Descendants of pensioned champion sire A.P. Indy were to the fore in North American stakes races last Saturday.
A.P. Indy male line descendants won nine stakes races and collected all three graded races run in the USA on the day.
His grandson Tapit was the principal party responsible for Saturday’s success, being sire of Saturday’s graded stakes winners Enforceable (Gr3 Lecomte Stakes) and Silver Dust (Gr3 Louisiana Stakes).
Tapit (Pulpit – Tap Your Heels)
Sarah Whitelaw writes that the Gainesway Farm resident was also responsible for Saturday’s Wayward Lass Stakes winner Jehozacat. The latter out of a multiple Gr1 winning half-sister to outstanding sire Kitten’s Joy, Jehozacat must rate as a hugely valuable broodmare prospect!
Triple US champion sire Tapit is also broodmare sire of Saturday’s Silverbulletday Stakes winner Finite (Munnings), while his Gr3 winning son Bandbox is the sire of the same day’s Geisha Stakes winner Artful Splatter.
In winning the Silverbulletday Stakes, Finite beat Tapit’s daughter Ursula into second place, thus denying Tapit a notable feature race four-timer.
Jubilee
Other A.P. Indy horses to win stakes races on Saturday were Gr1 E. P Taylor Stakes winner, and dual Canadian champion Starship Jubilee, who won the Sunshine Millions Filly And Mare Turf Stakes, as well as Gr1 Hopeful Stakes winner Mind Control, who landed the Gr3 Toboggan Stakes.
Starship Jubilee was sired by A.P. Indy’s multiple stakes winning son Indy Wind, while Mind Control was sired by A.P. Indy’s Travers Stakes winning grandson Stay Thirsty (by Bernardini).
Stay Thirsty also enjoyed a feature race double on Saturday with his gelded son Alwaysmining landing the Jennings Stakes on the same day. Bernardini sire sons enjoyed a good day on Saturday, with the sire’s multiple Gr1 winning son To Honor And Serve responsible for Fire Plug Stakes winner Honor The Fleet.
Bernardini
Like his sire, Bernardini has become an excellent broodmare sire, and is already damsire of the Gr1 winners Mo Town (Uncle Mo), Catholic Boy (More Than Ready), Serengeti Empress (Alternation), Wicked Whisper (Liam’s Map), Maxfield (Street Sense), Angel Of Truth (Animal Kingdom) and Dunbar Road (Quality Road).
Fast
Yet another from the A.P. Indy male line to impress on Saturday was Fashionably Fast (by Lucky Pulpit) who made it five wins in a row when he claimed the California Cup Sprint Stakes at Santa Anita Park.
A.P. Indy, champion sire in North America in both 2003 and 2006, remains the primary source for the once powerful Bold Ruler male line.
Seattle Slew’s outstanding son left behind 156 stakes winners, and has become a highly successful sire of sires and an outstanding broodmare sire. A.P. Indy is also damsire of the unbeaten Khozan –whose son Liam’s Lucky Charm won the Pasco Stakes on Saturday.
Inbreeding to A.P. Indy is also becoming a noted factor in pedigrees, and this pattern has already produced graded stakes winners like American Anthem (Bodemeister), Coal Front (Stay Thirsty), and Once On Whiskey (Bodemeister).
The ‘A.P’ influence is seen to good effect on the North American Sires Lists –Tapit finishing third on last year’s US general sires list, while Tapit sons Constitution and Tapiture finished second and fifth respectively on the Leading First-Crop Sires List.
There were no fewer than 7 A.P. Indy male line descendants on the top 20 of the 2019 Leading US First-Crop Sires List.
The A.P. Indy sired Florida Derby winner Take Charge Indy, who was recently repatriated to North America, ended 2019 as the Leading Third-Crop Sire (by stakes) with his progeny banking more than $6.1 million last year.
Already sire of top US stallions Bernardini, Flatter, Malibu Moon and the ill-fated Pulpit, A.P. Indy has another potentially successful sire son to his name in the form of champion Honor Code (a half-brother to Cape stallion Noble Tune), while the sire’s Belmont Stakes runner up Commissioner, whose first crop are now three, is responsible for recent Gr3 Kitten’s Joy Stakes winner Island Commish.
On Tap
Tapit in particular looks set to ensure the ongoing success of the A.P. Indy male line, with the multiple champion sire already responsible for Gr1 producing sires Concord Point, Flashback and Tapizar, while his Belmont Stakes winning son Tonalist, who is from the same female line as A.P. Indy, is also showing signs of promise as a sire. Frosted, one of Tapit’s best sons, will be represented by his first runners this year.
The sire of 25 Gr1 winners, Tapit enjoyed another tremendous year in 2019, with the son of Pulpit responsible for 26 black type winners including 13 individual graded stakes winners.
He ended 2019 with more stakes winners for the year than champion sire Into Mischief, as well as the likes of such star sires as Curlin, Giant’s Causeway, Quality Road, Kitten’s Joy and Candy Ride, and Tapit appears to be headed for another tremendous year in 2020. Tapit’s tally of stakes winners now stands at more than 130.
This male line’s success, however, has by and large, been limited to North America, with A.P Indy’s sire sons having enjoyed mixed success elsewhere.
