Scat Daddy

With about a month and a half to go to the end of the year, Coolmore America's Justify (Scat Daddy) is in a three-way battle with Spendthrift's Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) and Hill 'n' Dale's Good Magic (Curlin) for the freshman sire championship, which is measured by progeny earnings. Through Monday, Bolt d'Oro led narrowly with $2,122,968 to Justify's $2,065,556 in second place and Good Magic's $1,984,069 in third. Within striking distance are Hill 'n' Dale's Army Mule (Friesan Fire) in fourth with $1,762,485 and Three Chimneys's Sharp Azteca (Freud)...

The insatiable demand for foals was evident in the figures recorded at Goffs last week with turnover rising 16% to €29,561,000 and the average climbing 16% to €40,110. At the top end of the market, Kingman (GB) dominated with three foals by the Juddmonte-based stallion selling for a combined €1,540,000 and one of Europe's leading pinhookers Philipp Stauffenberg signing for the €550,000 top lot by the sire.  Tally-Ho Stud may be best known for being sellers but they pipped Stauffenberg for the biggest spenders title by signing for 19 foals...

Off the back of a star-studded season, No Nay Never will stand for €175,000 in 2023, which represents a €50,000 rise, while his dual Group 1-winning son Blackbeard (Ire) will join him on the Coolmore roster next year at a price of €25,000. No Nay Never has had an exceptional year. Older filly Alcohol Free (Ire) landed the G1 July Cup at Newmarket, but it has been his Coolmore-owned and Aidan O'Brien-trained juveniles that have set tongues wagging this term. Like his father, Blackbeard landed the G1 Prix Morny in...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 2nd-KEE, $150k, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 12:30p.m. ET Conditioner Brad Cox will have the honor of being the first to send out the offspring of Songbird to post as MAGICAL SONG (Tapit) is slated to debut here on the Breeders' Cup 'Stars of Tomorrow' undercard. Out of the aforementioned Champion 2 & 3-year-old filly, she will be the first to the races for the half-sister to the dam of GSW Mico Margarita (Run Away and Hide), beating out 3-year-old half-sister Song Gate (Arrogate) to the...

First year stallion and 2020 G1 Santa Anita H. winner Combatant (Scat Daddy-Border Dispute, by Boundary) has died suddenly from colic in Chile. He had just begun Southern Hemisphere stud duties at Haras Porta Pia. Combatant stood his first year at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, NY. Earner of over a million in his racing career, one which saw him annex the Big Cap and pick up minor honors in six other graded contests, Combatant was a $320,000 yearling purchase by Winchell Thoroughbreds at KEESEP in 2016. He placed in the...

Freshman New York stallion COMBATANT (Scat Daddy-Border Dispute, by Boundary) will shuttle to Haras Porta Pia in Chile for Southern Hemisphere duties, announced officials at Rockridge Stud July 22. Combatant stood his first year at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, NY and was well-received by breeders. The half to GSW Long Lashes (Rock Hard Ten), SP Bordini (Bernardini), and GSP Mythical Border (Johannesburg) retired with a record of 30-4-5-6, and earnings of $1,062,915. The 2020 GI Santa Anita H. winner is a syndicated stallion.

Coolmore America's Triple Crown winner Justify, a son of Scat Daddy, never raced at two, and he famously became the first unraced 2-year-old since Apollo in 1882 to win the Gl Kentucky Derby. Midway through July, however, Justify is already represented by a Group 2 winner in Europe and a Grade III winner in North America from his first crop of 2-year-olds, and through Monday he sat second by less than $30,000 on the first-crop sire list by progeny earnings behind Spendthrift's Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), a rival he defeated...

Seabhac (Scat Daddy) became the latest European freshman sire off the mark when Anton Doerner's homebred Everwin (Fr) (Seabhac--Quatuor {Ire}, by Kodiac {GB}) notched a first winner for the Haras de Saint Arnoult resident in Monday's Prix des Iris, a maiden race for 2-year-olds, at Lyon Parilly. 2nd-Lyon-Parilly, €18,000, Mdn, 6-27, 2yo, 6 3/4fT, 1:26.49, sf. EVERWIN (FR) (c, 2, Seabhac--Quatuor {Ire}, by Kodiac {GB}) settled off the pace in a midfield eighth for most of this debut. Making smooth headway along the far-side rail once into the straight, the...

There are folks who sound like broken records when it comes to first-crop sires, complaining that breeders who use them and buyers purchasing those yearlings at auction are about as foolish as dunk-tank clowns. However, when one of those sires succeeds with his first 2-year-olds, those same people are usually the first to wax eloquent with platitudes, forgetting what they'd said earlier. That's human nature, I suppose. What they forget is that all sires start out with first crops, and there are people on the other end that wildcat for...

No doubt about it, bringing Caravaggio to the Bluegrass when he had barely started in Europe was quite a gamble. Presumably, after all, much of the good work since done by his first crop, conceived and largely racing over the water, will be passing the notice of many Kentucky breeders. But I have a hunch that they may end up using him in a rather more sophisticated way than European commercial breeders, and that he may ultimately achieve a good deal more as a result. Not that anyone would have...

MGSW & MGISP Mean Mary (Scat Daddy--Karlovy Vary, by Dynaformer) has been retired from racing. Mary Venezie, who works for owner/breeder Alex G. Campbell, Jr., made the announcement on Twitter Friday. "With heavy hearts, Team Campbell, Graham Motion and Herringswell Stable have decided to retire our girl, Mean Mary," the tweet stated. "She ran a great race and we had so much fun cheering her on. We are very sad, but we are looking to the future and what is best for her." Earning her black-type badge in the 2020...

The energy seems to be building by the hour now that the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale yearlings are in place as buyers sift through the barns surrounding the famed Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. There's much to look forward to in this 100th edition of the auction, including a sample of the highly-anticipated first crop of yearlings from Triple Crown champion Justify (Scat Daddy - Stage Magic, by Ghostzapper). With 10 sons and daughters of Justify currently slated to go through the sales ring, these youngsters represent the first book of...