Breeders’ Cup remains a key barometer for first-crop sires

The hoped-for scenario for a freshman stallion heading into the fall of his debut season involves having runners at the Breeders’ Cup. Getting one in position for an Eclipse Award with a strong effort would be even better.

Each of the four Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds features a pair of entrants from the first crop of their respective sires, seeking to provide the same boost that champion Nyquist gave sire Uncle Mo by winning the 2015 Juvenile. Other recent freshman-sired Breeders’ Cup winners include Hootenanny, by Quality Road, in the 2014 Juvenile Turf, and George Vancouver, by Henrythenavigator, in the 2012 edition.

The Juvenile features two runners by freshman sires standing outside of Kentucky: The maiden Bahamian and Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire. Firenze Fire is by Poseidon’s Warrior, who stands at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, Fla. Poseidon’s Warrior, by champion Speightstown, was himself a Grade 1-winning sprinter.

“If [Firenze Fire] pops up and even shows, it’s going to put Poseidon just over the moon,” Pleasant Acres’s Helen Barbazon said. “He’s got a lot of nice, good-looking babies.”

Bahamian is by Freedom Child, who resides at Country Life Farm in Maryland.

The Juvenile Fillies will be a crucial tilt in the race for North America’s leading freshman sire by earnings, as multiple Grade 1-placed Piedi Bianchi looks to extend sire Overanalyze’s lead in the standings.

Overanalyze, a Dixie Union horse who stands at WinStar Farm, is North America’s only freshman stallion with progeny earnings in seven figures through Oct. 31, at $1,360,501. He is also the top freshman by winners, with 22.

WinStar executive Elliott Walden said he has been heartened to see Overanalyze’s runners improving.

“They’re good 2-year-olds, yet they continue to improve as their distances get further along,” Walden said. “They’re getting better, and that’s a very encouraging thing. They didn’t just come out in April and May and now you can’t find them.”

Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Fort Larned is represented in the Juvenile Fillies by Blonde Bomber. She is the first stakes winner for the Adena Springs stallion.

Violence, North America’s second-leading freshman by earnings, will aim to make up ground on Overanalyze in the Juvenile Turf with stakes winner Encumbered. A Hill ‘n’ Dale stallion, Violence is also the sire of stakes winners Buy Sell Hold and Barry Lee.

“The Breeders’ Cup is the epitome of class,” Hill ‘n’ Dale’s John Sikura said. “If you’re able to have a horse of that caliber in the first crop, it speaks volumes about the potential of the horse moving forward.”

Challenging Encumbered will be Grade 2 winner Untamed Domain, from the first Northern Hemisphere crop of Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom. The Leroidesanimaux horse is based at Darley’s Lexington, Ky., farm, and also has stakes winners Sunny Skies and Continental Divide.

Kentucky Derby winner Orb has stakes winner Orbolution in the gate for the Juvenile Fillies Turf. A Claiborne stallion, Orb’s commercial stock has soared this year, with a $1.25 million colt at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. March sale of 2-year-olds in training and a $1 million colt at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale.

“Orbs have been selling so well, and for him to back it up on the track on arguably the biggest stage, the Breeders’ Cup, would be humongous,” Claiborne’s Walker Hancock said. “We already think there’s a high ceiling on Orb, but this would just further prove it.”

Stakes winner Fatale Bere, from the first crop of French stallion Pedro the Great, also runs in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Cambodia brings joy to breeder

Racing has always been a game of association for Don Robinson of Winter Quarter Farm. He bred Cambodia, a fourth-generation member of a Thoroughbred family he has worked with, in partnership with late friend Eric Kronfeld, best known as the breeder of Zenyatta. Robinson now races Cambodia in partnership with Alan Schubert, who bought in after Kronfeld’s death.

Cambodia has not missed the board this year, and stamped herself as a prominent contender for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with victories in the Yellow Ribbon and John C. Mabee, both Grade 2 events at host track Del Mar.

“I’ve had this filly’s entire family,” Robinson said. “It’s the ultimate breeder’s reward. I’ve never had a horse of my own of this quality.”

The victories at Del Mar and a return to that track for the Breeders’ Cup are particular rewards for Robinson, who has a long association with the seaside track.

“I came here in 1966 and walked hots for Charlie Whittingham,” he said. “I came back when Zenyatta won the Clement Hirsch.”

Cambodia’s win in the Yellow Ribbon marked Robinson’s third visit to Del Mar, and he called the victory “an amazing thrill.”

Robinson’s association with Cambodia’s family began more than two decades ago, with stakes winner Lonely Beach, who was boarded at Winter Quarter, which Robinson’s father founded in 1948. Don Robinson raised a number of her progeny and said they were “very attractive, well-made horses.” He later claimed one of her daughters, Lonely Fact, who produced the Smart Strike filly Sassifaction, dam of Cambodia.

Kronfeld and Robinson’s association began in the 1980s, when the owner sent mares to board at Winter Quarter. The farm raised several future stakes horses for him, including 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, who Kronfeld sold as a yearling. When Kronfeld died at 71 in 2013 following a battle with cancer, his family elected to disperse his Thoroughbred holdings for financial and logistical reasons.

“As much as I’d like [to keep the horses], I advised that this is probably the best thing,” Robinson said at the time. “There are costs, investments, ongoing expenses. A person has to be well-off financially and very committed to this business, whether it’s breeding, racing – very focused to have success. It requires an individual, or at least a couple, that are like that – and if not, you don’t do it.”

Winter Quarter acted as agent for the Kronfeld dispersal at the 2013 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. The highlight was Eblouissante, Zenyatta’s winning half-sister, who sold for $2.1 million to St. George.

Had Kronfeld not died, Robinson said Eblouissante would have retired to Winter Quarter as a broodmare.

“It’s kind of like selling the farm – that’s what’s very sad,” Robinson said of the dispersal. “You’re not selling the crop, you’re selling the farm.”