The evergreen veteran sire More Than Ready was responsible for a sixth individual Breeders’ Cup winner last weekend when his brilliant daughter Uni won the Gr1 TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita last Saturday to become her outstanding sire’s sixth individual Breeders’ Cup winner.
The Southern Halo son’s progeny have now won seven Breeders’ Cup races with his son Roy H capturing two Sprints on two occasions.
Uni wins Breeders Cup Mile
Sarah Whitelaw writes that by comparison, the world’s premier sire Galileo has five Breeders’ Cup winners to his name, as does multiple US champion Tapit, and the weekend’s result is another feather in the cap of a truly remarkable stallion.
Ever Ready
More Than Ready’s previous Breeders Cup winners were Roy H (Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint –twice), Pluck (Gr2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf), More Real (Gr2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies), Rushing Fall (Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf), and Regally Ready (Gr2 Turf Sprint).
An increasingly successful broodmare sire whose daughters are going from strength to strength, More Than Ready is also broodmare sire of a pair of 2019 Breeders’ Cup winners in the form of Structor (Gr1 BC Juvenile Turf) and Four Wheel Drive (Gr2 BC Juvenile Turf Sprint).
The Vinery veteran is also damsire of the weekend’s group/graded stakes winners Samizdat (Gr3 Asian Beau Stakes) and Sally’s Curlin (Gr2 Chilukki Stakes).
Interestingly, while Sally’s Curlin, as her name suggests, is a daughter of Curlin, Structor was sired by Curlin’s classic winning son Palace Malice.
2008 Dubai World Cup – Curlin (photo: Dubai Racing Club)
More Than Ready went close to enjoying yet more high-profile success on Saturday when top class 3yo Bivouac (out of the More Than Ready mare Dazzler) ran second, beaten half a length, in the Gr1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington. The talented Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) already has five black type wins to his name including a victory in the Gr1 De Bortoli Golden Rose this year.
Bivouac joins the likes of Structor, Samizdat, Sally’s Curlin, Always Shopping, Exhilarates, Regal Glory, Dark Choice, and Four Wheel Drive (a first Breeders’ Cup winner for American Pharoah) among ten graded or group winners produced by daughters of More Than Ready in 2019 thus far.
Teddy Bares It
The in-form sire, second to subsequent champion South African sire Trippi (End Sweep) in the 2000 Gr1 Vosburgh Stakes, is one of a lengthy list of important and influential stallions descended in female line from the mighty mare La Troienne (Teddy).
Other notable sires descended from the legendary mare include Buckpasser, Caerleon, Private Account, The Axe II and Bimelech.
More Than Ready’s broodmare sire Woodman (a ¾ brother to South Africa’s successful but short-lived sire Secret Prospector) is another influential stallion to trace back in female line to La Troienne.
In recent times, the likes of Flatter (A.P. Indy), Sky Mesa (Pulpit), Mineshaft (A.P. Indy), Easing Along (Storm Cat), and Bernstein (Storm Cat) are other La Troienne descendants who have enjoyed success at the top level.
More Than Ready
More Than Ready is also on the verge of reaching another notable milestone in his remarkably consistent career, with the twenty-two-year-old’s current total of stakes winners standing at 198.
He has enjoyed notable success once again this year, with his tally of 13 lack type winners including not only Uni, but also Gr1 Just A Game Stakes winner Rushing Fall, Gr2 Miss Grillo Stakes winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf contender Selflessly, and fellow graded/group winners Roy H and Catholic Boy.
Top Level
Uni and Rushing Fall are two of More Than Ready’s 24 Gr1 winners, with this list not only including six individual Breeders’ Cup winners, but also a pair of Golden Slipper winners, Travers Stakes winner Catholic Boy, Haskell Invitational hero Verrazano, and former South African champion Entisaar.
No fewer than eight of his Gr1 winners were produced by mares sired either by Danehill or one of Danehill’s sons.
The sire’s increasingly successful South African based son Gimmethegreenlight kept his male line in focus in this country over the weekend with his son Barahin landing the Gr2 Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile at Turffontein on Saturday.
Barahin, a colt from the same female line as influential stallions (and father and son) Fappiano and Quiet American, claimed his third graded victory, and fifth from only ten starts, with a facile Charity Mile win.
Barahin also provided Gimmethegreenlight with a second graded race winner from as many weekends, with the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate winner also sire of the previous weekend’s Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship winner Third Runway.
Third Runway wins Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship
South Africa’s Leading First Crop Sire of 2015/16, Gimmethegreenlight – unlike a number of other previous leading first crop sires – has built on his early success, and he looks set to go from strength to strength with what looks like another big season ahead for him.
Gimmethegreenlight has been responsible for 20 stakes winners, with his stellar first crop producing no fewer than an impressive 14 black type horses, headed by Gr1 winner Gunner and four other graded stakes winners
His second crop includes six stakes winners, including exported Gr1 Daily News 2000 winner Surcharge (now racing as Yulong Prince), while Gimmethegreenlight’s third crop is currently responsible for three stakes winners headed by top-class graded stakes winners Barahin and National Park.
