Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
HIGH HOPES FOR SCAT DADDY’S SONS
Among the standout offerings of last year’s commercial yearling market and expected to be among the headliners in the upcoming 2-year-old sale season in North America are juveniles from the final crop of internationally successful sire Scat Daddy. The stallion, who died at the young age of 11 in 2015 at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, led the bellwether Keeneland September yearling sale by gross in 2017, with 13 yearlings sold for a half-million dollars or more.
“It’s probably one of the biggest losses we’ve ever experienced,” Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier said at that sale.
Three sons of Scat Daddy entered stud in 2015, and their first crops of juveniles are coming to the track and the commercial arena this year. Led by Group 1 winner No Nay Never, based at Coolmore’s Irish headquarters, the trio also includes multiple graded stakes winners Handsome Mike at Pleasant Acres in Reddick, Fla., and Daddy Nose Best at BC Thoroughbred Farm in Hemet, Calif.
No Nay Never won 4 of 6 career starts and never was worse than second while running on turf, dirt, and synthetic in three countries. After winning the Group 2
Norfolk Stakes at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting in England in 2013, he went on to capture the Group 1 Prix Morny in France. The following season, he was second in the Grade 2 Swale Stakes on Gulfstream Park’s main track, won the Grade 3 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland, and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, beaten a half-length by Bobby’s Kitten.
No Nay Never’s first crop was well received in Europe last year, with 63 yearlings sold for an average price of $145,454. He is represented by one 2-year-old at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale of 2-year-olds in training, an Irish-born filly consigned by Eddie Woods, as agent. The filly is out of the placed English Channel mare Lady Ederle. Lady Ederle is out of Italian Oaks winner Bright Generation and is a half-sister to Italian Group 3 winner Fathayer and to the dam of European champion Dabirsim.
Handsome Mike, a millionaire, and Daddy Nose Best, who earned $957,303, both also evidenced the versatility of Scat Daddy, who did all his running on dirt but has become a successful multisurface sire internationally. Handsome Mike posted his biggest win in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at 1 1/8 miles on dirt, but also captured the Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes going seven furlongs on Keeneland’s synthetic track and was Grade 3-placed at distances up to a mile on turf.
Daddy Nose Best won the Grade 3 Sunland Derby on dirt, Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby on synthetic, and the Grade 3 Colonel E.R. Bradley Handicap on turf. Handsome Mike covered 101 mares in his first season at stud in 2015, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, and has five resulting juveniles cataloged at OBS March. Daddy Nose Best covered
35 mares in 2015.
North America’s most prominent first-crop yearling sires of 2017 also will have offerings at the upcoming 2-yearold sales. The leaders of that class included champion Will Take Charge, with 65 yearlings sold last year for an average of $166,015, and multiple graded stakes winner Cairo Prince, with 86 sold for an average of $138,297. Both young stallions, by Unbridled’s Song and Pioneerof the Nile, respectively, are from the Unbridled line. That line has been resurgent in recent years, with champions American Pharoah, Arrogate, Classic Empire, and Forever Unbridled on the track.
In addition to their offerings at OBS March, both Will Take Charge and Cairo Prince had multiple juveniles chosen for the elite, single-session FasigTipton Gulfstream sale of selected 2-year-olds in training. Will Take Charge, who stands at Three Chimneys Farm, has five, and Cairo Prince, standing at Airdrie Stud in conjunction with Darley, has six.
Cairo Prince had “an outstanding group of yearlings, and the marketplace reflected it,” juvenile consignor Ciaran Dunne said. “It wasn’t just a handful, it seems. From July to October, every time you turned around, there was another good one by the horse. From what we’ve seen here at the farm, the physical prowess has translated into athletic prowess. They’re beautifulmoving horses and they’re very willing. They’re just nice horses.”
By almost any measure, Into Mischief again had a stellar year with his 2-yearold runners in 2017.
The Spendthrift Farm stallion leads Daily Racing Form’s exclusive Beyer Sire Performance Standings with 16 figures to meet or surpass the benchmark figure of 80 from juvenile action last season. Ten individuals were responsible for those figures, giving him a healthy 12 percent to reach that threshold from his juvenile starters.
Into Mischief led the juvenile earnings list in 2016 and finished a narrow second among living North American sires in that category last year. He led living juvenile sires with five black-type stakes winners.
Into Mischief’s juveniles were led by two who recorded Beyer Speed Figures of 90. Mia Mischief was the first to hit that mark, posting her 90 when winning an optionalclaiming race in November at Churchill Downs in her 2-year-old finale. The multiple stakes-placed filly, who was bred and sold by Spendthrift, also recorded an 85, tied for her sire’s fifth-highest juvenile figure of the year, in winning her maiden at Keeneland by 16 1/4 lengths.
Tricks to Doo later posted a 90 winning the Inaugural Stakes in December at Tampa Bay Downs. The 7 1/4-length romp was the colt’s second win from three starts last year.
With continued success from his juveniles on the track, Into Mischief is poised for more solid results as the 2-year-olds in training sale season begins in North America. The son of Harlan’s Holiday averaged $212,105 from 43 juveniles sold last year, led by Engage, who sold for $550,000 to Woodford Racing at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale. Engage later won the Grade 3 Futurity Stakes at Belmont.
Into Mischief also sired a pair of $500,000 colts, Audible and Souper Shenanigan, at the elite Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale. Audible, who was purchased by China Horse Club and WinStar Farm, romped in last month’s Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 99.
Into Mischief has nine 2-year-olds cataloged for his year’s Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale, including a filly who is a half-sister to Japanese Group 2 winner Albiano, who is from the family of prominent broodmare Courtly Dee, responsible for champion Althea. The filly is consigned as agent by the McKathan brothers, who purchased Mia Mischief as a yearling and successfully pinhooked her last year.
Curlin: Quartet of 90+ Beyers
Curlin emerged as a source of classic stamina early in his stud career, with 2013 Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice emerging from his first crop. The Smart Strike stallion, residing at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, has been represented by a classic winner or classic-placed runner in each of his crops to follow – and following his best crop of juveniles to date, he is taking dead aim on keeping that streak alive in 2018.
Curlin was North America’s leading living sire by 2-year-old earnings in 2017 and also led Daily Racing Form’s Beyer Sire Performance Standings at the elite level, with four Beyers of 90 or higher recorded in the category. Artie Schiller (Australia), Medaglia d’Oro (Darley), Point of Entry (Adena Springs), and Street Sense (Darley) each had a pair of figures surpassing that threshold.
Curlin was led by Eclipse Award champion Good Magic, who won his maiden in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with a Beyer of 100, having previously finished second in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes. The runner-up to Good Magic in the BC Juvenile, beaten by 4 1/4 lengths, was another Curlin colt, Solomini, who finished his season with three Grade 1 placings.
Fastest of the fast
Veteran sires Medaglia d’Oro and Speightstown recorded the highest Beyer Speed Figures of the year for juveniles, thanks to their sons Bolt d’Oro and Strike Power. Both of those colts are now looking ahead to Triple Crown preps – and that’s not the only reason to look ahead for their sires, as each has a strong band of well-bred juveniles cataloged for FasigTipton Gulfstream, the first 2-year-old auction of the season where major money flies.
Medaglia d’Oro led all stallions in North America with seven individual Grade 1 winners in 2017, including a pair of Breeders’ Cup winners, with five of those becoming Eclipse Award finalists. The Darley stallion joined Danzig, Mr. Prospector, and Storm Cat as the only American stallions to sire seven top-level winners in a calendar year.
Those Grade 1 winners included
multiple top-level victor Bolt d’Oro, who recorded a 103 Beyer when romping in the FrontRunner Stakes. The colt, who suffered his first loss when third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is eyeing the Grade 2 San Felipe on March 10 as his 3-year-old debut.
“From watching films, I knew the Medaglia d’Oros had the cruising speed Bolt d’Oro’s shown, and that’s what we want to build on,” said Mick Ruis, Bolt d’Oro’s owner and trainer.
Medaglia d’Oro’s seven juveniles cataloged at Fasig-Tipton, all but one of whom are out of stakes-performing mares, include a half-brother to Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed and a filly out of Grade 1 winner Joyful Victory.
Speightstown’s son Strike Power earned a 102 Beyer winning his maiden at Gulfstream, then won the Grade 3 Swale Stakes. He will next attempt to stretch out in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth. Speightstown, a veteran stallion at WinStar Farm, led all stallions who had 50 or more juvenile starters in 2017 by percentage of those to meet the threshold figure of 80, with 22 percent. Medaglia d’Oro, who had
an identical 78 starters in the category, checked in at 17 percent.
Speightstown’s five 2-year-olds cataloged at Gulfstream are led by a colt out of Grade 1 winner Appealing Zophie, making him a half-brother to 2017 Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit. The colt will be offered as a pinhook prospect by Niall Brennan Stables after he was purchased for $250,000 by noted bloodstock agent Mike Ryan out of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale.
“He’s bred to be a dirt horse, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he was quick enough and had the action to run on the turf,” Ryan said. “We’ll just see, but hopefully he’ll be a summer 2-year-old. He’s a real Speightstown. Seven furlongs to a mile is probably going to be his optimum, but I loved him.”
Violence strikes a blow
The freshman sire race came down to the line in 2017, with traditional earnings lists and winners lists decided by narrow margins. The class also spread the wealth when it came to nd the Beyer Sire Performance Standings, with a handful of stallions making an impact.
Violence, who stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, was represented by the most individuals from his first crop to meet or exceed the threshold figure of 80, with four. That group was led by Peace, who earned an 88 when finishing second in a maiden race at Del Mar. The colt came back to win his next outing.
Violence, a Grade 1-winning juvenile himself, led the freshman sire list by individual winners in 2017. The young stallion is by Medaglia d’Oro, who also is coming off a solid season with his juveniles.
Fellow freshmen Animal Kingdom (Darley), earnings leader Overanalyze (WinStar Farm), and Shanghai Bobby (Coolmore’s Ashford Stud) each were represented by multiple individuals to record Beyers of 80 or above. Juvenile champion Shanghai Bobby, by Harlan’s Holiday, was one of three individual freshmen to have a runner break through with a 90, as Shivermetimbers earned that figure for his maiden win over Peace.
Point of Entry (Adena Springs), the sire of unbeaten Grade 3 winner Analyze It, and Poseidon’s Warrior (Pleasant Acres), sire of Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire, joined Shanghai Bobby to round out that trio.