August 7, 2017 SPECIAL .COM Success Beyond Expectations: Mr. Prospector’s Journey From Florida to Kentucky By Natalie Voss The Paulick Report continues our Even after the pinfiring, a small area “Success Beyond Expectations” of concern turned up on X-rays fol- series, focusing on influential lowing his first breeze at Saratoga, stallions whose success at stud and Croll was forced to wait on him. far exceeded expectations at the He finished second in the Derby end of their racing careers. Trial at Churcill Downs but came out of that race with an ankle chip. That Mr. Prospector ultimately be- A fractured sesamoid ended his ca- came a successful stallion wasn’t a reer within five months of his return total surprise. After all, the colt bred to the track, and Savin decided it by then-Spendthrift Farm owner was time to stop on the horse. Leslie Combs II cost a sale-topping $220,000 when he came to the Savin syndicated Mr. Prospector for 1971 Keeneland July Yearling Sale. $50,000 per share for a total value He left the racetrack with reason- Mr. Prospector of $2 million and stood him for able credentials, never finishing out $7,500 in 1975 at his Aisco Farm of the money and runner-up in the Continued on Page 7 Grade 2 Carter Handicap and G3 Firecracker. He also set the six-furlong track record at Gulfstream Park in an allow- ance race, a mark that stood for nearly 20 years. What no one could have predicted was the impact Mr. Pros- pector would have on the Thoroughbred breed. When Abraham I. “Butch” Savin began bidding on the son of Raise a Native out of Gold Digger, by Nashua, he had the colt’s future as a stallion prospect in mind. Trainer Jimmy Croll encouraged the purchase, calling him “the best-looking yearling I had ever seen” (a somewhat confusing statement in modern times, when Mr. Prospector is well known to have had knees that made some breeders cringe). Savin and Croll were bidding together until the price hit $100,000, and then Croll, having never spent such a figure on a horse before, told Savin he was on his own. Legend has it that Croll began star- ing intently at his shoes until bidding ended. Soundness was not a theme in Mr. Prospector’s career, un- fortunately. He bucked his shins at two and had to be pinfired. ASK RAY QUESTION: Who’s the leader of the 3-year-old male division right now? ANSWER: You could throw a blanket over at least five or six of them – that’s how close together they are. Three separate Triple Crown race winners and Good Samari- tan beats two of them in the Jim Dandy. Girvin wins the G1 Haskell and Irap beat Girvin in the G3 Ohio Derby. Whoever surges late in the year wins the Eclipse. Page 2 Stallion Spotlight Scat Daddy’s Final Yearling Crop By Frank Mitchell The much-lamented Scat Daddy, who died in December 2015, That will be especially true of those young prospects good has been having a brilliant year as a sire in 2017 with such enough to qualify for the premium sales and sessions this year. stars as Grade 1 winner Lady Aurelia, a winner of stakes At Saratoga’s select yearling auction, one of the lots sure to at- across the globe, including the G1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal tract attention is Hip 106, a chestnut filly out of stakes winner Ascot in July. Winning Season, by Lemon Drop Kid, consigned by Bluegrass Thorough- There were, in fact, four Kentucky- bred Services. The second dam of bred winners at Royal Ascot this year: this filly is multiple graded stakes win- all by Scat Daddy. Those winners ner Topicount (Private Account), the at Royal Ascot – Lady Aurelia, Con dam of two stakes winners and three Te Partiro (Sandringham Stakes), other daughters who are stakes pro- Caravaggio (Commonwealth Cup), ducers. and Sioux Nation (Norfolk Stakes) – all showed speed and class. Two of One of the best pedigreed lots in the them, Lady Aurelia and Caravaggio, sale is Hip 140, a bay filly consigned are among the most widely praised by Brookdale for Audley Farm. This speed horses in the world. filly is the first foal of her dam, the Smart Strike mare Bilboquet. The Given the sire’s high profile, one second dam is stakes winner Hand- might have considered going to Fa- painted (A.P. Indy), who also ran sec- sig-Tipton’s July sale of select year- Scat Daddy ond in the G1 Selene. The next dam is lings to pick out a Scat Daddy, but there weren’t any. None. the beautiful Deputy Minister stakes winner Daijin, a full sister Those wise purveyors of equine goodies have them all reserved to Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold and a half-sister to Cana- for the Saratoga select sale of yearlings, and there are a dozen dian champion and classic winner With Approval. Scat Daddy yearlings cataloged for the Spa auction. One of Scat Daddy’s particular strengths as a sire was his abili- Only one consignor, Gainesway (3), has more than a single ty to succeed with a variety of types of mares and with offspring Saratoga yearling by this sire with the hottest hand in breeding who performed well in a variety of conditions. The European at the moment. And the demand for the Scat Daddy stock isn’t successes of his offspring such as Lady Aurelia, Caravaggio, declining; instead, it is ramping up because it’s a case of buy and previously No Nay Never will surely bring lookers to Hip now or miss ’em entirely. 216, a bay colt consigned by Gainesway and out of European stakes winner Kaloura, by the Arc de Triomphe winner Sinndar. The last crop by Scat Daddy were foaled in 2016, beginning the month after the sire’s death, as the mares from Scat Daddy’s This colt’s dam is a half-sister to European highweight and 2015 book began dropping foals. There are 147 foals in that American champion Kalanisi, winner of the G1 Breeders’ crop, and every one that comes to auction will get a careful Cup Turf in the States, as well as the G1 Champion Stakes inspection by potential buyers. in England. 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Slippery Elm Bark: Digesnve process aid and homeopathic remedy for a variety of gastric issues. Health | iStable | Sales | Exchange Page 4 Honor Roll Tapwrit in the Mix for 3-Year-Old Championship By Chelsea Hackbarth Despite giving his ownership group a scare in his first start, showing little, Tapwrit grew into a top-class 3-year-old and won the 2017 Belmont Stakes. He is the second classic winner Riggio has bred; the first was 2011 Preakness win- ner Shackleford, out of Broodmare of the Year Oatsee. “The way the year’s going,” Collins said, “if Tapwrit could win the Travers he’d have as good a chance as any of them to be champion 3-year-old.” Both Appealing Zophie and Oatsee have continued to produce for Riggio, and both have yearling colts that will be offered at auction this year. Tapwrit’s half-brother by Speightstown is entered in the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale as Hip 124, and Shackleford’s half-brother by Malibu Moon Tapwrit will be offered at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. 2014 Gray/roan colt, by Tapit – Appealing Zophie, by Appealing Zophie is currently in foal to Frosted, Collins said, Successful Appeal. Consigned by Denali Stud to 2015 but given Tapwrit’s success the mare will likely go back to Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale, purchased by Bridle- Tapit next spring. PRS wood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners & Robert V. LaPenta for $1,200,000. WHERE THE SOUTHWEST BUYS AND SELLS... When bloodstock manager Lincoln Collins looked at Appeal- CHAMPIONS, STAKES WINNERS ing Zophie at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale, he thought she would be a great fit for client Len Rig- AND MILLIONAIRES! gio. Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble, owns between six and eight top-class mares. Congratulations to Keene Thoroughbreds LLC and all the connections of reigning Texas Horse of the Year and two-time It wasn’t just that Appealing Zophie, by Successful Appeal, graded stakes winner TEXAS CHROME, had won the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga as a juvenile. who sold for $10,000 at the Texas Summer Under the name My Meadowview LLC, Riggio aims to breed Yearling Sale and now is a millionaire after both sales and racing prospects for classic distances. winning the Assault Stakes at Lone Star Park on July 22! He joins the company of GROOVY “What I really liked about her, apart from liking her as an as the second Texas-bred millionaire, and he individual,” said Collins, “is that she was obviously a very fast joins Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) winner and 2-year-old, but she also trained on and won a graded stake $3.3 million earner KIP DEVILLE as the as a 3-year-old.