A number of freshman sires had notable milestones Labor Day weekends, as stakes opportunities become more readily available – and extremely importantly for their sire’s credentials.
During the past weekend, Union Rags, Maclean’s Music, Tapizar, and Dominus all were represented by their initial stakes winners, and victories in these rich races moved all four into the top five freshman sires in North America.
Charlie Boden, who served as racing manager and stallion season sales director for Calumet Farm, has left the operation to re-establish his bloodstock consultancy, Charles H. Boden Thoroughbreds, Inc.
Boden worked at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky. for roughly a year, after a decade as head of sales at Darley America, also in Lexington. While at Darley, Boden oversaw the careers of stallions including Bernardini, Medaglia d’Oro, and Street Cry, and was key in bring stallions such as Street Sense and Hard Spun to the farm.
Sires First Defence and United States have been sold to stand at Half Stud in Saudi Arabia beginning in 2017.
First Defence, a 12-year-old son of Unbridled’s Song, previously stood at Juddmonte Farms in Lexington, Ky., where he was advertised in 2016 for a fee of $7,500.
He has sired five crops of racing age, with 112 winners and combined progeny earnings in excess of $11.2 million.
A decade after 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam’s death, and five years after the remnants of his female line were scattered across America following the death of prominent breeder Edward P. Evans, his family continues to make an impact that will be felt at the upcoming Keeneland September yearling sale.
Two-time reigning leading sire Tapit recorded a rare feat Saturday at Saratoga when his daughters Pretty City Dancer and Sweet Loretta finished in a dead heat for the win in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes.
It is believed to be the first dead-heat sweep for a sire in a Grade 1 or Group 1 event since Prince of Dance and Scenic, both by Sadler’s Wells, won the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes in 1988.
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Adena Springs has put a premium on breeding classic-distance horses, as evidenced by the four Breeders’ Cup Classic winners on its stallion roster. Owned by Frank Stronach, Adena Springs appears to have a homebred contender for this year’s renewal in Shaman Ghost, who upset the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga. The colt could be a third-generation BC Classic winner for his male line.
The premier summer race meets at Saratoga and Del Mar, featuring a robust slate of maiden special weight races and stakes for 2-year-olds, annually provide a chance for freshman sires to make their names known. Heading into the final day of both meets Monday, both featuring Grade 1 events for juveniles, Union Rags and Dialed In had emerged atop the standings.
Throughout its 149-year history, the Belmont Stakes has been labeled “the test of champions.” For most of that revered history the Belmont also was regarded as the classic race most likely to produce great sires, and with good reason. As shown in the accompanying table, the Belmont has produced twice as many leading American sires as both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
Gio Ponti, three-time Eclipse Award winner, got off to a slow start as a sire when his first foals reached the racetrack last year. He failed to get a stakes winner and had just eight winners from 46 starters and progeny earnings of $452,601. As could be expected for a horse who himself got better with age and distance, Gio Ponti’s progeny are performing far better as 3-year-olds – and he has a chance for two of his runners to be champions by year-end.
Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable enjoyed coast-to-coast success last weekend.
A few hours after the homebred By the Moon ran a game second in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga, Masochistic, whom Jay Em Ess co-owns with Will Shamlian’s Los Pollos Hermanos Racing, won the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes. He defeated just two other horses but did so handily in 1:20.31 for seven furlongs, just off the track record of 1:20.
