Captain Lover’s first foal
Top-class South African filly, Captain’s Lover, recently gave birth to her first foal. The filly foal was sired by Pulpit, one of North America’s leading sires, and an increasing successful sire of sires.
Captain’s Lover (Captain Al), not only won the G1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas of her year, but the Team Valor owned filly also became the first South African bred to capture a group race in France, when she won the Prix du Pin in 2008. Captain’s Lover is a half-sister to this season’s Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas winner Ebony Flyer (Jet Master), who is being aimed at a Durban campaign.
Pulpit, who stands at Claiborne Farm, has sired over 50 stakes winners to date, and stands for a fee of $50,000 (R330 000) . One of A P Indy’s finest sire sons, Pulpit has sired the likes of G1 winners Sky Mesa, Stroll, Ice Box, as well as the outstanding young sire Tapit. He has also sired a number of top-class fillies including Rutherienne (Del Mar Oaks), Mi Sueno (Debutante S) and Mini Sermon (Top Flight Hcp).
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Sires for surfaces?
One of the great myths in racing is that certain stallions’ sire horses best suited to either grass or dirt. The problem with this belief is that if one stallion has one high-class runner who runs a bad race on dirt, then that particular sire is said to be a poor sire of dirt runners. This results in relatively few (if any) offspring of that sire (ie Sadler’s Wells don’t run on dirt – how many have raced on the surface?),
One stallion who has unfairly been tagged as a dirt stallion, is the great Storm Cat. Whilst he is certainly capable of siring high-class dirt gallopers, Storm Cat, to date, has been represented by a number of G1 winning turf horses. Of Storm Cat’s 34 individual G1 winners to date, no fewer than 12 have won G1 races on the turf. This means that nearly half of Storm Cat’s best performers have excelled on the turf – hardly the mark of a sire incapable of siring high-class grass performers!
It is also worth noting the ongoing success that sons of Storm Cat are enjoying as sires of high-class grass performers. Hennessy’s best son, Johannesburg, excelled on the grass- winning . Another Storm Cat horse, Tale of the Cat, is the sire of champion US grass horse, Gio Ponti. Giant’s Causeway has enjoyed great success with his European runners – they number the likes of classic winners Footstepsinthesand and Shamardal (the latter now making a name for himself as a top sire in Europe and Australia).
Storm Cat provides a great example of how easy it’s to make sweeping judgements about a stallion, which may not show the whole picture.
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A.P.Indy – an end of an era
With the recent announcement of champion sire, A P Indy, being pensioned from stud duty, it is a good time to look back at the achievements of this remarkable horse. After being sold for a sales topping $3.9 million as a yearling, A P Indy went on to fame and glory as a racehorse, winning eight of his 11 starts, including the G1 Belmont Stakes and G1 Breeders Cup Classic . He was named Horse of the Year in 1992 and is surely one of the most successful (and biggest bargains) sales toppers of all time. He is without question, not only the finest sire son of the legendary Seattle Slew, but also the main hope for the continued success of the once dominant Bold Ruler male line.
Retired to stud in 1993, A P Indy’s first crops hit the track in 1996. He was only fourth on the first crop sires list that year, but his first crop included no fewer than 13 stakes winners (from just 45 foals!), one of which was G2 winner and subsequent leading sire Pulpit. From there, A P Indy’s stud career really took off.
Twice champion sire in the US (in 2003 and 2006), A P Indy to date has sired 135 stakes winners, of which are G1 winners. To date, A P Indy has been represented by 10 official champions. His success has, however, largely been limited to North American shores, although a son, Festival of Light, is a former UAE Horse of the Year. A P Indy has been represented by 26 individual g1 winners, and whilst the majority of his G1 success has been on dirt, he is the sire of G1 winners on turf, such as Telling, and Just As Well.
A P Indy’s influence, however, looks to continue for many years to come. He is a very promising broodmare sire, with his daughters having produced 63 stakes winners to date, including such luminaries as Super Saver (Kentucky Derby), Wait A While (Champion 3yo filly), Any Given Saturday (Haskell Invitational G1) and recent G1 Carter Hcp winner Morning Line. A P Indy is also the broodmare sire of former Kentucky Derby runner up Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat), second leading first crop sire in the US in 2010.
It is as a sire of sires that A P Indy promises to be truly dominant. Last year, his sons, Congrats and Bernardini, finished 1-3 on the US first crop sires list. Both stallions have produced a pair of G1 winners in their first crop, and both look to be outstanding future sires. Bernardini is also the sire of Saturday’s G1 Wood Memorial runner up Arthur’s Tale, and five other graded winners in his first crop of 3yos.
Currently, there are three direct descendants of A P Indy in the top ten on the US general sires list. A P Indy’s sire sons, Pulpit and Malibu Moon, have both enjoyed phenomenal success. Pulpit himself is the sire of world-class sire, Tapit. The latter has produced no fewer than six G1 winners in his first three crops, and is also the sire of the very promising 3yo filly Joyful Victory – winner of Sunday’s G2 Fantasy Stakes by seven lengths.
The one time winner, Malibu Moon, has proven one of the US’ most exciting stallions, and his fee has risen to $60,000(from an original fee of just $3,000). He was represented by three G1 winners last year, and to date has sired six G1 winners, including champion 2yo gelding Declan’s Moon.
Another A P Indy sire in the news is former US Horse of the Year, Mineshaft. The latter is sire of leading Kentucky Derby hopeful Dialed In, a recent winner of the G1 Florida Derby.
Camden Park, the first sire son of A P Indy to stand in South Africa, left a mark on the stud book, despite dying prematurely. Sire of record earner Jay Peg, Camden Park is also sire of recent G1 Classic winner, English Garden, as well as former champion 2yo filly, Consensual.
Whilst the retirement of A P Indy certainly marks the end of the era, it would appear that the once powerful Bold Ruler male line may make a revival yet with the likes of Pulpit, Mineshaft, Tapit and Bernardini representing it.
