new us sires
Freshmen for 2017 L
Alan Porter runs through all the options for those breeders in the US considering using a first-season sire this spring
ast year’s new intake of US stallions was headlined by American Pharoah, the first US Triple Crown winner for 38 years. None of the batch of 2017 retirees comes close to American Pharoah’s one-off achievements, but there are certainly plenty of interesting new names on the rosters. They include the all-time leading US-trained money earner California Chrome, his fellow Pulpit-line horse
FROSTED
Tapit – Fast Cookie (Deputy Minister) Darley, Kentucky $50,000 Although he was graded stakes placed at two, and took the Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) and Pennsylvania Derby (G2) at three, Frosted progressed at four when putting in a pair of extremely impressive back-to-back performances in the summer. In the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) he all but ran off the charts scoring by 14l running the mile in 1:32.73, the largest-winning margin and fastest-ever time for this historic contest. In doing so Frosted received a Beyer Speedfigure of 123, the highest of the year. He returned in the 1m1f Whitney Handicap (G1) which he took by a very comfortable 2l after running the first 6f in a very swift 1:09.65. Frosted is the most spectacular son of the all-conquering Tapit, champion sire in North American for the last three seasons setting a new earnings record on all three occasions. Frosted is out of graded stakes winner Fast Cookie, a half-sister to the champion two-year-old Midshipman, and is out of the multiple graded winner Fleet Lady (by the Seattle Slew horse, Avenue of Flags). Frosted is out of a Deputy Minister mare, which means he is bred on an identical cross to two other graded scorers, including Tapizar, a Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) victor
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Frosted, who is the best son to date of three-time leading sire Tapit, and the champion two-year-old and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist, who is from the first crop of the spectacular Uncle Mo. There is also Air Force Blue and Vancouver, champion two-year-olds in Europe and Australia, as well as Runhappy, a champion sprinter who is from a branch of the Raise A Native sire line that appeared to be on the verge of dropping from view.
who was a graded stakes sire with his first crop in 2016. Likely crosses here include mares from the Storm Cat line, as well as the Nijinsky, El Prado and Danzig branches of Northern Dancer. Mr. Prospector through Gone West, Forty Niner, Woodman and Carson City appeals. Tapit carries a sister to Relaunch, and has done well with mares carrying that strain, and Caro, through the Indian Charlie branch could also work.
CALIFORNIA CHROME
Lucky Pulpit – Love the Chase (Not For Love) Taylor Made Stallions, Kentucky $40,000 The leading North American-trained moneyearner of all-time California Chrome was Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016. California Chrome has a unique body of work. At two he broke his maiden over 4f100yds, and won a pair of stakes, and at three he added four Grade 1 events, including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Hollywood Derby. Second in the Dubai World Cup (G1) in an abbreviated four-year-old campaign, California Chrome returned at five to capture six of seven starts, including his recordbreaking victory in the Dubai World Cup (G1), as well as dominating triumphs in the Pacific Classic (G1) and Awesome Again Stakes (G1).
His sole defeat in 2016 came in a memorable battle with the freakishly talented Arrogate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), and was clearly amiss when well beaten in the Pegasus Cup (G1). As far as we can trace, he’s the first Kentucky Derby winner to capture a stakes race over such a short distance for more than 40 years, and the first Kentucky Derby winner since Secretariat in 1976 to subsequently capture a Grade 1 event on the Turf. California Chrome comes from the Pulpit branch of the A.P. Indy line. His sire Lucky Pulpit was on the Kentucky Derby trail in California early in his three-year-old career, but eventually gained a stakes win over 5f on the Turf at four. Now standing in California, he’s out of a three-quarters sister to the dam of Unbridled’s Song. California Chrome’s dam Love The Chase is by Not For Love – a three-quarters brother to Woodman – out of Chase It Down. She is by Polish Numbers, who is by Danzig out of Not For Love’s second dam Numbered Account giving that famous mare 3x3 in the pedigree of Love The Chase. Chase It Down is also from the same sire line and family as Green Desert and the dam of the successful sire Arch. Numbered Account is inbred to La Troienne through three-quarters sisters, and there are a number of matings that will