New York Giant’s

Despite a final crop of just three, Giant’s Causeway has extended his legacy again, writes Melissa Bauer-Herzog

WHEN CHAMPION SIRE Giant’s Causeway died in the midst of the 2018 breeding season, he had covered just a handful of mares. It meant he had three live foals born to his name the following year.

But the Iron Horse has stamped these last representatives and they are living up to the legacy created by their sire.

His son, the new Grade 1 winner Classic Causeway, first caught the eye when making an impressive 6l debut victory at Saratoga last September.

The colt earned his first Grade 1 placing on his next start in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) then started his three-year-old season with a pair of graded stakes wins on the Dirt to qualify for a spot in the Kentucky Derby (G1).

An 11th place finish in that first Triple Crown race saw him switch trainers from Brian Lynch to Kenny McPeek – within two starts the colt became a dual surface graded stakes winner.

A combination of two weeks’ rest and his first start on Turf against a tough Belmont Derby (G1) field saw Classic Causeway sent off at odds of 26-1. But the front-running speed that saw him win multiple graded stakes on the Dirt, proved to be his best weapon on the Turf allowing him to take an easy lead.

Nations Pride and Stone Age attempted to give European invaders their second consecutive win in the race, but could only fight for the minor placings with Nations Pride finishing three-quarters of a length behind the winner with a head separating the Charlie Appleby-trained runner from Stone Age.

A homebred for Kentucky West Racing and Clarke Cooper, the victory meant that Classic Causeway became the 36th Grade 1 winner for his sire.

Classic Causeway is the best of Giant’s Causeway’s final three runners, but all three have shown stakes talent.

Giant Game finished third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and the Shadwell homebred Monaadah collected a fourth place in Newmarket’s Listed Sir Henry Cecil Stakes only days before Classic Causeway’s Grade 1 win.

The impressive Classic Causeway: the straightforward three-year-old colt from the last crop of Giant’s Causeway could head on his Turf travels

McPeek hinted that it is possible Classic Causeway could make a trip abroad at some point in the future, though right now he’s focused on the Saratoga Derby Invitational on August 6 – the middle leg of the Caesars Turf Triple Series.

“I was fortunate that the ownership gave me carte blanche on him,” he said. “They just said, ‘Do what you think is right.’

“I said then that if it was my horse, I’d try him on the grass.

This could be a world-traveller on the Turf and the sky’s the limit with him. A mile and a half he might even be better.

The first leg of the Caesars Turf Tiara Series was a coming out party for Frankel’s daughter McKulick in the Belmont Oaks (G1), who is another talented Tattersalls October Yearling Sale graduate for trainer Chad Brown.

Purchased for 180,000gns by Mike Ryan, McKulick had been forced to patiently wait for her chance to shine after two seconds and a third at the graded stakes level in her last three starts.

Brown had just been waiting to stretch her out to the 1m2f distance and she rewarded his faith, coming from 6l off the pace to catch the Charlie Appleby trainee With The Moonlight for a Frankel exacta.

The loss was to prove a sign of things to come later on the card with Appleby runners finishing second in both the Oaks and Derby.

Bred by Essafinaat UK, McKulick is the third graded stakes winner for her Group 3-placed dam Astrelle, alongside Fearless King and Just Beautiful. Astrelle has a two-year-old Cracksman three-quarters brother to McKulick to come and had a filly by Calyx last year.

For all his international success, this is the first US Grade 1 winner for Frankel and it came in a big way.

McKulick’s Grade 1 victory pulled the stallion two clear of Dubawi by number of 2022 Grade 1 winners – his six winners at the level being the best of any northern hemisphere stallion this year as of July 11.

For trainer Chad Brown, the win was more important than just being his sixth in the race. The date of McKulick’s victory brought together two special storylines for the trainer.

“It’s an extra special win with it being Bobby Frankel’s birthday today,” Brown said. “This horse is the first offspring of Frankel that I actually bought.

“Seth Klarman was nice enough to let me name this filly after my very first employee after I left Frankel, that’s why I chose this horse being by Frankel. And wouldn’t you know on his birthday she wins a Grade 1? The irony and the importance of it today, on his birthday means everything to me personally.”

On the Dirt side of the three-year-old group, a confusing division got thrown into even more chaos the week before the Belmont Derby when Charge It returned to the races.

A lightly raced son of Tapit, Charge It caught the eye when a very green second in the Curlin Florida Derby (G1) in April.

The colt headed to the Kentucky Derby where he finished 17th in his only off-theboard performance before being given two months off before the Dwyer Stakes (G2).

Those two months made a noticeable difference in Charge It’s maturity and after racing just off the leader early in the 8f race, he took over with 3f left to go and destroyed the field. The question wasn’t if he would win in the stretch but by how far? The answer was 23l.

Tapit has had a quiet year compared to his normal standard but that “quiet” includes two Grade 1 winners, plus the Grade 1-placed Charge It among his seven stakes winners.

Charge It is also another feather in the cap of his bluehen granddam Take Charge Lady whose results this year are reminiscent of 2013 when she won Broodmare of the Year honours.

Her own daughter As Time Goes By won the Beholder Mile (G1) in March and her great-grandson Courvoisier – also by Tapit – won the Listed Jerome Stakes in January.

One week before the three-year-old Grade 1s took over the headlines the four-year-old Olympiad made another move toward proving that he is one of the best in the older male division with a 2l victory in the Stephen Foster (G2).

The Speightstown son has gone undefeated in his five starts this year with three of those coming in graded stakes, but he has yet to contest a Grade 1 in 2022.

His only run at that level came in last year’s Cigar Mile (G1) when he finished fourth in his stakes debut. While he has the most wins of any older stakes horse this year, he’d need to make moves in a few Grade 1s to topple horses such as Flightline and Life Is Good – both who have 2022 Grade 1 wins on their resume.

Sold for $5 million at last autumn’s FasigTipton November Sale, the three-time Grade 1 winner Shedaresthedevil had started her season off with two unlucky stakes placings for her new owners.

That losing streak came to an end on July 2 when she proved that she is back to her best with a length and three-quarters win in the Fleur de Lis (G2).

The flag bearer for her repatriated sire Daredevil, she has won half of her starts with eight other top three placing in 20 races – her only off-the-board finishes coming when sixth in last year’s Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) and on the Turf as a two-year-old.

The US yearling sales off and running

The Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale, the first US yearling sale of 2022, got the season off to a good start with the sale posting an 11 per cent increase in average and 12 per cent increase in median plus an increase in gross with 29 fewer horses offered.

The final horse through the ring was the sale topper when DJ Stables won the bidding war at $600,000. The Gainesway-offered Curlin colt is a half to former British-based stakes winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Gronkowski, and out of a half-sister to Flashy Bull.

For DJ Stables’ general manager Jon Green, who signed the ticket, he knew he wanted the colt from the second Hip 302 left the barn.

The first northern-hemisphere top-priced yearling of 2022: by Curlin and a half to Gronkowski

“In my book I literally wrote down ‘wow’ and ‘he’s a beast’ and I just don’t write that down. But for the most part when a horse comes out of the barn and you see a really outstanding colt like that, you know, it gives you the shivers,” said Green.

While veteran sire Curlin topped the sale, the next three spots were filled by young stallions with Gun Runner producing a $430,000 colt at the top of the leaderboard for the second half of the offerings.

Purchased by De Meric Sales from Gainesway, Hip 153 is a full-brother to Indiana Oaks (G3) second Runaway Wife, who earned that placing only days before her brother went through the ring.

Omaha Beach’s first yearlings were well received at this sale and his daughter out of Gas Station Sushi even held the top spot for over 50 hips when Solis/Litt went to $410,000 for the Spendthrift Farm-bred.

All but one of that three-time Grade 1 winner’s offerings sold with each bringing over $150,000 and averaging $236,000 with a median of $195,000.

A $400,000 Arrogate filly sold late in the sale to take the fourth spot and an Uncle Mo colt joined her in fourth at that sale price.

Uncle Mo was also the sire of the $500,000 sale topping three-year-old stakes-placed Kuchar during Fasig-Tipton’s July Selected Horses of All Ages Sale the day before the yearling session.

The sale sold 189 of 248 offered for a gross of $21,763,500, average of $115,151, and median of $90,000.