spendthrift farm what Omaha Beach will do when he arrives on the farm after the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1). The colt was heading for Kentucky Derby (G1) favouritism in 2019 before being scratched from the race only days before loading into the gate. One of the most highly regarded threeyear-olds in the nation, Omaha Beach has three Grade 1 victories on his CV, including the late-December Malibu Stakes and benefits from stallion updates on both sides of his family.
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HALF-BROTHER to the champion Take Charge Brandi (Giant’s Causeway), the freshman sire is by emerging sire-of-sires War Front, whose son Declaration Of War has had a banner year with his runners in 2019. On the female side of Omaha Beach’s family, his dam’s half-brother Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy) was repatriated to the US from South Korea this autumn after top performances by runners in his first three crops. “Omaha Beach added another notch on his belt with a really impressive win in the Malibu where he just really toyed with the competition and it looked like a paid workout,” recalls Toffey. “He’s just a tremendously talented horse, a son of War Front – an incredibly influential sire line all over the world – and he comes from the current pre-eminent American
Coal Front: a good-looking son of Stay Thirsty
female family in Take Charge Lady. “He’s just as good a stallion prospect as you can imagine. He’ll run in the Pegasus and then come to Spendthrift and stand at stud. He’s a beautiful animal and we couldn’t be more excited to have him”. The new sires on the roster are rounded
Spendthrift had been keen to stand a son of Curlin and Vino Rosso (below) has the right profile
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out by Coal Front (Stay Thirsty). A Share The Upside offering, Coal Front’s biggest moment came in the 2019 Godolphin Mile (G2) in which he beat Heavy Metal (Exceed And Excel) by three-quarters of a length. Coal Front’s good-looks have persuaded breeders to book their mares to the son of Stay Thirsty. “This is a horse whose single most impressive feature is his physical,” Toffey explains of the stallion’s popularity achieved once he came to Spendthrift. “He’s just beautifully made, a spectacularlooking individual. He was tremendously talented and I know Todd Pletcher felt like this was the most talented two-year-old in his barn. “He had a few setbacks that kept him from really putting together the kind of resume from a racing standpoint, but nevertheless, he was just a very talented racehorse who was never quite able to show what he could do. He is a gorgeous animal and beautifully bred.” With a full roster of 22 stallions, most early in their careers, the future is looking bright for Spendthrift Farm. While it would be easy to dwell on the heydays of decades gone past at the farm, Toffey is sure that the latest chapter in the Spendthrift stallion barn will be just as exciting as the past. “We have a lot of very nice horses and we’re very excited about the future with a lot of our horses here, so fingers crossed and hopefully we’ll be talking about more of the same in years to come.” Goldencents: leading second-crop sire of 2019
