Andrew Caulfield, September 6, 2011-Weemissfrankie Two other stallions who lived past their 30th PEDIGREE INSIGHTS birthdays were Hail To Reason=s sons Halo and B Y A N D R E W C A U L F I E L D Mr. Leader. Halo, the champion sire of 1983 and 1989, lived to be 31 and Mr. Leader did even better, reaching DEL MAR DEBUTANTE S.-GI, $250,000, DMR, 9-3, the age of 33. Indeed Halo was fully 27 years old when 2yo, f, 7f (AWT), 1:23 1/5, ft. the last of his graded winners, David Copperfield, was 1--#@WEEMISSFRANKIE, 118, f, 2, by Sunriver conceived. Several of Halo=s stallion sons achieved 1st Dam: Starinthemeadow, by Meadowlake highly respectable ages, with Southern Halo, Devil=s Bag 2nd Dam: Lite a Star, by Our Michael and Sunny=s Halo living to be 26, 24 and 23. 3rd Dam: Twist a Star, by Twist the Axe Unfortunately, Halo=s most important sons in the ($40,000 yrl '10 OBSAUG; $175,000 2yo ‘11 OBSAPR). O-Sharon Northern Hemisphere didn=t share this longevity, with Alesia, Bran Jam Stables, Ciaglia Racing LLC & Rob Sunday Silence dying at 16 and Saint Ballado at 13. Dyrdek; B-Hidden Point Farm Inc (NY); T-Peter Last weekend provided further reason for regretting that Eurton; J-Rafael Bejarano; $150,000. Lifetime these two sons of Halo didn=t enjoy the luxury of a Record: 2-2-0-0, $187,800. *First SW for freshman longer life. The two group races for juveniles in Japan fell to youngsters by Sunday Silence s sons Daiwa Major sire (by Saint Ballado). Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the = and Admire Max. His champion miler Daiwa Major now eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the brisnet.com chart, heads the sires of 2-year-old table following the G3 the brisnet.com PPs or the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. success of his first-crop daughter Epice Arome. Video, sponsored by Taylor Made. Of course, Daiwa Major isn=t the only son of Sunday Thanks to the likes of Northern Dancer and Mr. Silence grabbing attention with his first runners, as Prospector--both of whom lived to 29--it is tempting to Walmac Farm=s Hat Trick--another champion miler-- think that a very long life is the rule, rather than the appears to have a possible future champion in the shape exception, for today=s stallions. Those expectations are of his unbeaten G1 Prix Morny hero Dabirsim. Saint bolstered by some of Northern Dancer=s most prominent Ballado did even better, cropping up as the grandsire of stallion sons, such as Sadler=s Wells, Danzig, Lyphard, two of Saturday=s Grade I winners, thanks to Havre de Vice Regent, Storm Bird, Be My Guest, Night Shift, Grace=s win over males in the Woodward H. and Northern Taste and Dixieland Band all achieving veteran Weemissfrankie=s win in the Del Mar Debutante. status, with Lyphard leading the way by living to 36. Caulfield cont. I have told Saint Ballado=s story often enough in this Sunriver covered 90 mares in his first season, for 63 column, but it bears repeating in these circumstances. foals, and 81 mares for 49 foals in his second. Without a Grade I win on his resume, this brother to Weemissfrankie, now unbeaten in two starts, belongs to Devil=s Bag and Glorious Song spent his first five that first crop. Sunriver wasn=t the likeliest candidate to seasons in Florida, at fees as low as $2,500. However, sire a precocious Grade I-winning 2-year-old, as this 1 those Florida crops yielded performers of the quality of 1/2-mile performer won only a maiden race from two Captain Bodgit, Yankee Victor, Sister Act, Flame juvenile starts, and Saint Ballado ran only once at two Thrower and Straight Man. With his family=s reputation years. Remember, though, that Saint Ballado was a being further enhanced by Glorious Song=s sons Rahy brother to a champion 2-year-old in Devil=s Bag. and Singspiel, Saint Ballado was soon on his way to Sunriver, for his part, was a brother to Ashado, who Kentucky, where his fee at Taylor Made rose as high as scored three times at Grade I or Grade II levels before $125,000. His final career figures were 70 stakes finishing second in the GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Fillies. winners from around 700 foals, with his Kentucky crops There are also several other precocious types in the producing Horse of the Year Saint Liam and top mare bottom half of Weemissfrankie=s pedigree, not least her Ashado, who cost Sheikh Mohammed $9 million at the broodmare sire Meadowlake. Despite standing 17 hands end of a racing career which featured seven Grade I in maturity, Meadowlake earned an Experimental Free victories. Handicap rating of 122 after winning a maiden race by Of course Saint Liam is the sire of Havre de Grace, 22 lengths and the GI Arlington-Washington Futurity by and it was Sunriver, a Grade I-winning brother to nearly nine lengths. Meadowlake=s small first crop Ashado, who is responsible for Weemissfrankie. produced Meadow Star, the champion juvenile filly of Unfortunately the tale of woe continues, as Saint Liam 1990, and he went on to sire winners of the lived only long enough to stand one season at Lane=s Champagne S. (Greenwood Lake), Matron S. (Meadow End. The 2005 GI Breeders= Cup Classic winner suffered Breeze) and Frizette S. (Sutra). More recently, a devastating hind-leg fracture in a fall in August 2006. Meadowlake has featured as the broodmare sire of In other words, he died at the age of six, four years Henny Hughes, another stallion who got into the after his sire. weekend juvenile action, thanks to She Digs Me=s Sunriver was similarly unlucky. He died from a success in the GIII Sapling S. suspected heart attack or aneurysm three years after Weemissfrankie=s dam--unraced Starinthemeadow--is Saint Liam, in August 2009, having spent just two a half-sister to dual 2-year-old stakes winner Program seasons at Empire Stud at Hudson, New York. Sunriver Pick, who also has a Grade I-winning 2-year-old filly to had become the youngest of three graded-winning her credit. This was the Storm Creek filly Stormy Pick, siblings when he won the GI Hollywood Turf Cup over 1 winner of the Spinaway S. in 2000. 1/2 miles as a 4-year-old. He had scored at Grade II Our Michael, the sire of Weemissfrankie=s second dam level on dirt the previous year, when he also filled third Lite a Star, was also at his most successful at two, place behind Jazil and Bluegrass Cat in the GI Belmont when he gained five of his eight stakes successes. S. Saint Liam=s legacy was 98 foals, of which six have become stakes winners. His other graded winners are Buddy=s Saint, who was officially ranked the fourth-best 2-year-old male of 2009, following his Grade II wins in the Nashua and Remsen S., and the Grade III winner Liam=s Dream. Hail to Reason Halo Cosmah Saint Ballado Herbager Ballade Miss Swapsco Sunriver Northern Dancer Mari’s Book Mari Her Goulash Blushing Groom (Fr) Wise Bride Wising Up Speak John Hold Your Peace Blue Moon Meadowlake Raise a Native Suspicious Native Starinthemeadow Be Suspicious unraced Bolero 7Fls, 1GSW Lite a Star Our Michael SP, 12-3-2-3 Our Tribe 17Fls, 1SW Twist a Star Twist the Axe 1SP 6Fls, 1SW, 2SP My Second Star .