Andrew Caulfield, February 13, 2007–Appealing Zophie P EDIGREE INSIGHTS By the end of 2004, no fewer than six of them had become stakes winners and the total now stands at BY ANDREW CAULFIELD nine--a very impressive 21 percent stakes winners. Three of the nineB-Closing Argument, Lunarpal and AccountforthegoldB-have achieved the status of graded Saturday, Fair Grounds winners, which equates to seven percent. SILVERBULLETDAY S.-GIII, $200,000, FGX, 2-10, 3yo, Unfortunately Successful Appeal's second crop, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44, ft. consisting of 35 named foals sired at a fee of $5,000, 1--APPEALING ZOPHIE, 122, f, 3, by Successful Appeal has proved less effective and none of the 35 has so far 1st Dam: Zophie, by Hawkster become a stakes winner. However, that setback has 2nd Dam: Sodeo Sodeo, by proved to be only temporary. Successful Appeal's third 3rd Dam: Melody Tree, by High Tribute crop has turned the spotlight back onto this exciting ($150,000 2yo 2006 FTFFEB; $105,000 yrl '05 young sire, to the extent that his fee has been raised KEESEP). O-Heiligbrodt Racing Stable; B-Luann Baker from the $25,000 he commanded in 2005 and 2006 to (FL); T-S M Asmussen; J-J R Velazquez; $120,000. $40,000 this year. Lifetime Record: GISW, 7-3-2-0, $475,350. His daughters Richwoman and Chagall fought out the Click for the brisnet.com chart. Video, sponsored by finish of the GIII Debutante S. last July and two other Taylor Made. stakes winners emerged in the shape of Appealing Zophie and Freetoleave. Appealing Zophie became her Taking the title of North America's Leading Freshman sire's first Grade I winner when she easily landed the Sire has historically been a pretty reliable stepping Spinaway S. and further Grade I victories probably stone to even greater honors. In the 1960s, for await her, judging by her decisive success in the GIII example, the list was headed by , Never Bend Silverbulletday S. and , while the next decade produced such as Tom Rolfe, Buckpasser, , Raja APPEALING ZOPHIE Baba, Roberto and Mr. Prospector. The '80s maintained Intentionally this impressive strike rate, with Foolish Pleasure, In Reality My Dear Girl Seattle Slew, Alydar, Danzig, Fappiano and Crafty Valid Appeal Moslem Chief Prospector among the champions. Desert Trial Since then, though, fewer of the top freshman sires Successful Scotch Verdict Appeal Northern Prospect have gone on to make a major impact, notable Fortunate Propsect Fortunate Bid exceptions being Silver Deputy, Seeking the Gold, Red Successful Dancer Staff Writer Ransom and Distorted Humor. In view of this trendB- Debonair Dancer and the tendency for today's breeders to desert young In the Bag Roberto stallions after their first or second seasonsB-it was fair Silver Hawk Gris Vitesse to wonder whether Successful Appeal could maintain Hawkster the type of results which brought him the 2004 title. Chieftain Zophie Strait Lane Level Sands Of course Successful Appeal had done outstandingly 32 starts, 5 wins well to take the title. Having never won at the Grade I Bold Reasoning 4Fls, 1 GSW Seattle Slew level, this son of Valid Appeal had retired to Walmac Sodeo Sodeo My Charmer Unraced South in Ocala at a fee of only $5,000 in 2001. From a 6Fls, 1 SW Melody Tree High Tribute book of less than 80 mares, he ended up with 43 15Fls, 1GISW Forest Song first-crop live foals. Caulfield cont.

www.coolmore.com With this third crop numbering 40 named foals, Clearly Hawkster could provide Appealing Zophie Successful Appeal has had only 118 representatives so with some staying power. far, but his 2007 crop of juveniles is his largest so far, Appealing Zophie cost $105,000 as a yearling and with more than 60 foals. Everyone needs to remember $150,000 as a two-year-old. Her second dam, the that this crop was also conceived at a fee of only Seattle Slew mare Sodeo Sodeo, never raced, but she $6,000, but it achieved a yearling average of over was a three-parts-sister to the Florida Derby winner $65,000, with a top price of $250,000. Needless to Croeso and she also had three grandparents in common say, there was even more interest in the weanlings with the Grade I winner Slewpy. Sodeo Sodeo is also from his first Kentucky crop, sired at a fee of $25,000. the dam of Yankee Mon, a stakes winner over 1 1/16 They averaged more than four times that fee. The only miles. shame is that this crop numbers only 50 foals, because While Appealing Zophie has a distinguished third dam Successful Appeal's 2005 season was brought to a in Melody Tree, she is still a good example of premature end by a colic attack in late-April. Thirty of Successful Appeal's rare ability to upgrade his mares. the 113 mares booked to him hadn't been covered by His Average Earnings Index stood at 2.47 to the end of that stage, but he covered more than 100 mares last 2006, even though his mares had a Comparable Index year. of only 1.38, which surely bodes very well for his When I last wrote about Successful Appeal in this Kentucky crops. column, his first runners still hadn't been tested at three. I commented that "for him to really take off at his new base, breeders will want to see him sire important winners around two turns." I'm pleased to say that he has since shown himself capable of siring a wide variety of performers. Closing Argument, despite being out of a daughter of Mr. Greeley, stayed a mile and a quarter well enough to finish an excellent second to in the ; Accountforthegold took the GIII Stuyvesant H. over a mile and an eighth; and Successful Affair collected a pair of stakes victories at around a mile and a half at the end of last year. Although three of Successful Appeal's four Grade II victories were gained at around six furlongs at two, three and four, he stayed a mile well, as he showed with his victory in the GII Withers S., and he turned in a couple of respectable efforts over 1 1/16 miles. Although speed at up to a mile is likely to be his progeny's main asset, there is every chance that he will continue to sire the occasional two-turn performer. His sire, the accomplished Valid Appeal, won the GII Dwyer H. over 1 1/8 miles before siring several Grade I winners over the same distance. And his dam Successful Dancer has a pedigree which features inbreeding to two Kentucky Derby winners--3x3 to the 1965 winner and 4x3 to Northern Dancer. This inbreeding helps explain why this daughter of the speedy Fortunate Prospect gained five of her seven wins over dirt routes, and why her brother Suave Prospect stayed well enough to run to a nose in the Florida Derby. If Appealing Zophie has overcome the headstrong tendencies she sometimes showed at two, she too must have good prospects of staying a mile and an eighth. She is out of a daughter of Hawkster, something she shares with 2005's champion three-year-old colt Afleet Alex. Hawkster is clearly doing much better as a broodmare sire than he did as a sire. A Grade I winner over a mile and a half on turf, Hawkster managed to sire only four stakes winners among his first 234 foals. His runners in Britain included Benatom, who ran creditably over two and a half miles on the flat, and Ocean Hawk, a smart steeplechaser who won at up to three and a quarter miles.