Bill Oppenheim, December 2, 2011-40 Recommended >Value= Sires

40 RECOMMENDED >VALUE= SIRES: KY, $50K & UNDER As I am well aware of by now, endorsing certain stallions as comprising >relative value= is an exercise fraught with difficulties. Invariably many deserving sires are passed over, because you can=t say you love them all, but I do want to emphasize again these are opinions, not statements of fact. It=s a subjective process, and I readily admit other points of view are equally valid-- which is why we always encourage people who feel a horse they like (or stand) and that they particularly believe in is left out, please email us what we call your Nomination From The Floor. Though we hope to base our recommendations on good, solid data, this is a subjective exercise and, as you well know also by now, >we= are not infallible. So email, tweet, or post your objections and amendments, because discussion about the relative merits of stallions is always a good thing. This week, I=d like to concentrate on Kentucky stallions standing for $50,000 and under. Don=t get me wrong, I think a lot of sires standing in Kentucky for more than $50,000 are still good buys for who they are: Distorted Humor at $100,000 and Smart Strike at $85,000 are just two obvious examples. But you don=t need me to tell you they=re top sires--that=s why they cost more than $50,000 to breed to. They=re all top sires, it=s just a matter of whether, as a breeder, you=re in that league. If so, then it=s more a matter of narrowing down which of the top sires best suits the individual mare. Only three of the 40 sires on this list stand for $50,000, and they=re all included for the same reason: given how good they all are, they should be standing for more. This has been the case for a couple of years with Adena Springs= Awesome Again, who--as if we needed reminding again--nearly had his fifth Breeders= Cup winner and second GI Breeders= Cup Classic winner (after Ghostzapper) when two-time 2011 Grade I winner Game On Dude held off all but Drosselmeyer in this year=s Classic. Awesome Again himself won one of the best Breeders= Cup Classics ever in 1998. The other two $50,000 sires would be on, if for no other reason, than they are members of the >fearsome foursome= of North American sires with first foals 2006 (first 5-year-olds 2011) who all look headed straight to the top.

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Tapit is standing next year for $125,000; Medaglia D=Oro is $100,000; so, by comparison, Lane=s End=s Candy Ride and WinStar=s Speightstown have to qualify as good value (okay, relatively speaking). Speightstown is up to the number six North American sire on the 2011 TDN General Sire List (click here), including 12 Black-Type Winners (hereafter abbreviated BTW) and seven graded/group stakes horses (GSH). Candy Ride “In his tribute to Martin Mitchell, retiring as Bloodstock Sales has 14 BTW and nine GSH this year--not to mention Director after 40 years with the company, Tattersalls three sons going to stud in Kentucky next year (to be Chairman Edmond Mahony forgot to mention that he has discussed later). also been this correspondent’s Newmarket sales landlord There are a total of 15 sires on the list with first foals for the last 25 years. Ironically, after 34 years in his flat in Cambridge, Martin has now decided to move to Newmarket 2006 or earlier, so we can call them really >proven – good news for those of us still working. He’s a brilliant guy sires.= After the three standing for $50,000 just and a great friend. Yes, and the mare sale was up 28% in discussed, there are 12 others I thought deserve special gross and 31% in average (entire sale + 29% gross, +25% mention, all standing for $30,000 and under. average), continuing the welcome trend we’ve seen for most Claiborne=s Arch ($30,000) of course had Blame last of the autumn sales season.” -- Bill Oppenheim year, but has been popular at around this level for a few years now, and has followings in both North America and Europe, which is unusual these days. Ashford=s Tale of the Cat ($30,000) was once champion sire of 2-year-olds and, besides still being good at that, (the injured GII Sanford S. winner Overdriven was arguably the best 2-year-old seen out this year), older horses like Tale of Ekati and Gio Ponti have kept his name to the fore the last few years. Both are now at stud in Kentucky. The first Kentucky crop by Three Chimneys= Exchange Rate ($25,000) were 2-year-olds this year, and they rank him eighth on the North American Two-Year-Old Sire List (Bloodhorse.com), with 19 2-year-old winners, including four 2-year-old BTW. If there were such a thing as a first-Kentucky crop TATTERSALLS DECEMBER MARE SALE YEAR CAT RING SOLD %W/D %S/R %S/C GROSS AVG freshman sire list, he would rank number three, right on 2011 1,087 865 629 20.4% 72.7% 72.7% 44,121,500 70,145 the heels of Hard Spun and Scat Daddy. 2010 1,096 888 644 19.0% 72.5% 72.5% 34,544,800 53,641 Lane=s End=s City Zip has now clawed his way up to a 2009 984 792 628 19.5% 79.3% 79.3% 33,197,700 52,863 $20,000 stud fee, the same as his previously more 2008 1,230 904 610 26.5% 67.5% 67.5% 33,355,150 54,861 celebrated half-brother, Ghostzapper. Previously known 2007 1,390 1,132 762 18.6% 67.3% 54.8% 69,498,500 91,205 himself as a sire of precocious 2-year-olds, now City Zip ranks 25th among North American sires on the TDN General Sire List, with the earners of more than $5-million this year, including an impressive 22 black-type horses (BTH, won or placed in black-type races), including four graded stakes winners (GSW). Taylor Made=s Northern Afleet is another who has worked his way up the stud fee ladder, to $15,000 for 2012. None more deserving: he now has six Grade I winners, his two this year, including impressive GI Breeders= Cup Sprint winner Amazombie. As well as being a perennial leading sire by winners and races won, he has also sired the 2005 champion 3-year-old and now successful sire, Afleet Alex. Also at $15,000 are Walmac=s Successful Appeal, never really a household TATTERSALLS DECEMBER TOTAL SALE name, but who sports a 2.21 APEX A Runner Index, YEAR CAT RING SOLD %W/D %S/R %S/C GROSS AVG and an impressive 2.62 ABC Index for 2-year-olds; and 2011 2,331 1,942 1,444 16.7% 74.4% 61.9% 71,747,900 49,687 2010 2,344 1,898 1,398 19.0% 73.7% 59.6% 55,610,800 39,779 Claiborne=s Flatter, who ranks 26th among North 2009 2,183 1,780 1,399 18.5% 78.6% 64.1% 66,251,602 47,356 American sires this year with over $5-million in progeny 2008 2,728 2,024 1,275 25.8% 63.0% 46.7% 58,213,362 45,658 earnings, including 21 black-type horses. 2007 3,066 2,531 1,690 17.4% 66.8% 55.1% 119,304,537 70,594

Oppenheim cont. Data compiled by Brianne Stanley Airdrie=s Include made a promising start with his first He has a very good 3-year-old colt, called Mr. 2-year-olds in 2006 and got big books of better mares Commons, who ran second against >olders= in two Grade in 2007 and 2008. His 2008 crop now includes 15 II races in California; and he had, by all accounts, a very black-type horses--he=s proven he could >stand the impressive 2-year-old winner in California the other day, raise,= so offers plenty of appeal at $12,500 for 2012. by the name of Blingo. These two at least seem to have Lane=s End=s Pleasantly Perfect made over $7.7-million real ability. on the racetrack, defeated Medaglia D=Oro in both the Backing freshman sires to still be around in 12 GI Breeders= Cup Classic and G1 Dubai World Cup, and months= time is a road to ruin, but the top five North has an A Runner Index of 2.72, so he looks great value American sires on the 2011 TDN Freshman Sire List at $10,000. The gamble of the year has to be (click here) do merit a mention. Darley=s Hard Spun Gainesway=s Birdstone, who drops back to $10,000 for ($40,000) has worked his way to the top of the table, 2012. You remember Birdstone; a member of the with 22 winners (3 BTW, 1 GSW) and the earners of dynamite F2006 sire crop featuring the Fearsome just under $1.4-million. Ashford=s Scat Daddy ($17,500) Foursome (and Pleasantly Perfect), Birdstone was is less than $100,000 behind, with 26 winners (3 BTW, number five on that list after he had two Classic 2 GSW), and the earners of just over $1.3-million. winners in his first crop in 2009--GI Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and GI Belmont S. winner These two have a big break (over $500,000) over the Summer Bird. Birdstone=s 2009 crop had 43 foals; there next three living sires: Gainesway=s Corinthian were 76 in his 2010 crop, and 87 in his 2011 crop ($17,500), who got a big thumbs-up from the legendary ($30,000 stud fee), though he did drop back to just 58 Alec Head when I ran across him out looking at the mares covered this year ($20,000 stud fee), which is no Gainesway stallions in November; the new Gainesway doubt why they took him back to $10,000. Having seen horse, Hat Trick ($15,000), who moves over from him in November, I=d call him just about the buy of the Walmac having sired the horse I would say is Europe=s year at that price. top 2-year-old, the undefeated, French-trained Dabirsim; A couple of sires with four-figure fees shouldn=t be and Airdrie=s Flashy Bull ($10,000), sire of 15 winners overlooked either. I=ve long been a fan of Vinery=s Pure (2 BTW, 1 GSW). Lawyer Ron, who stood at the Prize ($7,500), who jumped into the top 10 on the now-defunct Kentucky Stonewall Farm, actually edges 2-year-old sire list with four 2-year-old BTH in the last out Flashy Bull for fifth spot at the moment, but he died six weeks, including GIII Delta Princess S. winner Now I after siring just two crops. Know; and one who really could be overlooked is Claiborne=s Stroll, a Grade I winner by Pulpit whose first The Unproven Brigade three small crops registered an impressive 2.63 A While I would love to have a crystal ball and tell you Runner Index. He was leased to Italy for two years and all about how the freshman sire tables for 2012 are came back in 2011. He=s only $5,000, and would have going to look a few months from now, I=m no better at about the highest A Runner Index of any stallion that sort of speculation than the next guy; all we do standing for that price, certainly in Kentucky. know is that Lane=s End=s Curlin (now $40,000), Three Chimneys= Big Brown ($35,000), Ashford=s Young Sires with Runners Henrythenavigator ($25,000), and Hill >n= Dale=s The sire crops with first foals 2007 (first 4-year-olds Midnight Lute ($15,000) had the four highest yearling 2011) and 2008 (first 3-year-olds) are very much works averages among North American sires with their first in progress, and I m not sure I have very strong = yearlings 2011 (click here to see the Instatistics table), convictions one way or the other about many of the and were the only four whose yearlings averaged over contenders. Among those with their first 4-year-olds, $70,000. They all have the best shots. Among sires there=s no doubt Adena Springs= Ghostzapper at with their first foals 2011, in what was the lowest $20,000 looks a reasonable buy. He=s sired the winners of over $4.9-million this year, including 18 black-type intake of new sires in years, the European superstar horses (BTH), of which 10 are graded/group stakes prospect Sea The Stars has had 13 weanlings from his horses (GSH). When we did our August 1 APEX run, he first crop average $531,258 at the European sales. The had exactly a 2.50 ABC Runner Index, which ranked leading American sire with first weanlings 2011, him third among more than 600 sires with 200+ WinStar=s Colonel John ($15,000), made a big year-starters 2005-2011, and which means exactly impression among his contemporaries, too, though;10 20% of his runners were at least paying their way. In foals from his first crop averaged $105,900, with a this world, that=s a big number. Among sires with their median of $102,500. In a year when the first-year first 3-year-olds, I thought the two horses which came weanling sires did not make that much of an impression, over to WinStar from Pauls Mill are both fairly priced: he did. Bellamy Road ($20,000) ranks ninth among North American second-crop sires by progeny earnings, with seven black-type winners (BTW), three graded (GSW) this year; 2005 GI Breeders= Cup Mile winner Artie J Watch Out for “TDN Rising Stars” J Schiller ($10,000) is bidding to become the third Stars of tomorrow grabbing the spotlight today... successful sire son of El Prado, following F2006 Medaglia D=Oro and leading third-crop F2007 sire, Kitten=s Joy. The next two years have seen some really exciting He=s sure to have a big following; he certainly sire prospects retired at what seem like reasonable and deserves to, anyhow. If you like Gio Ponti, you have to competitive fees. Among sires who retired in 2012, like Ashford=s Galileo horse, Cape Blanco ($17,500), Lane=s End=s Quality Road ($35,000) got a huge boost too. He defeated Gio Ponti both times they met, in the from the Evans Dispersal, with 48 mares in foal to him GI Man O= War and the GI , and he=s a in the Kentucky sales averaging $283,208 (click here to certainty to be named North America=s champion turf see the Instatistics table), which alone must enhance his male this year after taking his American record to chances of eventual sire success; we got a peek at him 3-for-3 with a gutsy win in the GI Joe Hirsch (Turf at Lane=s End during the November sale, too; he=s really Classic). filled out into a really impressive specimen now. So, you like Cady Ride (who doesn=t) but can=t get in, Claiborne=s Blame ($35,000), the only horse ever to or can=t afford to breed to him? Well, he has three beat , had 10 in foal average $229,000, and is Grade I-winning sons retiring to Kentucky next year. clearly highly regarded by important breeders. The top Sidney=s Candy ($15,000), a devastating frontrunner two 3-year-olds of 2010, Ashford=s two-time Champion who won the GI Santa Anita Derby and four Grade II Lookin at Lucky ($30,000) and Taylor Made=s races among his seven wins, goes to WinStar; Lane=s impressive GII Fountain of Youth and GI Wood Memorial End gets Twirling Candy ($15,000), winner of the winner Eskendereya ($25,000) have more traditional GI Malibu and three Grade II=s; and Hill >n= Dale will >commercial= profiles; 19 mares in foal to Eskendereya stand Misremembered ($7,500), winner of two averaged $108,789; 12 in foal to Lookin at Lucky Grade II=s last year as a 3-year-old, and winner of the averaged $95,142. Both look really good commercial GI Santa Anita H. this year. Finally, Lane=s End gets a prospects. really interesting $10,000 prospect in Courageous Cat, It=s a deep sire crop, too, though. WinStar=s Summer a full-brother to After Market (by ) but a turf Bird ($15,000), another to move over from Pauls Mill, miler himself; he won the GI Shoemaker Mile this year, was named champion 3-Year-Old male of 2009 after and was been second to in the 2009 winning the GI Belmont, GI Travers, and GI Jockey Club GI Breeders= Cup Mile at Santa Anita. Bill Oppenheim may Gold Cup, the latter against older horses. And there are be contacted at [email protected] (please cc TDN management three stallions standing at $10,000 and under who each at [email protected]). Follow him on have something significant to recommend them: Twitter at www.twitter.com/billoppenheim. Ashford=s Munnings ($10,000) won three Grade II races at seven furlongs, but also placed in six different Grade WHAT IS OPPENHEIM I=s at six and seven furlongs, often compromised by wet ON ABOUT NOW? tracks; Airdrie=s Majesticperfection ($8,500) ran a Whether it=s sales, racing or breeding...read the couple of boxcar Beyers, in the 110=s, sprinting, in latest musings from Bill Oppenheim! 2010, including when soundly defeating subsequent You can find all of Oppenheim=s GI Breeders= Cup Sprint winner Big Drama in the columns in the TDN Archive. GI Albert G. Vanderbilt S. at Saratoga; and there=s a bit of word out for Hill >n= Dale=s Concord Point ($7,500), by Tapit and inbred 4x4 to Seattle Slew. He was impressive winning a couple of graded stakes as a 3-year-old in 2010, but as he made only six lifetime starts he may be a little bit under the radar. There is an impressive corps retiring in Kentucky for 2012, too, headed by Ashford=s Uncle Mo ($35,000), runaway champion 2-year-old male of 2011, and who did come back to run a tremendous Beyer 118 to win the GII Kelso in his final prep for the Breeders= Cup this year. There=s no doubt, he=s a really exciting prospect B he was arguably a superstar, so you have to say he=s fairly priced, and he should be a big commercial hit, too. Spendthrift=s Tizway ($25,000) won the GI Met Mile and the GI Whitney H. this year; he=s got a really strong case to be champion older male, and maybe even Horse of the Year. Castleton Lyons= Gio Ponti ($20,000) was first or second in 22 of his 29 career starts, winning seven Grade I=s and running second in another eight, including to Zenyatta in the 2009 GI Breeders= Cup Classic, and to Goldikova in the 2010 GI Breeders= Cup Mile; he earned over $6-million.