Kentucky Derby Stallions of the 21st Century

What does siring a winner of America's most famous race really do for a stallion's career?

If you ask someone on the street what the most famous horse race in America is, they’re likely to say the Kentucky Derby. They might even bring up the Triple Crown. Siring the winner of a classic race is one of the most impressive feats a stallion can achieve during his stud career, but what effect does it actually have on that career? This year, Good Magic sired Kentucky Derby winner Mage in his first crop - is that a sign of better things to come? In the first decade of the 21st century, stallions such as Maria’s Mon, Distorted Humor, Street Cry, and Birdstone all accomplished the same feat, but what was the difference between horses like Distorted Humor, whose stud fee maxed out at $300,000 in the years following the success of his first crop, and Birdstone, who was pensioned after covering a total of 21 mares between 2018 and 2020?

I took a look at stallions who sired their first Kentucky Derby winner in the first decade of this century to try and shed some light on that topic. Note that 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown’s sire Boundary was pensioned in 2005, so Boundary is not included in this analysis.

Maria’s Mon: Monarchos (2001) and Super Saver (2010)

We’ll begin with Maria’s Mon, the sire of 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos in his first crop and later the sire of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver in his penultimate crop. Maria’s Mon was the two-year-old champion of 1995, and started his stud career with solid interest, averaging 101.75 mares in his first four seasons at stud, before any of his offspring hit the track.

When his first crop hit the track in 2001, however, Maria’s Mon’s Monarchos won the Kentucky Derby in 1:59.97, the only horse other than Secretariat to win the Run for The Roses in less than two minutes. Maria’s Mon covered 133 mares that year and 130 the following year, but his biggest jump in mares came in 2006, when he covered 165 mares. That year, he had the likes of graded stakes winners High Limit, Wait a While, Strong Contender, Gaff, and Latent Heat on the track, and Wait a While would be crowned champion 3-year-old filly of 2006. Among those 165 mares was the A.P. Indy mare Supercharger, who would produce 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver. Unfortunately, Maria’s Mon passed away in 2007 after covering a book of 131 mares at a fee of $60,000.

Maria’s Mon’s early success with Monarchos likely contributed to him covering an average of 128 mares from 2001 onward. His first two crops of yearlings sold for an average of $52,698 in 1999 and 2000, a number that jumped to $87,043 in 2001 and averaged $84,413 over the next eight years.

Our Emblem: War Emblem (2002)

The 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem was a son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Our Emblem, who entered stud at Claiborne Farm in 1997 for a fee of $10,000. He bred an average of 61.25 mares in his first four seasons at stud, but after getting only three two-year-old winners in his first crop to race in 2000, he covered 31 mares in 2001. His first two crops of yearlings averaged $42,595, but in 2001 his yearlings sold for an average of just $9,116.

Our Emblem was sold to Murmur Farm in the fall of 2001, with only a minor stakes winner on his resume at the time. He initially stood for a fee of $4,000 at Murmur Farm, a fee that was later increased to $7,500 after War Emblem won the Illinois Derby and Private Emblem won the Arkansas Derby. That year, he had a full book of 95 mares, and was purchased in late May by WinStar Farm to stand at Taylor Made Farms, where he covered 92 mares in 2003 for a stud fee of $35,000. His yearlings sold for an average of $28,631 in 2002, and $20,719 over the following five years, marking an increase from his lowest point but not matching the sales prices of his first two crops through the ring.

His popularity dropped off in the two following years, however, covering 63 mares in 2004 and 46 in 2005 before being sold to stand in Brazil in 2006.

Distorted Humor: Funny Cide (2003)

The 2003 Kentucky Derby brought back the theme of a stallion getting a Kentucky Derby winner in his first crop, as Distorted Humor’s Funny Cide swept the first two legs of the Triple Crown before finishing third in the Belmont.

Distorted Humor was a multiple graded stakes winner of $769,964 in his career and retired in 1999 for a fee of $10,000. He covered an average of 87 mares in his first four seasons and became the leading freshman sire of 2002, including multiple graded stakes winning two-year-old Awesome Humor. In 2003, Distorted Humor covered 156 mares at a stud fee of $20,000, a fee that was raised to $50,000 for 2004 after the success of Funny Cide and Awesome Humor. In 2005, his stud fee climbed to $60,000 and he covered 115 mares. His stud fee was six figures from 2006 through 2016, maxing out at $300,000 in 2008, and he covered an average of 115.8 mares per year in that 11-year span. In 2010, his son Drosselmeyer gave his sire another classic winner when he took the Belmont Stakes (Drosselmeyer would also go on to win the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic). Distorted Humor’s success at stud has been mirrored by success in the sales ring. After his first two crops of yearlings sold for an average of $37,192 in 2001 and 2002, his next nine crops of yearlings averaged over $260k at public auction.

Elusive Quality: Smarty Jones (2004)

Elusive Quality, the sire of 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones, had already seen early success at stud when his famous Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner came along in his second crop. Elusive Quality, a graded stakes winner of $413,284, stood for $10,000 in his first season. He covered an average of 87.7 mares in his first three crops, and interestingly jumped from breeding 56 mares in 2001 to 125 in 2002. That year, 15 of his first two-year-olds sold for an average of $113,200 at auction, including a $350,000 two-year-old selling at Fasig-Tipton in February of that year. He sired French G1 winner and 2002 champion two-year-old Elusive City from that first crop, as well as ten other black type winners.

In 2003, Elusive Quality’s stud fee rose to $30,000. He covered 143 mares, his yearlings averaged $52,944 and his two-year-olds averaged $138,714 at auction. The following year, his son Smarty Jones gave him a classic winner in his second crop, helping to cement Elusive Quality’s popularity over the next decade. He covered an average of 133.4 mares from 2004-2013, with a stud fee that peaked at $100,000 from 2005-2007, and during that same ten-year timeframe his yearlings sold for an average of $144,017.

Holy Bull: Giacomo (2005)

The 2005 Kentucky Derby was won by 50-1 longshot Giacomo, a son of 1994 Horse of the Year Holy Bull. Holy Bull was a popular racehorse, though unfashionably bred, and after retiring to stud in his first three crops of yearlings sold for an average of $130,138 from 1996-1999.

Holy Bull had his first G1 winner in his first crop when Confessional won the 1998 Frizette Stakes, and two years later his son Macho Uno won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and was named champion 2-year-old. That year, Holy Bull’s yearlings sold for an average of $53,500, a number that went up to $81,290 in 2001 but would generally decline over the next decade, as yearlings by Holy Bull sold for an average of $38,598 from 2002-2011. Giacomo’s longshot Derby win in 2005 did little for Holy Bull’s sale prices or number of mares bred, and he was retired from stud in 2012 after covering 17 mares that year.

Despite his relative lack of commercial success, Holy Bull was a very useful stallion overall, producing 74% winners from starters, including six grade one winners and fifty stakes winners in his stud career.

Dynaformer: Barbaro (2006)

The 2006 Kentucky Derby was won by the brilliant Barbaro, a son of the brilliant stallion Dynaformer. Dynaformer entered stud in 1990 for a modest fee of $5,000 at Wafare Farm. He had a solid but unspectacular career on the racetrack, winning seven of thirty lifetime starts including the G2 Jersey Derby and G2 Discovery Handicap in 1988. He also set a course record of 2:32.6 for about 1 1/2 on the turf at Keeneland in 1989.

Dynaformer’s first crop of 46 foals to race included five stakes winners, most notably Blumin Affair, who was second in the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and third in the 1994 Kentucky Derby. In 1995, Dynaformer was relocated to Three Chimneys Farm, where he remained for the rest of his life.

Despite a modest beginning, Dynaformer had already established himself as an elite stallion by the time Barbaro won the 2006 Kentucky Derby. He was fourth on the Blood-Horse’s general stallion list in 2001 and 2002 and third on that list in 2003 and 2005. Dynaformer stood for $50,000 in 2002, when Barbaro was conceived, and that fee climbed steadily, going to $75,000 for the 2004 and 2005 seasons, hitting $100,000 in 2006, and remaining at $150,000 from 2007 through Dynaformer’s retirement from stud in 2012.

From 1992-2003, Dynaformer’s yearlings sold for an average of $56,053 at public auction. From 2004-2013, his yearlings sold for an average of $266,030. Barbaro’s success may have helped contribute to Dynaformer’s popularity, but the stallion had plenty of other superstars throughout his career, with 25 G1 winners and 18 millionaires among his progeny, including 2010 Melbourne Cup winner Americain, 2008 European champion two-year-old filly Rainbow View, and 2007 English champion three-year-old Lucarno.

Street Cry: Street Sense (2007)

2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense was part of a stellar first crop for his sire, Street Cry, who entered stud in 2003 at Darley’s Jonabell Farm for a fee of $30,000. Street Cry was a beautifully bred son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Machiavellian, and he backed up his pedigree with performance on the racetrack: at two, Street Cry was three-times graded stakes placed, including a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile; at three, he won the UAE 2000 Guineas and was second in both the G3 UAE Derby and the G3 Discovery Handicap; and at four he showed his best form, winning the G1 Dubai World Cup and the G1 Stephen Foster before retiring due to injury.

The expectations were high for Street Cry as a stallion. He bred an average of 116.25 mares in his first four seasons, and his first two crops of yearlings sold for an average of $105,245 in 2005 and 2006. The high expectations were substantiated when Street Sense won the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the 2007 Kentucky Derby. Street Cry’s stud fee was raised to $50,000 in 2007, then doubled to $100,000 the following year and remained at six figures until his untimely death in 2014, peaking at $150,000 from 2009-2012. From 2007 through 2014, Street Cry bred an average of 142.5 mares per season, and his yearlings sold for an average of $233,720 from 2007 through 2016.

In addition to Street Sense, Street Cry’s first crop also included the great mare Zenyatta, who won the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (then the Ladies’ Classic) and 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic among her 19 consecutive victories, and multiple G1 winner Street Boss. He was also the sire of Winx, the winner of 33 consecutive races who would be named Australian Horse of the Year in the four consecutive years following her sire’s death.

Birdstone: Mine That Bird (2009)

In 2009, Mine That Bird won the Kentucky Derby at 50-1 while Summer Bird won the Belmont Stakes for first-crop stallion Birdstone. Best known as the upsetter of Smarty Jones in the 2004 Belmont Stakes, Birdstone was also a G1 winner at two and won the Travers Stakes before retiring to Gainesway Farm for a $10,000 fee in 2005. He bred an average of 82.75 mares in his first four seasons, and his first two crops of yearlings sold for an average of $36,779.

Upon the success of Mine That Bird and Summer Bird, the latter being named Champion Three-Year-Old Male of 2009, Birdstone saw a slight increase in mares, covering 105 in 2009 and 117 in 2010, but his numbers dropped off afterwards, covering an average of 54 mares a year from 2011-2017. From 2009-2017, his yearling sales remained steady at an average of $39,282. Birdstone covered 11, 8, and 2 mares in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively, and was pensioned to Old Friends in 2020.

In addition to Mine That Bird and Summer Bird, Birdstone sired 22 stakes winners, including G1 winner Noble Bird, who won the 2015 Stephen Foster Handicap. 

Conclusions

While this is clearly a small sample size, it seems pretty clear that while a Kentucky Derby winner can give a boost to a stallion’s career in the immediate aftermath, only those stallions who were already highly regarded at the time of their Derby winner. and continued to see immediate success at the track, seemed to feel the effects of siring a winner of North America’s most famous race.

Holy Bull, who had already been an established stallion at the time of his Kentucky Derby winner but was not commercially popular, saw Giacomo’s longshot Derby win do little to nothing for his popularity. Similarly, Birdstone was already unfashionable before his first crop hit the track, but even with two three-year-old classic winners in his first crop, his immediate increase in mares bred quickly came back down, before those presumably better-bred horses even hit the track. Likely, his lack of success in the interim contributed to this decline.

Street Cry seemed to have his popularity helped by his first-crop Kentucky Derby winner (who, importantly, was also a two-year-old champion), but he was already highly regarded as a stallion and continued to get G1 winners in the following years. Horses like Maria’s Mon and Distorted Humor, who also got first-crop Kentucky Derby winners, weren’t quite as highly regarded as freshman sires, but both also were able to continue getting high-class horses even before the foals conceived after their Derby success made it to the track. Maria’s Mon is probably the best example of a stallion whose career was made by a Kentucky Derby winner, as his biggest year as a stallion came in 2006 with foals that had been conceived in the year or two after Monarchos’ Kentucky Derby - and in 2007, his second Kentucky Derby winner was foaled.

Overall, while it seems a Kentucky Derby win can certainly give a stallion a solid boost in popularity in the immediate aftermath, it’s clear that a Kentucky Derby winner alone does not make a stallion career. In the case of Good Magic, who has gotten not only Mage but multiple other stakes winners this year, I expect that he will continue to be a popular stallion who gets top-class horses. You’ll probably pay more for them this year than you did last year at the sales, but Good Magic’s future success won’t be a result of Mage alone.