TWO of the recent Grade 1 winning two-year-olds in the USA, Gaming and Chancer McPatrick, provided hugely significant victories for their respective sires, Game Winner (Candy Ride) and McKinzie (Street Sense).

Both colts are from the first crop by their sires, and both are their sole stakes winners to date. Indeed, Gaming is one of just a pair of winners in the first crop of his Lane’s End-based sire, and was a much-needed boost as the stallion’s two winners come from no fewer than 30 runners at the time of writing.

Given that Game Winner was the champion juvenile colt in the USA after his win in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, it was to be expected that his first runners would make their mark early.

Game Winner’s unbeaten first season on the track also saw him land the 2018 Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, and it was this race that Gaming won on just his second start at the weekend.

Such was Game Winner’s dominance of the juvenile scene in the USA that, after winning a maiden special at Del Mar, all of his other starts that year were at Grade 1 level, and his other success at that level came in the American Pharoah Stakes.

Four more outings at three for Game Winner were not as lucrative, though he won a Grade 3 and was runner-up in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, and beaten a nose by Omaha Beach in the Rebel Stakes. Retired to stud at a fee of $30,000, that price dropped this year, his first with runners, to $20,000, and you feel that Game Winner will need a few more quality runners, in spite of having a Grade 1-winning son, to prevent a further fall.

Victory for Gaming is a huge boost for his yearling full-brother, due to sell this coming Wednesday at Keeneland. It is somewhat indicative of the direction that the yearling’s current family was going that the colt is Lot 3051, one of the later lots in the sale. Mind you, having realised just $40,000 as a yearling last year at Keeneland, Gaming obviously impressed at the breeze-up sale in Ocala this year, and his value soared to $250,000. That value has just multiplied.

Irish connection

There is an Irish connection to Gaming, as he is the best of the three successful offspring to date from So Stylish, a daughter of Johannesburg (Hennessy). She won first time out for Aidan O’Brien in a maiden at Navan, and then ran third in the Listed Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh. Two more starts, at three, saw So Stylish disappoint hugely, finishing last on each occasion. Gaming is her seventh foal, all of which have run.

So Stylish had obvious appeal to the Coolmore team, being a half-sister to One Cool Cat (Storm Cat). He was a dual Group 1 winner at two, capturing both the Phoenix Stakes and National Stakes, and the following year he placed in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. Hopes for him at stud were not fulfilled, and One Cool Cat eventually found his way to stand in South Korea after a few seasons at Coolmore.

Most generations of this female line seem to produce a high-class runner or two. Gaming’s third dam Savannah Dancer (Northern Dancer) placed at Grade 1 level in the USA, but her biggest win was in the Grade 2 Del Mar Oaks in 1985, and this was a number of years before it was upgraded to Grade 1 status. Savannah Dancer came very close to breeding a Group 1 winner, as her daughter Sha Tin (Mr Prospector) was second in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas.

Family tradition

Though she failed to even win, Sha Tin’s full-sister Omaga (Mr Prospector) played her part in keeping up the family tradition of getting a top-level runner, as her best produce was Aragorn (Giant’s Causeway), winner of both the Grade 1 Eddie Read Handicap and Grade 1 Showmaker Breeders’ Cup Mile Stakes. However, like his relation One Cool Cat, he made little impact as a sire.

Savannah Dancer was one of a number of smart runners bred by the dual classic winner Valoris (Tiziano). Trained by Vincent O’Brien for Sir Charles Clore, Valoris was a maiden when she lined up for the 1966 Irish 1000 Guineas, and despite not being the stable’s first choice, she won the classic.

Lester Piggott, somewhat controversially at the time, was in the saddle when the filly lined up at Epsom for the Oaks, and she doubled her haul of victories. Two more starts, in the Irish Oaks and Prix Vermeille, proved disappointing, and she retired to stud.

Valoris can be considered a success as a producer, and yet unlucky. She had four offspring who placed at Group or Grade 1 level.

In addition to Savannah Dancer, her Group 2 winner Valinsky (Nijinsky) was second in the Grand Prix de Paris, stakes winner Val’s Girl (Sir Ivor) was second in the Oaks at Epsom, while Vincennes (Vieux Manoir) was runner-up in the Irish Oaks. So near, yet so far.

McKinzie delivers at the highest level

CHANCER McPatrick bears one or two similarities with Gaming, a fellow Grade 1 winner very recently at two in the USA.

In addition to being from the first crop of their respective sires, Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie) is another who was a profitable breezer. Having sold as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton for $260,000, he resold at Ocala for a handsome $725,000. As with Gaming, he is now unbeaten in two starts, annexing the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.

I am not sure whether it was a result of this Grade 1 victory, or for another reason, but Chancer McPatrick’s yearling half-brother by Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) failed to appear at the Keeneland Sale this week. Given that two of their dam’s three previous offspring had sold well, another for $320,000, he would have been expected to bring a tidy sum.

I mention that two sold well previously. The third, Split Decision (Daredevil), won at three and has been placed this year at the age of five, but she cost just $20,000 as a yearling. She is surely now a very attractive breeding prospect, being a half-sister to a Grade 1 winner. Future plans for her will be watched with interest, and I have no doubt that sales companies will be pitching for an opportunity to catalogue her later in the year.

Chancer McPatrick is one of seven individual winners in the first crop of McKinzie (Street Sense). Unbeaten in a pair of juvenile outings, notably winning the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity over a mile and half a furlong, McKinzie added the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby and Grade 1 Malibu Stakes to his tally at three, and these races were run over nine and seven furlongs respectively.

At four, McKinzie beat Yoshida and Vino Rosso to win the $1 million Grade 1 Whitney Stakes, while the latter got the better of him in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. In fact, it was something of a frustrating year for McKinzie, as he won just two of his seven starts, and was second on all the other occasions, four times in Grade 1 contests. The decision to race him again at five was unrewarding, yielding a single win at Grade 2 level in four starts.

Unchanged

McKinzie went to stud at Gainesway, where he remains, and his fee has been unchanged since his retirement at $30,000. Last year he had a remarkable 120 yearlings sell for an average of nearly $150,000 – five times his covering fee.

Chancer McPatrick is a son of the $40,000 yearling purchase Bernadreamy, a daughter of Bernardini (A P Indy). A winner at three, Bernadreamy is one of five winners, none of whom have won or placed at stakes level, out of Dream Empress (Bernstein). The latter was a very smart two-year-old and won the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes, following up with a second-placed finish to the brilliant Stardom Bound in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Bernadreamy s the second daughter of Dream Empress to breed a stakes winner. Her closely-related sibling Bubbles And Babies (A P Indy) is the dam of the multiple stakes winner Fireball Baby (Noble’s Promise). Dream Empress is one of eight winners from Chinese Empress (Nijinsky), and it is surprising that none of her siblings got any blacktype. A five-time winner, Chinese Empress won a stakes race at Gulfstream Park.

Changes dramatically

While stakes winners are scarce in the first three removes of Chancer McPatrick’s female line, that changes dramatically under his fourth dam, the unraced and horribly-named Execution (The Axe II). Three of her seven winners achieved success at stakes class, while she is the grandam of 11 stakes winners. The highest level all but one of those 14 was successful at was Grade 2.

Possible Mate (King’s Bishop) can lay claim to being the best of Execution’s offspring. She was a talented runner, her 14 victories including eight at stakes level. A course record holder and dual Grade 2 winner, Possible Mate is the dam of three blacktype winners, and her daughter Fairy Garden (Lyphard) was also a course record holder at Saratoga, and a dual Grade 2 winner.

Numerically, Execution’s placed daughter Homewrecker (Buckaroo) can claim to be a better broodmare than Possible Mate, given that she is responsible for five stakes winners, and her son Prenup (Smarten) won the Grade 1 Jerome Handicap. While Prenup is the only one mentioned here, there are more Group and Grade 1 winners descending from Execution, and a tally of all the stakes winners, just on the flat, that can trace back to Execution currently stands at 42, and counting.

Flay’s recipe for success

BOBBY Flay must have very mixed feelings about Tenma’s success in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes. The daughter of Nyquist (Uncle Mo) will be a leading contender for the title of best juvenile filly at the year end.

Celebrity chef and a hugely successful breeder and owner, Flay is listed as the breeder of the filly, now unbeaten in both her starts, and on Thursday this week he offered Tenma’s half-brother by Munnings (Speightstown) at Keeneland, but did not sell. The worst part for Flay was that he disposed of their dam, the unraced Amagansett (Tapit), for $400,000 last year at Fasig-Tipton, getting less than half of what she had cost him as a yearling in 2018. Amagansett was not in foal last year and headed after her purchase to Japan.

This is a family that is well-known in Ireland, and Tenma is the seventh Group/Grade 1 winner in the first four generations. Her dam’s high value as a yearling is down to the fact that she was a filly by one of the top sires in the USA, and out of a stakes winner and group-placed daughter of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells). That mare is Twirl, winner of the Listed Hurry Harriet Stakes at Gowran Park and runner-up in both the Group 3 Musidora Stakes at York and the Group 3 Lodge Park EBF Park Express Stakes at the Curragh.

With a single winner, and two daughters who are winner producers, Twirl has been a disappointment at stud, but as the grandam of a Grade 1 winner she has finally made a significant contribution to the family’s success story. Twirl is a full-sister to two Group 1 winners, both champions, and they are Misty For Me (Galileo) and Ballydoyle.

Misty For Me won three Group 1 races with Seamie Heffernan in the saddle, the Moyglare Stud Stakes, the Irish 1000 Guineas and the Pretty Polly Stakes, while Johnny Murtagh had the leg up when she won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac. Her placed efforts included finishing third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. At stud, Misty for Me has been no less impressive, and when Greenfinch (Justify) won a listed contest at Killarney recently, she became the fourth stakes winner for her dam.

Roly Poly

Greenfinch has some was to go if she is to be considered in anything like the league of her siblings, the best known of the stakes winners being Roly Poly (Wear Front) and U S Navy Flag (War Front). The first-named filly won three Group 1 races, the Falmouth Stakes, Sun Chariot Stakes and the Prix Rothschild, and was classic-placed. At two, U S Navy Flag was rated the best in Europe, winning the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes and Middle Park Stakes, and at three he added the Group 1 July Cup.

Ballydoyle (Galileo) also won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and was runner-up in the Group 1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, and in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at two. She has two stakes-winning daughters, the better of the pair being Red Riding Hood (Justify), a Group 3 winner last year.

The dam of Misty For Me, Ballydoyle and Twirl was the unraced Storm Cat (Storm Bird) mare Butterfly Cove, a full-sister to Group 3 winner Kamarinskaya, and a half-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Fasliyev (Nureyev). Exceptional at two when he was champion of Europe, Fasliyev won the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes, Group 1 Prix Morny, and the then Group 3 Coventry Stakes.

Butterfly Cove’s winning full-sister Empress Of France (Storm Cat) is the grandam of last year’s Grade 1 New York Stakes winner Marketsegmentation (American Pharoah), and this year’s French stakes winner Waldora (Waldgeist).

Highest ever

What a year this is proving to be for Darley’s Nyquist, and it is odds-on that his fee in 2024, the highest ever at $85,000, will go into six-figure territory next season. Tenma became his second Grade 1 winner within a week, following the success of fellow juvenile filly Immersive in the Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga the previous Sunday. Tenma was purchased by her connections for $850,000 at the 2024 OBS April Two-Year-Old Sale, and she was a profitable yearling purchase for $200,000.

Tenma is her sire’s fourth Grade 1 winner this year, joining Randomized (Ogden Phipps Stakes and previously the Alabama Stakes), Johannes (Shoemaker Mile) and Immersive on the 2024 roll of honour. To date, Nyquist has sired seven Grade 1 winners including Vequist (champion at two and won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Spinaway Stakes), Gretzky The Great (Summer Stakes), and Slow Down Andy (Awesome Again Stakes).

The champion at two in the USA when he won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, Grade 1 Frontrunner Stakes and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, at three Nyquist added the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Florida Derby.