Leading Kentucky broodmare sire by earnings

Since the modern Thoroughbred was crafted into existence some 300 years ago, numerous prominent sires have contributed their DNA as genetic building blocks. Ultimately, though, only a handful could be termed true game changers: Eclipse, Lexington, Hyperion, Nearco, Bold Ruler, Northern Dancer, Mr. Prospector – individuals of such profound influence, they altered the landscape of the sport itself. These days, few would argue against the late Storm Cat’s inclusion on that elite list of breed-shaping sires.

Leading Kentucky juvenile sire by winners
Leading Kentucky freshman sire by winners, stakes winners (tie), and stakes wins

Lookin At Lucky was a champion as a juvenile, and improved enough the following season to bring home a second title.

If his progeny take after their sire, it could be an exciting year for the young stallion.

Leading Kentucky general sire by average earnings

Into Mischief is a young stallion with many years remaining in the breeding shed, but he is already putting himself in elite company.

Leading Kentucky sire by synthetic earnings

Opportunities to race on synthetic surfaces have dried up quickly in North America, with Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Keeneland replacing their main tracks with dirt and Hollywood Park closing its doors in recent years.

With no North American Grade 1 races scheduled on all-weather surfaces for 2015, Candy Ride likely will serve as the bookend among Kentucky’s leading sires during the era of elite-level synthetic-surface racing.

Leading Kentucky juvenile sire by stakes winners (tie) and stakes wins
Leading Kentucky synthetic sire by stakes winners (tie) and stakes wins

As Stormy Atlantic begins to settle into his 20s, he remains a stallion for the young at heart.

Since his first foals hit the track in 2002, runners by Stormy Atlantic, a 21-year-old son of Storm Cat, have shown a knack for starting fast as juveniles. That trend continued last year, as Stormy Atlantic led all Kentucky sires by 2-year-old stakes wins and stakes winners.

It started out promisingly enough for Road Ruler, a son of Unbridled’s Song, back on the first day of 2005. Racing for Padua Stables and George Bolton, and trained by Steve Asmussen, the gray colt won his debut at Fair Grounds by a neck.

It is a long way from a winner’s circle picture with the jockey wearing silks of major owners to life in Burnt Prairie, Ill., population of 52 – 0 percent urban, 100 percent rural. But that is the road Road Ruler has taken. And it has worked out surprisingly well for the horse.

If you are the owner of a stallion farm in Indiana, where the breeding industry still is in relative infancy, how do you go about acquiring the leading sire in the state? Well, you drive down to Florida and pick him up.

That is what the R Star Stallions operation of Leigh Ann and Kerry Hopper did last October, hauling Strong Contender back to their farm near Anderson, Ind., where he will stand the 2015 breeding season for a fee of $3,000.

Strong Contender stood in Florida in 2014, but his progeny earnings of more than $1.34 million would have topped the Indiana sire list.

The addition of Cowtown Cat to Ohio’s stallion roster near the end of 2014 automatically put him at the top of the state’s general sire list by progeny earnings, and he stands a strong chance of remaining in that spot until he can defend the title with his own Ohio-sired runners in 2018.

Cowtown Cat, an 11-year-old son of Distorted Humor, will make his Buckeye State debut in 2015 at Mapleton Thoroughbred Farm in Polk, Ohio, for an advertised fee of $2,500. He previously had stood his entire career at Journeyman Stud in Florida, where he retired for the 2009 breeding season.

The performance of a stallion’s progeny on the racetrack is ultimately the biggest testament to that horse’s success or failure at stud. However, the truly transcendent stallions leave pieces of their legacy through the generations as sires of sires.

One only needs to look at the myriad sons of all-time greats Mr. Prospector, Northern Dancer, and Storm Cat that were successful at stud to verify the trio’s status that they helped shape the breed.

Grade 2 winner My Best Brother has been retired from racing and will stand the 2015 breeding season at Stonewall’s Prestige Stallions in Ocala, Fla.

The 6-year-old son of Stormy Atlantic finished his racing career with four wins in 16 starts for earnings of $363,392. The turf specialist won the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby and the listed Oceanside Stakes, and finished second in the Grade 2 La Jolla Handicap.