Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
CHROME, FROSTED TOP FIRST-YEAR COVERING SIRES
Two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome was among the most popular runners of recent years. The stallion will get his first chance to test his popularity in the auction ring when mares carrying foals from his first crop go through the sales this November in Kentucky.
California Chrome, whose seven Grade 1 victories included the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness and 2016 Dubai World Cup, bankrolled more than $14.7 million. His stud fee was set at $40,000 for his initial Northern Hemisphere season this year at Taylor Made Farm, partially due to the son of Lucky Pulpit’s less “obvious” pedigree highlights.
“Even though I think he has a very good pedigree, it’s not an obvious pedigree,” Duncan Taylor said at the time. “I think it’s going to take some explaining, and I think, hopefully, with the price where it is, people will want to learn more. The pedigree is there, which is great to talk to people about, and it’s a fun platform to do it. The production is there, but if you look behind just California Chrome, there’s a reason why that happened. The genetics are there.”
California Chrome is represented by nine mares carrying foals from his first crop at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. That group is led by a trio of mares selected for Book 1 – multiple graded stakes-placed stakes winner You Bought Her; multiple stakes winner Iplaytricks; and Divine Heart, a winning half-sister to Grade 1 winners Include Me Out and Check The Label. Taylor Made consigns Iplaytricks.
California Chrome’s other mares in foal at Keeneland are stakes winner Our Fantene, dam of Grade 3 winner Javerre; stakes winner Just Got In; A.P. Candy, from the family of Grade 1 winner and producer Dream Supreme; Deceptive Glory, a winning half-sister to two-time Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Mizdirection; Make Light, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Seek Again; and Lazaria Lass, half to Grade 1placed stakes winners Lookin At Lee and Battlefield Angel.
Along with California Chrome, Taylor Made had three other newcomers this year – Mshawish, a Grade 1 winner on both dirt and turf; multiple graded stakes winner Protonico; and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Not This Time. All are represented by mares in foal at Keeneland.
The international Godolphin operation retired two multiple Grade 1 winners to its Kentucky farm this year in Frosted and
Nyquist. They are the only two first-year covering stallions with mares in foal both at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale – which has a smaller, and therefore more selective, catalog – and Keeneland.
Frosted scored his signature triumph in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont, romping by 14 1/4 lengths in the 2016 renewal of the historic race. His final time of 1:32.73 missed the track record by two-fifths, and he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 123 – not only the top number of the year, but also the top number of leading sire Tapit’s stud career. Frosted entered stud with a fee of $50,000, the highest for a Kentucky newcomer this season. He has one mare in at Fasig-Tipton and 16 at Keeneland, including Grade 2 winner Ekati’s Phaeton.
“His Metropolitan Handicap was one for the ages,” said Dan Pride, chief operating officer of Godolphin’s American operations. “Add to that his great pedigree and tremendous physical appearance and you’ve got all the pieces in place for a sire of the future.”
Nyquist followed in the footsteps of his sire, Uncle Mo, by earning a divisional Eclipse Award for an unbeaten juvenile campaign, culminating with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He trained on to win the 2016 Kentucky Derby and retired for a $40,000 fee. Grade 2 winner Land Over Sea and Citiview, dam of Grade 1 winner Midnight Lucky, are cataloged at Fasig-Tipton carrying foals from his first crop. Nyquist’s 15 mares at Keeneland include Grade 1 winner Jessica Is Back; Cabo de Noche, dam of graded stakes-winning millionaire Pants On Fire; and graded winner and producer Princess Haya.
Champion sprinter Runhappy, standing at historic Claiborne Farm, has graded stakes producer Oblige among his 21 mares in foal at Keeneland. Two Eclipse Award champion turf horses also entered stud this year in Flintshire (24 mares in foal at Keeneland) and Big Blue Kitten (3).
Other prominent first-year covering stallions represented this fall include Australian champion Vancouver (12); European champion Air Force Blue (16); Preakness winner Exaggerator (25); Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tourist (27); Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz (5); and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red (6).