently found stakes success.
Two longtime Pennsylvania breeding programs notched victories on Saturday’s star-studded Belmont card, with Spring Quality winning the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes and Prince Lucky taking the Easy Goer Stakes.
Spring Quality races as a homebred for George Strawbridge Jr.’s Augustin Stable, and he was making his first start against Grade 1 company in the Manhattan. The son of Quality Road had just two horses beaten at the quarter pole, came eight wide into the lane, and rallied furiously to be up by a neck in a blanket finish.
With the eyes of the racing world on Belmont Park for a three-day run of 18 stakes races, capped by Justify’s successful bid for the Triple Crown, both New York’s breeding program and its perennial leading sire showcased themselves well.
New York-bred Fourstar Crook won the Grade 2 New York Stakes on Friday, and the following afternoon, fellow statebred Disco Partner scored a repeat victory in the Grade 2 Jaipur Stakes. Last year in the Jaipur, Disco Partner set a North American record for six furlongs on turf.
How do you breed a Triple Crown winner? Short answer: breed the dam of at least two high-quality stakes winners to a leading sire.
That description, of course, could be applied to hundreds of foals born every year, but only 13 out of the thousands of foals matching those qualifications born in America in the 102 years since Sir Barton was foaled at Hamburg Place in 1916 have won the Triple Crown. Still, that is the best summary description available of the average short pedigree of the 13 Triple Crown winners.
A mile and a half around the biggest dirt track in America, with the whole world watching, carrying the weight of a century and a half of history.
“The supreme test is the Belmont Stakes, run over ‘Big Sandy,’ Belmont Park,” said Michael Hernon, director of sales for Gainesway Farm. “There’s nowhere to hide out there. The best horse, I think, consistently wins.”
Dixie Moon
Curlin–Dixie Chicken, by Rahy
(Bred in Ontario by Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry)
Two-time Horse of the Year Curlin has been a prolific sire in the American Triple Crown series. He looks to extend his reputation as a classic sire north of the border with the likes of Queen’s Plate hopeful Dixie Moon. In addition to getting a boost from her stamina-producing sire, the filly is a half-sister to a horse who played a role on last year’s Canadian classics trail.