Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Justify first freshman stallion to sire a graded/group winner
Triple Crown winner Justify became the first North American freshman sire of the season to register a graded/group stakes winner, as his unbeaten daughter Statuette won the Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes at The Curragh.
“Statuette is a very big filly, and we were really only training her to be three-quarters ready with an eye on the last part of the season,” Aidan O’Brien, who trains the daughter of Group 1 winner Immortal Verse for Coolmore and partners, told the European press. “With a filly like that, if you train her too hard she could bolt up today, but you might have no filly for the end of the season.
“We were a little bit worried when the ground got soft that she could have gotten very tired, but her class got her through. She has a beautiful mind, a great stride, and an unbelievable physique. She is a filly with a lot of class and she should have no trouble getting a mile.”
Just hours later, Justify recorded his fourth individual winner, as Prove Right won his second career start at Churchill Downs. Coolmore stands Justify at its Ashford Stud in Kentucky and at its Australian farm.
Justify currently sits second to a former racetrack foe Bolt d’Oro on the North American freshman earnings list. Through racing on June 26, runners by Bolt d’Oro, who stands at Spendthrift Farm, have earned $388,516 compared to $323,071 for Justify. Although this is almost the midway point on the calendar, it is only about onethird of the way into the racing season for 2-year-olds, as tracks mostly began carding races for the division in April.
Bolt d’Oro has a category-leading seven individual winners to date from 16 overall starters. His quick-starting progeny have followed a strong early commercial reception for the young stallion. The son of Medaglia d’Oro averaged $145,757 from 105 yearlings sold in 2021, more than five times his introductory stud fee of $25,000. He went on to average $247,511 from 49 juveniles sold this season.
“The response has really been a little overwhelming,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said. “But really, from the beginning, we had breeders calling and raving about their foals, and then their yearlings, and it’s continued right on through. Now you’ve got people watching the breeze shows and just raving about what they see. One after another, people see an impressive breeze, and look down and say, ‘Wow, that’s another Bolt d’Oro.’ ”
Justify averaged $370,329 from his 81 yearlings sold last year, against his advertised stud fee of $150,000. He had just 21 juveniles sell this year, for an average of $338,927. He has recorded four winners from his eight starters through June 26. In addition to Statuette, he is the sire of maiden winner Tahoma, who finished second in the FasigTipton Futurity on June 18 in California.
In third behind Bolt d’Oro and Justify on the earnings list is Girvin, who stands at Ocala Stud in Florida in partnership with racing owners Brad and Misty Grady and Airdrie Stud. Girvin has recorded three winners from seven starters, led by the unbeaten filly Devious Dame.
Although Justify was the first freshman this year to record a graded/group winner, Girvin was the first in the class to record a stakes winner at any level, as Devious Dame won the Astoria Stakes on June 9 at Belmont Park.
Rounding out the top 10 on the freshman earnings list through June 26 are Smokem, Good Magic, Mo Town, Sharp Azteca, Army Mule, Oscar Performance, and Bucchero. Sharp Azteca, who stands at Three Chimneys, trails only Bolt d’Oro by individual winners, with six from 17 starters.
“We’ve had a few – they’re very pretty horses,” 2-year-old consignor Jimbo Gladwell of Top Line Sales said of Sharp Azteca’s progeny. “They seem willing, and I think he’s gonna be okay.”
Interestingly, yet to record a winner is City of Light, a smashing success at the 2021 yearling sales. The Lane’s End stallion averaged $318,017 from 75 sold in 2021. That included the overall sale-topper at Keeneland September, a $1.7 million colt.
City of Light averaged $167,588 from just 17 juveniles sold this year, and has one starter to date, Dice Arm, who was ninth in a June 23 debut at Churchill Downs.
City of Light has two entrants this week at Churchill Downs – Sirius Light on June 29, and Roja Ligera on July 1. Meanwhile, his Keeneland September sale-topper, now named Prosper, is currently in training in Ocala, Fla., according to the stable roster for West Point Thoroughbreds, which co-owns the colt. He is slated to eventually join trainer John Sadler.