Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Mr Speaker gets first Grade 1
Regally bred Grade 1 winner Mr Speaker faced a hurdle early in his stud career, as he had to reintroduce himself to Kentucky breeders following an extended shuttle stint to Chile. His first-crop daughter Speech is doing her best to keep him in the discussion, as she made a statement with a three-length victory in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland, breaking the stakes and track records.
Mr Speaker, who earned more than $1.2 million, was a graded stakes winner at ages 2, 3, and 4, highlighted by the Grade 1 Belmont Derby in 2014. Mr Speaker entered stud in 2016 at Lane’s End, and his pedigree helped make him a standout in a strong freshman sire class. The Pulpit horse is out of the graded stakes-placed Unbridled mare Salute, a daughter of unbeaten champion and blue hen Personal Ensign. Not only is he from the immediate family of classic sire Our Emblem, he is bred on the same cross as leading sire Tapit.
Mr Speaker covered 117 mares in his first season, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. Later that year, he shuttled to Haras Cordillera in Chile for the Southern Hemisphere season. However, upon arriving in Miami for mandated quarantine while re-entering the U.S., Mr Speaker tested positive for piroplasmosis, a tickborne protozoa that can have a variety of symptoms, none of which the horse displayed. He was forced to return to Chile, thereby missing the 2017 Northern Hemisphere season. After undergoing treatment for the protozoa, he served his second Southern Hemisphere season before making a return to the United States for the 2018 breeding season. He covered 86 mares in that return season, and 46 mares in 2019, according to The Jockey Club.
Through Sunday, Mr Speaker was the sire of 22 winners from 71 first-crop starters, with Speech, of course, leading the way as his first Grade 1 winner. Speech came in to the Ashland with several strong efforts against divisional heavyweights, finishing second to Donna Veloce in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita; second by a neck to subsequent Grade 1 winner Gamine in an Oaklawn allowance; and second to Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks. She finished the 1 1/16 miles of the Ashland in 1:41.26, edging the stakes record of 1:41 3/5, established by Hall of Famer Silverbulletday in the 1999 edition. The previous track mark on the current dirt surface, which was installed before the fall 2014 meet, was 1:41.36, set in an October 2017 allowance by Seeking the Soul, a subsequent Grade 1 winner.
Mr Speaker also is the sire of Elegancia, a Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed in Puerto Rico; Wandy Express, Group 2-placed in Puerto Rico; and Three Technique and You Should Talk, who are stakesplaced.
Tapizar adds Swedish Derby
Tapizar sired the winner of the 2018 Kentucky Oaks, Monomoy Girl, and has a candidate for this year’s filly classic in Project Whiskey.
But while champion Monomoy Girl was returning to graded stakes company with a victory in the Grade 2 Ruffian on Saturday at Belmont, and Project Whiskey was earning 50 points toward the Oaks with a victory in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks on July 4, Tapizar was continuing to develop his eclectic career as a sire of international classic winners. Tapizar is the sire of Bullof Wall Street, winner of Sunday’s Swedish Derby.
Bullof Wall Street, who is out of the unraced Coronado’s Quest mare Dovie, was bred in Kentucky by Mike Abraham. He was sold to M and W Bloodstock for $17,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, then the following year fetched $86,618 in U.S. dollars when sold to De 5 Stjerner APS at the Goffs Orby yearling sale. Overall, he has now won 3 of 7 starts while racing in Sweden, Norway, and Dubai.
Bullof Wall Street is the second international classic winner sired by Tapizar. Revamp, also a Kentucky-bred, won the 2019 Greek Derby.
Tapizar won three graded stakes, highlighted by the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, before retiring to Gainesway to stand alongside his sire, Tapit. He is the sire of 11 stakes winners, with graded stakes winners Amalfi Coast, Honey Bunny, Jeltrin, and Solidify joining Monomoy Girl and Project Whiskey.
War of Will joins club
War of Will joined an elite club with his narrow victory in last Friday’s Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on the Keeneland turf. The 2019 Preakness Stakes winner, War of Will is the third horse to win both an American classic and a Grade 1 race on the turf, joining the legendary Secretariat and the popular California Chrome.
War of Will also joined another, larger group of horses – those who showcase the versatility of their sire, War Front.
Standing at Claiborne Farm, War Front has ascended to become the nation’s most expensive sire, with an advertised stud fee of $250,000, thanks to his international racetrack success and commercial popularity. While he is known as a standout turf sire at many distances, he broke through with his first Grade 1-winning males around two turns on dirt last year in Omaha Beach and War of Will, and is the sire of several millionaires who have excelled on multiple surfaces.
Declaration of War was a multiple Group 1 winner on turf in Europe before making his only start on dirt in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic, finishing a close third. He is joined by international competitors such as Lines of Battle, whose multiple wins on synthetic included the Group 2 U.A.E. Derby. He was later a Group 1 winner on turf in Hong Kong and earned more than $2.6 million.
Departing, who earned more than $1.9 million, won the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby, Grade 2 Super Derby, and Grade 3 Illinois Derby on dirt, and the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap on turf. Just missing millionaire status was The Factor, a Grade 1-winning sprinter on both dirt and synthetic.