The youth movement

Melissa Bauer-Herzog reviews a US Triple Crown series that saw a number of the younger stallions dominate

IF THERE WAS EVER any doubt of the ability of the younger stallions in North American stallion ranks, that doubt was quickly put to rest during this season’s American Triple Crown series – two legs of the Triple Crown were won by progeny of first-crop sires. Rich Strike was the longest shot of the race going into May’s Kentucky Derby (G1) after taking his place in the field at the 11th-hour as a reserve.

One of just 53 foals from Grade 1 winner Keen Ice’s first crop, Rich Strike was over 17l behind the pacesetter at one point before closing strongly to win by three-quarters of a length at odds of 80-1.

He was the second-longest priced winner in Kentucky Derby history behind 1913 winner Donerail Court. The colt was followed home by runners from the second crops of Not This Time and Upstart.

In an era where close inbreeding hasn’t been taboo amongst big race winners, the Calumet Farm-bred Rich Strike joined the crowd with a 3×2 cross to the late Smart Strike.

The colt is by a grandson of that stallion and out of Smart Strike’s Canadian champion Gold Strike. She was already a Grade 2 producer before her Derby winner courtesy of Llanarmon, but that didn’t keep her from selling at the 2019 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for just $1,700 in 2019.

Her appearance in the ring came one year after Calumet sold the subsequent 2,000 Guineas (G1) winner Kameko’s dam Sweeter Still for only $1,500 at the same sale. In addition to being the breeder of Rich Strike, the farm also raced him in his early starts.

Calumet dropped Rich Strike into a claiming race for his second start where his current connections claimed him for $30,000 on the same day he broke his maiden by over 17l at Churchill Downs.

Interestingly, with the increasingly larger books for American stallions, the horses to cross the finish line first in the last two Kentucky Derbys have come from foal crops of just 53 and 35.

That followed up 2019 when the “first” to cross the line came from a crop of 56 with the “official” winner from a crop of 86.

Rich Strike’s Kentucky Derby victory comes only months after a proposed stallion cap that would see stallions born in 2020 or later restricted to book sizes of 140 mares, rescinded by The Jockey Club.

Gun Runner shoots high in the Preakness

It’s not a Triple Crown season without a little drama and that drama came less than a week after the Kentucky Derby when Rich Strike’s connections decided not to target the Preakness Stakes (G1) due to distance limitations. But other young sires were there to fly the flag for their generation.

Of the nine runners in the second Classic, five were by stallions who have just first or second crop three-year-olds.

The record-breaking first-crop sire Gun Runner had had two in the Kentucky Derby and neither hit the board, but it was set to be different in the Preakness.

Early Voting had qualified for the main field of the Derby on the Road to the Kentucky Derby series, but connections had decided to skip the race with the lightly-raced colt in favour of a smaller field in the Preakness. That move paid off in spades when the Gun Runner colt skipped to a length and a quarter victory over Kentucky Derby runner-up Epicenter.

Already an enticing stallion prospect as a grandson of Canadian champion Silken Cat, who also produced the US champion Speightstown and the multiple graded stakes winner Irap, Early Voting has the added benefit of being a son of one of the top stallions in the country.

Last year’s champion two-year-old sire by earnings, stakes winners, graded stakes winners, Grade 1 stakes winners, and Grade 1 performers from his first crop, Gun Runner also broke the earnings record by a freshman sire.

Arguably one of the most in-demand sires in North America, Gun Runner registered his fifth Grade 1 winner from eight Grade 1 runners with Early Voting’s Preakness victory.

While Early Voting was immediately ruled out of the Belmont Stakes (G1), Rich Strike was back for the race that his connections had been targeting for months. He was one of three horses to come into the race out of the Kentucky Derby, while Nest had finished second in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Creative Minister and Skippylongstocking had finished third and fifth in the Preakness.

Uncle Mo shines in the Belmont

But it wasn’t the Kentucky Derby winner who walked into the winner’s circle at Belmont. That honour went to Uncle Mo’s Mo Donegal, who had finished fifth in the Derby.

His victory was a big one for Uncle Mo, who now has a Grade 1 winner in each of his seven crops aged three or older and who has also sired a Kentucky Derby winner in Nyquist.

A grandson of the Grade 1 winner Island Sound, Mo Donegal is bred on the potent Uncle Mo x A.P. Indy granddaughter cross that has also produced the Grade 1 winner Mo Town among five graded stakes winners and 11 stakes performers from 72 runners as of June 11.

It is a rare occurrence for the Kentucky Oaks to be represented in the Triple Crown series, but this year was an exception.

Nest (Curlin) was closest to the Belmont Stakes winner and over 3l clear of the third-place finisher to give Todd Pletcher and Repole Stable a one-two finish with Mo Donegal’s co-owner also a co-owner of the filly.

Fillies from the Oaks have been more than holding their own this spring – in the Preakness, the Oaks winner Secret Oath (Arrogate) finished fourth. She has faced males twice in her last three starts with a third in the Arkansas Derby (G1) to her name as well.

Flightline silences doubters

On a card full of quality racing the Belmont Stakes day also became a coming-out party for multiple future stallions.

The Metropolitan Handicap (G1) winner Flightline (Tapit) had already proven he was Grade 1 quality with a dominant victory in the Malibu Stakes (G1) last December, but there were plenty of questions surrounding him going to Belmont.

The race was set to be the first time he’d run outside of California and the first time he’d faced older stakes horses, but the $1 million yearling made it clear that it is exactly where he belongs with a 6l win over a field in which only one horse wasn’t a previous Grade 1 winner.

Flightline

Co-owned by a group that includes Lane’s End Farm’s racing arm Woodford Racing, it is all but certain that the four-year-old will head to that Kentucky farm for his breeding career.

Jack Christopher (Munnings) was sidelined for the Triple Crown prep season and stayed out of the Triple Crown races, but has quickly proven to be one of the top three-year-olds in the nation.

He made his 2022 debut in the Pat Day Mile (G2) when he won by an easy three and three-quarter lengths, the Woody Stephens (G1) proved he was back to the form that saw him win last year’s Champagne Stakes (G1) in impressive style when he bolted up by 10l on Belmont Stakes.

Jack Christopher is by rising superstar stallion Munnings, who led all North American sires by number of stakes winners after Belmont stakes weekend.

Like Flightline, Jack Christopher’s future home as a stallion has all but been secured with Coolmore Stud buying into him before last year’s Champagne Stakes. Coolmore also stands the colt’s sire Munnings.