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The youth of today
Major General (Constitution) wins the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes and books himself a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
As we close in on the pivotal Breeders’ Cup meeting, Melissa Bauer-Herzog runs her eye over some of the leading young sires and two-year-old performances in the US this autumn
IN WHAT COULD be described as a “golden era” of young sires in US racing, this season has proved jus what a strong bunch there is around with many of the major Breeders’ Cup juvenile prep races seeing top three finishes from runners by first, second, or third-crop sires.
The third-crop sire Constitution has been in the headlines since Classic winner Tiz The Law was a top two-year-old from his first crop and the success is continuing in 2021. The WinStar Farm-based son of Tapit has had five juvenile stakes performers headed by Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) contender Major General.
That colt earned his spot in the Juvenile through the “Win and You’re In” berth offered with success in the Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in late September – a race in which he beat Tough To Tame, who is by second-crop sire Speightster, by a neck.
Another young sire Connect was a stand-out on the same card – Hidden Connection romped home in the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) for a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
Lane’s End’s freshman sire Connect has made a tremendous impact in the juvenile divisions this year with Hidden Connection’s 9l romp over fellow first-crop sire Gormley’s Mama Rina just the start.
Five days later people would have been excused for not paying much attention to Connect’s newest winner Rattle N Roll.
He’d had a rough go of it at Saratoga on his second start and was looking to break his maiden in his third start at Churchill Downs, the track where he had debuted.
He won the September 23 race by 3l and impressed connections so much they decided to send him to the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) just two weeks later.
That proved to be a fortuitous plan.
Multiple freshmen sires have made their impact felt this autumn, but none more than Gun Runner.
He has a $500,000 lead over second- placed Connect in the freshman sires’ rankings (late October) by prize-money earned, but Gun Runner also leads most of the stakes categories amongst those in his generation.
Gun Runner, whose stud fee was raised to $125,000 for the 2022 season, is the sire of four graded stakes winners. Though the Breeders’ Cup is yet to take place, Gun Runner almost certainly has a champion in his first crop – he has sired two Grade 1 winners headed by the dual Grade 1 winner Echo Zulu.
The filly boasts the best resume of any juvenile this year and, even if she runs badly in the Juvenile Fillies, it will be hard for another filly to take the championship away from her.
Gun Runner’s 38 runners (as of October 20) include three Grade 1 performers. Since 2015, only Nyquist has had more Grade 1 performers as a freshman than Gun Runner and no freshman in that period has sired more than two Grade 1 winners from his first crop of two-year-olds.
It hasn’t been unusual for freshmen to sire champions in recent years, however.
Nyquist was a champion from his sire Uncle Mo’s first crop in 2015 and he sired his own champion in 2020 (Vequist) during his freshman year. Between the two, the 2018 leading first-season sire Cross Traffic sired a champion, as well.
The sire of 24 stakes winners and 61 stakes performers in 2021 – nearly double the amount of stakes performers of any other US sire this year – and on track to match his record-breaking 2020 season, Into Mischief’s two-year-olds are again proving to be a force to be reckoned with.
His daughter Ain’t Easy won the Chandelier Stakes (G2) by over 4l on October 1 and, two days later, another daughter Gerrymander finished second to the aforementioned Echo Zulu in the Frizette Stakes (G1).
His son Goldencents also gave him his first Grade 1 winner as a sire-of-sires when Going To Vegas dug deep to win the Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1).
Into Mischief is already proving to be a successful broodmare sire with the 65 runners out of his daughters, including four stakes winners and seven stakes performers.
Echo Zulu (Into Mischief) ridden by Ricardo Santana, Jr. wins the Spinaway (GI) at Saratoga
But it is Goldencents who is his first sire son to make a serious impact with his own progeny.
That may not be the case for much longer, however. While Into Mischief has many successful racehorse sons waiting for their foals to hit the track, the extremely popular triple Grade 1 winner Practical Joke has his first two-year-olds this year.
One of the most in-demand young stallions in the breeding shed, and whose progeny were popular in the sales ring, Practical Joke’s five stakes performers are led by Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Wit.
Wit continued his campaign through New York’s top juvenile races in early October, but ran into the potential Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) favourite in Jack Christopher in the Champagne Stakes (G1).
Moving straight from maiden special weight company to Grade 1 level, Jack Christopher has helped to take his sire Munnings up the grade to the top of the US stallion ranks with over a 2l victory in the Grade 1, and with Wit nearly 10l behind him in third.
With his progeny enjoying their best season on the track, Munnings was fully booked this year, and he has proven to work with a variety of mares.
None of his 16 stakes winners of this year share a broodmare sire and only three of his 35 stakes performers of 2021 are out of the same broodmare sire – Tapit – with two of those being full-sisters.
Munnings was given a fee rise in 2021, and gets a price rise again in 2022 – his $85,000 stud fee is the third-most expensive on the Coolmore US roster behind Uncle Mo and Justify.
THE LATE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY was bred to just around 50 mares in his final three years at stud, but in October he showed that he is still a major influence.
His evergreen son United has been a consistent presence on the stakes scene since 2019 and he earned a popular victory with a nose win in the John Henry Turf Championship (G2).
But though he put in an smart performance, United was overshadowed by Giant’s Causeway’s final two-year-old crop.
The sire died through the early part of the 2018 breeding season, only covering nine mares that year. According to The Jockey Club he had just four live foals, but on October 9 two of those foals caught the eye at Keeneland.
Classic Causeway had broken his maiden by an impressive 6l at Saratoga in September and trainer Brian Lynch made the decision to step him up to Grade 1 level.
While that plan didn’t result in a victory, the colt’s third placing in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) gave Giant’s Causeway his 77th juvenile stakes performer.
It has been reported that Classic Causeway is skipping the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), but he and Giant Game both have a chance to help their sire hit a milestone next year – posthumously siring his first-ever US Classic winner.
The stallion was successful at that task in Europe, siring winners of the 2,000 Guineas (G1), 1,000 Guineas (G1), Prix du Jockey Club (G1), Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1), and Preis der Diana (G1).
Munnings is a son of Speightstown and stands at Ashford at a fee of $85,000 for 2021. He is the sire of 16 stakes winners and 35 stakes performers this year
