WHAT a purchase Lemon Pop was in 2018 when, as a foal, he cost Paca Paca Farm’s Harry Sweeney $70,000 at Keeneland.

Bred by Ollie Tait, the now six-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid (Kingmambo) heads to stud having won 13 of his 16 starts in Japan for Godolphin, finished second three times, and the only occasion on which he was out of the frame was on his sole trip abroad, to the UAE. Along the way he has also won more than £4.6 million.

Starting favourite, Lemon Pop won out in a tight finish to this year’s Group 1 Champions Cup and is the first horse to defend the title since Transcend in 2010 and 2011, when the race was run as the Japan Cup Dirt. Ranked the best runner on dirt last year in Japan, when his wins included the one-mile Group 1 February Stakes. Lemon Pop has now retired from racing and will stand at Darley’s Japan Stallion Complex next year.

This year, at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, Powerstown Stud failed to sell a two-year-old half-brother to Lemon Pop by Maclean’s Music (Distorted Humor) at €340,000. He had cost $310,000 as a yearling. The colt, like his half-brother has a stallion’s pedigree, being closely related to the influential Danehill (Danzig). He is a half-brother to four winners.

Unreachable

Their dam Unreachable (Giant’s Causeway) was bred and raced by Juddmonte, and made two starts from Dermot Weld’s yard. Last of six on her debut, she was fourth in a Wexford maiden and did not run again, instead being sold for 165,000gns. She had no shortage of appeal on pedigree.

She is a daughter of the US Grade 3 winner Harpia (Danzig), and she is a full-sister to another Grade 3 winner in Shibboleth, the Grade 2 winner Eagle Eyed, and, most significantly, the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner, champion sire and breed-maker, Danehill (Danzig).

Danehill was purchased from Juddmonte by Coolmore Stud and Arrowfield in Australia, and down under he became the greatest influence on the breeding and racing industry. He was also the horse who, in many ways, spearheaded the notion of shuttle stallions. Today, he is ever present in the families of the world’s best racehorses.

Not This Time

It was a big weekend in the USA for Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway), who will stand next season at Taylor Made Farms for $175,000, a new high.

A Grade 3 winner and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up, he began his career at just $15,000, and had one year as low as $12,500, but when his first crop hit the track running, he has quickly jumped up the price ladder, going from $45,000 in 2022 to $135,000 the following year. No wonder, given that he sired five Grade 1 winners in his first three crops. That tally now stands at seven, thanks to Sacred Wish’s win last weekend in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes.

Bred in Kentucky by John R Penn, Sacred Wish was unraced at two. She won a stakes race at three when her placed efforts included a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks. That was her only time in the frame in a Grade 1 until last weekend, and her fourth career victory, alongside nine placings, boosted her winnings to $985,000. She has more than repaid the mere $50,000 investment made in her as a breezer, given that she realised $80,000 as a foal.

Indeed, her dam Indian Wish (Indian Charlie) was sold carrying Sacred Wish for $22,000. Her seventh produce is a yearling, and her first six have all run, five winning and the other being placed. Sacred Wish is her only stakes performer. Indian Wish actually raced in England, starting 17 times and being placed on four occasions – for three different trainers! She went from a $150,000 foal to selling for £2,000 at Ascot at four.

Sister Girl Blues

While Indian Wish failed to win, 11 of her siblings did, the best of which was Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes winner Mint Lane (Maria’s Mon), and Sister Girl Blues (Hold For Gold). The last-named filly won twice, not at stakes level, but she was good enough to run second in the Grade 1 Vanity Handicap. At stud, Sister Girl Blues is dam of the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby runner-up Firing Line. Two unraced siblings to Indian Wish have done what she did, and bred a Grade 1 winner.

Remembered (Sky Mesa) warrants the first mention as her son Bowies Hero (Artie Schiller) notched up eight successes, including the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes and Grade 1 Frank E Kilroe Mile Stakes. No prizes for guessing what his best racing distance was! So Sharp (Saint Liam) meanwhile is dam of Sharp Azteca (Freud), and while he gained a single Grade 1 win in the Cigar Mile Handicap, he was three times second at the highest level.

City Of Light (Quality Road) stands at Lane’s End Farm and his fee for next season has been fixed at $35,000. That is unchanged from this year, but down from the two previous seasons when he covered at $60,000. This is in spite of the fact that his second crop is headed by the 2023 champion juvenile and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Fierceness who went on to smash the opposition with a more than 13-length romp in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. He added the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and was runner-up in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Formidable Man

That second crop also includes Formidable Man, and he has just added the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby to previous successes there in the Grade 2 Del Mar Dery and the Listed Oceanside Stakes. He has now won half of his 10 starts and been runner-up twice. Fierceness and Formidable Man are among a dozen stakes winners in the first three crops of racing age for City Of Light.

Never out of the frame in his 11 career starts, having been unraced at two, City Of Light won his final starts, and gained his sixth win, and earned $4 million for his triumph in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes. This came after he annexed the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Grade 1 Triple Bend Stakes and Grade 1 Malibu Stakes.

On the dam side, Formidable Man has a solid pedigree. He is easily the best of four runners and winners from Fanticola (Silent Name). She won Santa Anita’s Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes and she was placed many times in stakes company at the same venue, notably finishing second in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes. Fanticola was also the best of four winning offspring of her dam, the stakes-placed Catalina Cat (Tabasco Cat).

Formidable Man was purchased from his breeders, Twon & Country Horse Farms, for $375,000 as a yearling by his trainer, Michael McCarthy, and he also handled the career of City Of Light.