Two California-based freshman sires, Coil and Empire Way, were represented by their first winners recently.
Coil, by Point Given out of Eversmile, by Theatrical, got his first winner from his first starter when the juvenile filly Recoiling won a 4 1/2-furlong maiden race for 2-year-olds on May 1 at Golden Gate Fields. Recoiling was the 2-1 second choice in the eight-horse field.
Two-time leading sire Tapit and first-crop phenom Uncle Mo hold the strongest hands of the five stallions looking to pull off a rare Kentucky Derby-Kentucky Oaks double this week.
The last stallion to sire the Kentucky Oaks and Derby winner in the same year was the great Native Dancer, with Native Street and Kauai King in 1966.
Since he has led the combined English/Irish sire list for seven of the last eight years, it is never a surprise when the great Galileo dominates European classics, but he found a new way to do it at Newmarket's Guineas meeting last weekend. It was rather surprising that not a single son of Galileo lined up among the 13 starters for the 2000 Guineas on Saturday (there were two paternal grandsons who finished second and eighth), but Galileo still found a way to dominate.
Of all the roads that lead a horse and his connections to the Kentucky Derby, the most conventional path to this year’s edition went through the auction ring.
From the top 25 active Derby contenders by points as of Sunday, 15 were sold at least once at public auction, with an average hammer price of $330,632. Seven horses compete as homebreds, while two were acquired through private purchase and one was claimed.
There are many paths to the Kentucky Derby. For students of bloodstock, some conjure déjà vu – while others are sweetly ironic.
Nyquist followed in young stallion Uncle Mo’s hoofprints by becoming an unbeaten juvenile champion.
Meanwhile, Outwork diverged from his sire’s path to avenge one of the stallion’s biggest career disappointments.
Freshman sire Coil, by Point Given out of Eversmile, by Theatrical, sired his first winner from his first starter when his juvenile filly Recoiling won a 4 1/2-furlong maiden race for at Golden Gate on May 1.
In the eight-horse field of open maidens, Recoiling, the 2-1 second choice, was prominent from the start and prevailed by 1 3/4 lengths over first-time starter Only You Babe, another of the four fillies in the field.
Empire Way, a son of Empire Maker, sired his first winner when Dutt Bart won the first race at Los Alamitos on Friday. Dutt Bart won the event for juvenile maidens going 4 1/2 furlongs by coming from off the pace in the six-runner field and drawing away in the stretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths at odds of 6-1. Yodelers Way, another first-time starter for Empire Way, finished fourth. Favored Lofty Cause, by freshman sire Creative Cause, finished last.
While a strong performance in the Kentucky Derby can carry a horse all the way to a stall at a major stallion farm, several in this year’s field enter the gates with their stud careers already secured.
Shadwell Farm holds a strong hand, with a pair of stallion prospects in multiple Grade 2 winner Mohaymen and Grade 3 winner Shagaf.
