The Freshman Sire Class of 2023
There are some exciting first-crop stallions whose two-year-olds have started to hit the track
With the two-year-old sale season largely behind us and the two-year-old racing season underway, it’s become fairly clear which stallions the market is excited about this year, and which stallions are going to be imparting precocity into their offspring. I wanted to discuss a few highlights from this group of stallions who I expect to be among the top of their class moving forward, and what kind of mares I think they’ll have success with.
This seems to be a fairly solid group of stallions, with the likes of Horse of the Year Vino Rosso, Eclipse champion sprinter Mitole, and multiple G1 winner Omaha Beach among the stallions to retire to Kentucky in 2020.
As the above chart shows, Omaha Beach has been a standout in the sales ring this year, with a sale average of $195,889 and median of $120,000 - the only stallion in this class with a median over $100,000. His top-priced two-year-old was a $700,000 filly out of the Smart Strike mare Intelyhente who sold at OBS April. He had two other foals sell for over $500,000 at that sale, and one out of Pacific Heat (Unusual Heat) sell for $690,000 at OBS March.
Omaha Beach has all the ingredients of a successful sire - he’s a son of top stallion War Front who was a multiple G1 winner on dirt, making him similar in profile to Triple Crown winner Justify, who was also a top-class dirt runner by a stallion whose best offspring had primarily raced on turf. Omaha Beach’s pedigree is also very good, as a half brother to Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Take Charge Brandi out of the Seeking the Gold mare Charming, herself a half to three G1 winners out of the excellent mare Take Charge Lady.
Omaha Beach is off to a strong start with three winners from six starters to date. He is already the sire of G3-placed Launch in Ireland, as well as three winners. It’s notable that two of those three winners are out of mares by Pulpit and his son Tapit, the latter of which I have high expectations for in combination with Omaha Beach. The cross of War Front with Pulpit has been very good, with the direct sire/damsire nick producing six stakes winners in 31 starters.
I believe that Tapit will be a very interesting version of this cross for Omaha Beach, in particular, because War Front’s damsire Rubiano is a 3/4 brother to the dam of Tapit. Omaha Beach is already inbred 3x4 to Rubiano, and I think the additional strain of Ruby Slippers will be beneficial - inbreeding to Ruby Slippers through all sources has produced 5.6% stakes winners in 196 starters. This nick should get plenty of opportunity for success - Omaha Beach has had four foals out of Tapit mares go through the sales ring this year, in addition to his winner Omaha Girl out of a Tapit mare. One of these foals, named Omaha Eight, is particularly interesting as her dam, Hippocampus, is out of a daughter of Take Charge Lady, meaning that Omaha Eight is inbred 3x3 to Take Charge Lady and 5x6x4x6 to Ruby Slippers.
I’m also curious to see how Omaha Beach does with mares carrying Tiznow. In addition to the two-year-old I highlighted on my blog earlier this year, who sold for $40,000, Omaha Beach had a $550,000 two-year-old out of a stakes placed mare by Tiznow’s son Tizway sell at OBS April. That colt, who breezed a quarter in 20.3 at that sale, has been named Code Omaha. Another interesting daughter of Omaha Beach, who hails from the same family as Rubiano and Tiznow’s grandsire Relaunch, has been named Sword Beach. She was a $90,000 RNA at Keeneland September last year.
Just behind Omaha Beach in progeny earnings to date is Mitole, who has had the most starters of any freshman stallion at this point with ten. This indicates that, as many expected, these Mitole babies are showing a lot of precocity. His two-year-old average this year has been $116,481, with a median of $72,500.
Mitole was an absolutely brilliant racehorse who won ten of his fourteen starts, including four G1s in his championship season, and was never off the board in his career. Though he only raced once at two, his progeny have been putting up some very fast times at the sales, and buyers have reacted accordingly.
Mitole is by Eskendereya and out of the Indian Charlie mare Indian Miss, and I think his pedigree is really interesting. His sire was a brilliant racehorse in his own right, winning the Fountain of Youth by 8 1/2 lengths and the Wood Memorial by 9 3/4 lengths, and likely would have been a heavy Kentucky Derby favorite had an injury not forced his retirement.
Eskendereya was a bit of a disappointment at stud, as while his first crop of yearlings sold for an average of over $100,000 (behind only Blame and Quality Road among his contemporaries), his first crop failed to dazzle and he was the 14th-ranked first crop sire. He had more success as his first foals turned three, and was fourth behind Munnings, Super Saver, and Lookin at Lucky on the second-crop sire list, but sold to Japan in September of that year for the 2016 breeding season. As seems to be tradition when a stallion is sold overseas, he got six stakes winners the following year, including his first G1 winner in Mor Spirit, and was third to Quality Road and Munnings on the third crop sire list.
Eskendereya had a fascinating pedigree, tracing to the great broodmare Cosmah as his fifth dam. Cosmah also appeared in his sire’s pedigree, as the damsire of Giant’s Causeway’s damsire Rahy. Cosmah was a half-sister to Natalma, the dam of Northern Dancer, Eskendereya’s third damsire and Giant’s Causeway’s great-grandsire. Though Eskendereya’s Mor Spirit has not done much as a sire to date, hopes are high for Mitole to carry on his branch of the Giant’s Causeway sire line.
Mitole’s highest priced two-year-old at auction this year, a $400,000 purchase out of OBS April, has been named Coffee Kisses and is out of the Mineshaft mare Gemini R N. Another interesting Mitole two-year-old is Hub, who sold for $300,000 at OBS March. That colt is out of the With Distinction mare Hug Me Tight, who, like Eskendereya, was from family 2d and showed linebreeding to that family via Northern Dancer and her damsire Kissin Kris.
I’m particularly curious to see how Mitole fares with mares by Pioneerof the Nile, who has been an exceptional cross with Mitole’s damsire Indian Charlie. Indian Charlie and Pioneerof the Nile share their fifth dam, and the cross of Indian Charlie over Pioneerof the Nile has produced G1 winner A Mo Reay in just 12 starters. The reverse cross has produced a remarkable nine stakes winners in 46 starters (19.57%). He has $125,000 OBS March purchase Ariana Rye out of a Pioneerof the Nile mare from the immediate family of G1 winner First Samurai.
Representing another branch of the Storm Cat sire line is Maximus Mischief, who has been a bit of a dark horse candidate in this crop all along. He stands for a $7,500 fee at Spendthrift Farm, where he received plenty of support from breeders with 83 foals in his first crop. He’s been popular at the sales as well, with nine six-figure two-year-olds to go through the ring this year. His two-year-old average is $65,172, and his median is $50,000.
He had a brief career, but showed brilliance in winning his first three starts by a combined 17 lengths before finishing third in the Holy Bull Stakes in what would be his final career effort. He was retired with a soft tissue injury that had apparently been sustained in a workout prior to the Fountain of Youth Stakes, and the decision was made to stand him at Spendthrift Farm.
His pedigree is very appealing to me, as a son of Into Mischief from that stallion’s own female family 23b. I will be interested to see if he has success with mares carrying Smart Strike, another member of that female family out of a mare by a stallion from the same M1a mitochondrial haplotype. The cross of Into Mischief over Smart Strike has produced 10% stakes winners in 40 starters. Two of those were out of mares by Curlin, including Pat Day Mile winner General Jim.
Maximus Mischief’s highest-priced two-year-old is an unnamed colt out of the Majesticperfection mare Perfect Bourbon who sold for $280,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Timonium May sale. I highlighted a filly by Maximus Mischief out of the Malabar Gold mare Blackhawk Honey in my blog. That filly, now named Cheeky Gal, sold for $135,000 at OBS April.
Another son of Into Mischief whose first foals are two-year-olds this year is G1 Florida Derby winner Audible. He has the second highest two-year-old average of this group, behind only Omaha Beach, at $118,726, with a median of $65,000, and his foals have been as athletic as you’d expect from this sire line, though they have yet to race. Fifteen of his two-year-olds have sold for at least $100,000, led by a filly out of the The Factor mare The Girl Factor who has been named Nikitis. She sold for $535,000 at OBS April and has posted two workouts over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track.
Despite a pedigree that suggested distance limitations, being by Into Mischief and with his first two damsires being Gilded Time and Gulch, Audible was third in the Kentucky Derby behind Triple Crown winner Justify and two-year-old champion Good Magic. He defeated fellow first-crop stallions Flameaway, Enticed, and Vino Rosso in that race.
I highlighted an Audible filly out of the Speightstown mare Speightlass in my blog on the first half of the OBS April sale. She was withdrawn from that sale but has been named Absolute Miracle. With a third dam linebred to La Troienne’s family 1x via Easy Goer and Private Account, I’d be interested in seeing Audible returned to that family - he has $425,000 OBS March purchase Letter Perfect, $190,000 OBS March purchase Eight Clap, and $170,000 OBS March purchase Company You Keep out of mares by family 1x’s Super Saver, suggesting this could be a useful cross. Mares by Speightstown’s son Munnings would be interesting for that same reason, as the Into Mischief/Speightstown cross has been well established, with 20% stakes winners in 45 starters bred on the cross, including two G1 winners.
One of the late bloomers of his crop, it’s impressive that Vino Rosso is currently fourth on the leading first crop sire list and is one of two stallions with a stakes horse to his name already, as his Zaino finished third in the 5 furlong Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes at Gulfstream Park. I wouldn’t be shocked if Vino Rosso drifts down this list through the year, but if he does, I wouldn’t fault him for it. This is a stallion who I could see following in his sire Curlin’s footsteps - Curlin himself was ninth on the freshman sire list with his first crop and was nearly dropped by the commercial market, but has since become a perennial leading sire.
The early indications are good for Vino Rosso. His foals have sold for an average of $103,405 and median of $50,000 in the two-year-old sales, and he has two winners in five starters to date. If his foals are more precocious than his sire’s - more along the lines of Curlin’s Good Magic, - then I think we can safely expect a lot from Vino Rosso in the future, as he himself was a good two-year-old who won his first two career starts, and did win the Wood Memorial as a three-year-old, but he truly came into his own at four, parlaying G1 wins in the Gold Cup and Breeders’ Cup Classic to a Eclipse champion older male title in 2019.
Vino Rosso is out of a mare by Street Cry who is a half to graded stakes winners Commissioner and Laugh Track. More distantly, his family 2f is the family of stallions such as Pulpit, Johannesburg, and Tale of the Cat, as well as fellow freshman sire Flameaway. Because of this, I’m interested in seeing him get mares by those stallions and their descendants such as Tapit and Scat Daddy. Curlin’s Good Magic has Sham Stakes winner Reincarnate out of a mare by the latter, and Curlin currently has the excellent miler Cody’s Wish out of a mare by Tapit, so there’s precedent for these crosses working with Vino Rosso’s sire line as well as being complementary to his female family.
Vino Rosso’s most expensive two-year-old to date was a $550,000 OBS March purchase out of the Smoke Glacken mare Hookah Lady. The colt is currently unnamed. Another foal of interest is Right to Vote, a $200,000 Keeneland September yearling last year out of the Verrazano mare Cherokee Frolic. Cherokee Frolic is an unraced half to graded stakes winners Mokat and Flashy Frolic, and has some fascinating linebreeding to family 1x via her tail-female line, her damsire Premiership, and Verrazano’s sire More Than Ready. The cross of Curlin over More Than Ready has produced three stakes winners in 21 starters (14.29%), including G1 winner Structor by Palace Malice. Right to Vote has put in four works over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga.
I’ve already discussed Flameaway in one of my first posts on this blog, and while he’s gotten just one winner in his first six starters, I’m still very excited to see how he does as a stallion. Like Vino Rosso, he hails from the solid sire family 2f, and Flameaway shows linebreeding to that family via his grandsire Johannesburg.
His two-year-olds have sold for an average of $66,400 and median of $48,000, with seven six-figure foals. At the recently concluded OBS June sale, a filly out of the Macho Uno mare Tomato Bisque sold for $370,000 after working in 9.4. I highlighted his daughter out of Appreciating, who has since been named Dreamfyre, in my OBS April blog. She sold for $140,000 at that sale and has since put in four workouts at Golden Gate.
He’s also had a very impressive debut runner in She’s Fire, who finished second on debut at Presque Isle Downs to the Munnings filly Foxxy Cleopatra, a $305,000 purchase at OBS March. The top two fillies were over nine lengths clear of their competition, and both seem to be talented fillies to watch for the future. She’s Fire is from Lowe family 23b, and Scat Daddy has produced 66% stakes horses in just nine starters from her genetic branch of this family, including G1 winners Mendelssohn and Con Te Partiro.
Overall, this looks to be an exciting group of stallions, and it will be interesting to see which of them rise to the top of this freshman sire rankings as the year progresses.