Bill's Columns

A total of 13 North American and European third-crop sires (first foals 2015, with first 4-year-olds 2019) have sired Group 1 winners thus far (all statistics through racing of May 8), though only one – Coolmore’s Camelot (Montjeu) - has sired more than one Group 1 winner. Camelot has sired three to date, and with eight GSW, Camelot is the only third-crop NA/EU sire with more than four GSW.

Looking first at North American third-crop sires, the leader by cumulative progeny earnings is Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Violence (Medaglia D’Oro), who has sired 120 winners, the most of any sire in the two F2015 tables, and the earners of $8,245,568. He has sired 13 Black-Type Winners (BTW)(Camelot has 15), and leads both tables with 24 Black-Type Horses (BTH), with Camelot and former WinStar (now Korea) sire Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy) now tied for second, each with 20. Take Charge Indy is second by cumulative progeny earnings, with the earners of $7,953,304, including 8 BTW. Violence and Take Charge Indy have three GSW each, though neither is yet among the seven North American third-crop sires with a Group 1 winner.

Six more North American third-crop sires have over $5-million in cumulative progeny earnings. WinStar stands two of the six (as well as having stood Take Charge Indy), #3 Paynter (Awesome Again, $6,267,124, 7 BTW, including 2018 G1 winner Knicks Go) and #8 Overanalyze (Dixie Union, $5,399,909, 6 BTW, Leading NA Freshman Sire 2017). Adena Springs’ Point of Entry (Dynaformer, 6 BTW, $5,821,988) ranks fourth, ahead of former Ashford (now Japan) sire Shanghai Bobby (Harlan’s Holiday, $5,720,889, 6 BTW) and two Spendthrift sires, Jimmy Creed (Distorted Humor, $5,632,545, 8 BTW) and Flat Out (Flatter, $5,563,420, 4 BTW). After Overanalyze in eighth, Taylor Made’s Graydar (Unbridled’s Song, $4,730,194, 3 BTW) ranks ninth, with Declaration of War (War Front), another Coolmore sire exported to Japan (he did one season at Coolmore in Ireland, then four at Ashford) ranked 10th by cumulative progeny earnings ($4,518,806), but he is second to Violence among North American F2015 sires with 9 BTW, including 2017 French Champion 2-year-old, G1 winner Olmedo. Darley’s Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux), Pin Oak’s Alternation (Distorted Humor, sire of 2019 G1 Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress), and Claiborne’s Orb (Malibu Moon), all have over $4-million in progeny earnings.

With G1 Florida Derby winner Maximum Security’s disqualification from the G1 Kentucky Derby, instead of the $1,860,000 winner’s purse, his sire New Year’s Day, the 2013 G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner by Street Cry, ranks just 14th by cumulative progeny earnings ($3,745,500), though he would have moved up to seventh had Maximum Security, indisputably the best horse in the race, been allowed to keep it. Also the sire of 2019 G3 Ben Ali S. winner Bourbon Resolution from his first crop, New Year’s Day stood five seasons at Hill ‘n’ Dale, but was sold to Brazil before the current breeding season – and now we read he has been sold on to Japan. Big loss, we know now. Too bad breeders really don’t wait until sires have their first 4-year-olds racing before they drop them.

Camelot ($6,782,897) is the leading European F2015 sire, with progeny earnings more than double those of #2-ranked Society Rock (Rock of Gibraltar, $3,266,329), who was the leading European Freshman Sire of 2017 courtesy of G1 Prix Morny winner Unfortunately, but had unfortunately died before he ever had a runner. He had stood at Ireland’s Tally-Ho Stud. The table shows Declaration of War as #2 in Europe, but really he should be ranked just in NA. Intello (Galileo), sire of 2018 G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Intellogent, has rotated between England’s Cheveley Park Stud and France’s Haras du Quesnay (at Cheveley Park in 2019); he ranks #3 among European third-crop sires, with the earners of $2,901,757, including 9 BTW. Haras de Grandcamp’s Dabirsim (Hat Trick), stood his first two seasons in Germany, was Europe’s #2 Freshman Sire of 2017, and now ranks #4 among European F2015 sires ($2,442,405), ahead of Tweenhills’; Havana Gold (Teofilo, $2,298,498). Darley Kildangan’s Dawn Approach (New Approach, $2,107,137) ranks #6, with another Darley stallion, Dalham Hall’s Farhh ($1,910,996) in seventh. The top ten is filled out by France’s Haras du Logis Saint-Germain’s French Fifteen ($1,910,409); Haras de la Haie Neuve’s Pedro The Great (Henrythenavigator, $1,885,565); and Haras de Bouquetot’s Style Vendome (Anabaa, $1,803,948). Farhh gets extra credit as he has 3 GSW from just 72 named foals.

Among North America’s second-crop sires, Spendthrift Farm has so far hit the exacta, with 2018 #2 Freshman Sire Goldencents (Into Mischief, $2,957,950) surging past 2018 #1 Freshman Sire Cross Traffic (Unbridled’s Song, $2,716,637, including 2018 G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and Champion 2-Year-Old Filly, Jaywalk) by cumulative progeny earnings through May 8. Goldencents, himself a dual winner of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile from Into Mischief’s first crop, is the first North American F2016 sire to have two GSW, which are both 2019 GSW owned by Allied Racing and trained by Bret Calhoun: the $150,000 Keeneland September yearling By My Standards, winner of the G2 Louisiana Derby; and the $130,000 Keeneland September yearling Mr. Money, who won the G3 Pat Day Mile on the May 6 Kentucky Derby undercard.

Airdrie Stud’s Cairo Prince, who was from Pioneerof The Nile’s first crop, ranks third, with $2,186,211 in cumulative progeny earnings, ahead of Lane’s End’s Noble Mission ($1,983,597), a full brother to Frankel, by Galileo, who is the sire of promoted G1 Kentucky Derby second Code of Honor. New York sire Central Banker (Speightstown, $1,755,717, McMahon’s of Saratoga) ranks fifth, followed by Three Chimneys’ Will Take Charge (Unbridled’s Song, $1,526,572, including four GSH); WinStar’s Fed Biz (Giant’s Causeway, $1,501,050); Ashford’s Verrazano (More Than Ready, $1,433,825); Adena Springs’ Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno, $1,344,098); Three Chimneys’ Strong Mandate (Tiznow, $1,106,819); and Florida’s Ocala Stud’s Uncaptured ($1,083,233), like Kantharos (now departed for Kentucky) a son of Lion Heart, who was by Tale of the Cat.

Coolmore’s No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), Europe’s top Freshman Sire of 2018, continues to dominate the group by cumulative progeny earnings ($1,927,690), and is also the leading European F2016 sire with 8 BTW and 16 BTH, six of them GSH, including 2018 G1 Middle Park S. winner Ten Sovereigns. Two sons of Invincible Spirit rank second and third at this writing, with Charm Spirit, who has alternated between England’s Tweenhills Farm and France’s Haras du Bonneval (Tweenhills this year), had $1,014,512 in progeny earnings through May 8. Third at that point was Juddmonte’s Kingman, also by Invincible Spirit and Europe’s top miler as a 3-year-old in 2014. Kingman has five BTW so far including dual G3 winner Persian King, who obliged as the even-money favorite in the May 12 G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas); and the exciting sprinter Calyx, winner of the G2 Coventry at Royal Ascot last term and favorite for this year’s G1 Commonwealth Cup, having come back an impressive four-length winner of the G3 Pavilion S. at Ascot May 1. If there was betting on which second-crop sire will top this list at the end of the year, Kingman would be a short-priced favorite; he seems to be getting good-quality, very promising winners every day of the week. Persian King’s French 2000 earnings of €342,840 propels Kingman comfortably into second place on this list.

Coolmore’s 2014 G1 Epsom Derby winner Australia (Galileo, $880,404) ranks fourth by progeny earnings but leads the group with three GSW, including Broome, wide-margin winner of the G3 Ballysax S. and winner again of the May 12 G3 Derrinstown Derby Trial, Ireland’s key Epsom trial. Three French sires come next: Haras de Bouqetot’s Olympic Glory (Choisir, $859,488) and Toronado (High Chaparral, $857,584); and Haras du Quesnay’s Anodin ($820,856), France’s leading Freshman Sire of 2018 and a full brother to Goldikova, by Anabaa.