Skydiving for Classic success

It has been a racing year in the US for stallions shipped abroad, freshman sires and sons of Uncle Mo, reports Melissa Bauer-Herzog

THERE WAS ARGUABLY no stallion who had a better 2020 Classic season in the US than sophomore stallion Daredevil as he wrapped up the Triple Crown with a Classic victory.

The stallion, who was sold to The Jockey Club Of Turkey last year, got the first two in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in early September, and the second place finisher Swiss Skydiver made an untraditional next move when contesting the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at the beginning of October.

The filly has already run against the boys when second in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes in July, and she quickly made the Preakness one of the most entertaining races of the year.

The Kenneth McPeek-trained runner linked up with Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic for much of the second half of the race, but the filly prevailed by a neck in a duel reminiscent of the 2007 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes. The race was also a perfect example of a contrast in sire fortunes.

Daredevil, who is to be repatriated for 2021 to Lane’s End Farm, was exported to Turkey after attracting only 21 mares in his last covering season in the US, Authentic’s sire Into Mischief has seen a meteoric rise to fame.

Both stallions were two-year-old Grade 1 winners who struggled at three and started at lower fees. But, while Into Mischief has climbed to a stud fee of $225,000 and is already booked full for 2021, Daredevil was one of a trio of stallions WinStar sold to Turkey in 2019 with only his first crop on the track.

Simply Ravishing has perhaps the best story of the year in US racing – she is a daughter of a mare bought for just $500!

Not This Time: the son of Giant’s Causeway finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2016. As a sire, he has a likely Breeders’ Cup favourite

Daredevil isn’t the only exported stallion to put together a notable autumn.

Entering his third season in Japan next year, Declaration Of War registered three US graded stakes winners from September to mid-October in North America with five stakes horses.

That group was led by the Grade 2 juvenile winner Fire At Will with the threeyear-old Stunning Sky keeping the sire’s name in the headlines in October with a Grade 3 victory.

It has been an excellent 12 months all around for Declaration Of War with eight stakes winners and 16 stakes horses in North America alone.

In all, he has registered 12 stakes winners and 29 stakes horses since October 2019 with an additional two Group 1 winners in Australia as well – including a Grade 1 Melbourne Cup winner.

Uncle Mo proving to be sire of sires

While those exported stallions got much of the attention – and discussion – over the past few months, those still standing in the US were also making sure they were noticed.

A top stallion himself, Uncle Mo is quickly proving to be a sire-of-sires, if the freshman sire ranks are any indication.

Uncle Mo himself sired seven stakes winners from September 1 to October 18, and has two top chances for the upcoming Breeders’ Cup races, but his sons dwarfed his accomplishments.

Of the five first-season sires – his first class of sons at stud – two of them lead the freshman sire rankings by stakes winners with Nyquist having produced two graded stakes winners and Outwork two stakes winners.

When Gretzky The Great crossed the line first in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes to give Nyquist his second Grade 1 winner, the stallion joined exalted company as the first freshman sire since Danzig to have two Grade 1 winners before October of his first year with runners.

Just two weeks later another Uncle Mo son scored that all-important Grade 1 progeny victory.

By New York-based Laoban, Simply Ravishing has made a march to the top of her division since making her debut in early August.

After she began her career on the Turf, the filly made a switch to the Dirt for the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland in early October.

She proved to be even more dominant on that surface with a 6l romp in the race to earn her spot in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, due back at the same track in November.

Simply Ravishing has perhaps the best story of the year in US racing – she is a daughter of a mare bought for just $500!

Purchased on owner Meg Levy’s birthday, the mare Four Wishes (More Than Ready) was then sent to Laoban to use a breeding share the connections had in the stallion.

The cross mimicked the Uncle Mo and More Than Ready cross that has produced three stakes horses and 13 winners from 16 runners as of press time and is quickly proving it is just as successful.

Laoban spent his first four seasons at Sequel Stallions in New York, but it won’t be surprising if he is on a Kentucky roster in 2021.

The year of the freshman sire

The freshman sires have a significant impact on the Grade 1 juvenile races this year with another freshman Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway) likely to be sire of the year’s leading two-year-old filly.

Stepping up to Grade 1 company after an easy debut victory, his daughter Princess Noor has kept a lock hold on the California juvenile division for her sire.

A romp in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante gave her sire his first Grade 1 victory to add to his generation-leading number of winners.

Three weeks later the filly put in another impressive display when changing up her normal running style and still romping to an 8l win.

One of two stakes winners and four stakes horses for Not This Time, Princess Noor looks like she’ll be one of the favourites for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

She has also played her part in Taylor Made increasing the sire’s 2021 fee from the $12,500 he stood for this year to $40,000 in 2021.

The freshmen sires have a good hold on the juvenile filly division, but the juvenile colt division is dominated by one sire – the established Maclean’s Music and his son Jackie’s Warrior.

The sire of Grade 1 Preakness winner Cloud Computing from his first crop and a two-year-old Grade 1 winner from his third, Maclean’s Music may be best known in coming years for producing Jackie’s Warrior from his fifth crop.

Undefeated in his four starts this year, the two-year-old colt’s reputation solidified with victory in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes.

Romping on the front end from the start, only Reinvestment Risk was within 14l of him at the finish – most of the field was more than 20l adrift the winner.

As is often the case with star colts in the US, Jackie’s Warrior’s breeding rights were quickly snapped up by Spendthrift Farm. That farm also stands Maclean’s Music’s Cloud Computing, whose first foals were born in 2020.

It has been another outstanding year for Spendthrift Farm all around with both future stallion prospects and established stallions.

Into Mischief leads all the North American and European sires’ table by earnings, is tied with Galileo by number of stakes horses this year at 53 and he also leads in nearly every category among North American sires.

His son and stud-mate Goldencents leads the North American third-crop sires in nearly every category with Spendthrift’s Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) the thirdplaced second-crop sire.

However, perhaps the most exciting and unexpected of the Spendthrift stallions with claim to fame is freshman sire Cinco Charlie.

By Indian Charlie, the same sire as Uncle Mo, the sire,who stands at just $5,000, is third by winners and already has a stakes winner to his name from only 23 runners as of mid-October.

A product of Spendthrift Farm’s Share The Upside programme, he is joined by fellow Spendthrift freshman Brody’s Cause as those with multiple stakes horses and at least one stakes winner to their name.

Earning more good will from breeders, Spendthrift also made the decision to lower nearly every stallion’s fee on its roster for 2021, with only Into Mischief seeing an increase in fee next year.

War Of Will: the two-time Grade 1-winning son of War Front has been retired to Claiborne Farm

“Breeders are the backbone of our industry, and the bottom line is that stud farms only go as breeders go. We are all in this together,” said owner B. Wayne Hughes.

“Our team recognises the challenges of the times and how the entire breeding community has been affected this year. If we had room to lower a stud fee, we did it.

In what has been a busy month for stud fee announcements, many of the stallions on the rosters of the Kentucky farms that have already announced their fees have seen a decrease in fees.

Among the most prolific of those already announced is internationally accomplished sire War Front, whose fee decreases to $150,000 from the $250,000 he has stood at since 2017.

That stallion will be joined at Claiborne Farm by his dual-surface Grade 1-winning son War Of Will in 2021, though a fee for that horse has not yet been announced.