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Monday 8 aug 2022 |
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Scat Daddy’s emergence as a rich source of precocious and pacey premier-league stock, and the rush to secure his sire-line after his premature death in 2015, has been one of the major turning points in European pedigrees in the past decade. The dual Grade 1-winning son of Johannesburg had flown a little under the radar during his early years at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, to the point that his fee fell to $10,000 in his fourth covering season, from an opening mark of $30,000. It didn’t take long for Scat Daddy (pictured below) to burst onto the scene, though. First-crop son Daddy Long Legs gave a taste of what was to come by winning the Royal Lodge Stakes for Aidan O’Brien, but it was even earlier two-year-olds that soon became the sire’s stock-in-trade. Acapulco, Caravaggio, Lady Aurelia, No Nay Never and Sioux Nation all delivered victories in Royal Ascot juvenile contests, while Gossamer Wings, Murillo, Sergei Prokofiev and Take Me With You also finished placed at the meeting at two. They were, more often than not, remarkably powerful individuals who made their rivals look positively puny in comparison. Scat Daddy was no one trick pony, though, and he proved that he could sire offspring who continued improving and stayed further with the likes of American Oaks winners Daddy’s Lil Darling and Lady Of Shamrock, Secretariat Stakes hero Valid Point and – above all else, of course – Triple Crown laureate Justify. Sadly, this klondike of talent had died unexpectedly of heart failure in his paddock at Ashford Stud at the age of 11, just as he was about to serve his best book of mares for an increased fee of $100,000 that was due reward for his numerous breeding achievements. Coolmore might have been hit in the pocket by the loss, but his true value arguably lay beyond the balance sheet, as he was a priceless outcross for the operation’s countless broodmares descended from Sadler’s Wells and Danehill. They subsequently went to great lengths, and no little expense, to create a stockpile of Scat Daddy stallion sons, with the result being that their Irish roster contains two such horses, namely No Nay Never and Sioux Nation, and their US-based options include three, in Caravaggio, Justify and Mendelssohn. Scat Daddy is taking root at Coolmore, too, with No Nay Never’s sons Arizona and Ten Sovereigns having retired into their ranks.
Other studs in Europe also got in on the act. Standing elsewhere are Scat Daddy’s sons El Kabeir (at Yeomanstown), Legends Of War (March Hare), Seahenge (Haie Neuve), Sergei Prokofiev (Whitsbury Manor), Smooth Daddy (Starfield) and Van Beethoven (Grandcamp), as well as No Nay Never’s sons Armor (Bouquetot), Land Force (Highclere) and The Irish Rover (Sweep Lane). So, has that big injection of Scat Daddy blood into the European horse population been for better or worse? Only time will tell, but the early signs have been favourable. |
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No Nay Never, the bellwether for Scat Daddy’s credentials as a sire of sires, having retired in 2015, already has 74 stakes performers to his credit, led by the estimable four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free and Middle Park Stakes and July Cup victor Ten Sovereigns. Next came Caravaggio and El Kabeir, who are being represented by their first three-year-olds this season. The former is responsible for Cheveley Park Stakes and Prix Jean Prat winner Tenebrism and top miler Maljoom, while the latter has black-type scorers Don Chicco, Sa Filonzana and Masekela to his name. Reflecting the fevered demand for stallions from this line in recent years, a large number of Scat Daddy sons have debut two-year-olds on the ground – Justify, Mendelssohn, Seabhac, Seahenge, Smooth Daddy and Sioux Nation. Taking Scat Daddy’s successors at Ashford Stud first, Justify has a Pattern winner on each side of the Atlantic – Just Cindy in the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga and Statuette in the Airlie Stud Stakes at the Curragh – while Mendelsson has six winners, mainly in America. As for the European contingent, Sioux Nation has provided a regular flow of winners and has five stakes performers to his credit in Kinta, Lakota Seven, Lakota Sioux, Matilda Picotte and Sydneyarms Chelsea, while his peers and paternal half-brothers have produced a smattering of winners. Saturday’s racing action in Britain and Ireland was a fine advertisement for Scat Daddy’s dynasty. Little Big Bear became the third European Group 1 winner for No Nay Never by trouncing a strong field in the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, while Lakota Sioux struck in the Sweet Solera for Sioux Nation and Bright Diamond bolted up by nine lengths in a fillies’ maiden on debut for El Kabeir, both at Newmarket. Those results are timely not only for the stallions concerned, but also the next tranche of Scat Daddy-line sires who will have youngsters sell this year; the likes of Land Force, who has his first yearlings on the ground, and Sergei Prokofiev, who has first foals. No doubt about it, Scat Daddy’s sons appear to be an invigorating presence in pedigrees, generally transmitting considerable strength and speed that his progeny are able to wield from an early age. If he is to have an enduring influence on the breed, like other game-changing speed-orientated stallions of the new millennium such as Acclamation, Invincible Spirit and Oasis Dream, runners from his line will also have to show aptitude for the Classics, though. Like father, like son, No Nay Never has supplied two-year-old stakes winners in scatter-gun fashion, and many have stuck or reverted to sprinting at three, when they’ve trained on. To be fair to him, he has made his presence felt in the mile Classics, with the ill-fated Wichita just touched off by Kameko in the 2,000 Guineas and Alcohol Free and Ten Sovereigns running fair fifths at Newmarket. However, more in future would be welcome, expected even, from a stallion whose two-year-olds and younger progeny were conceived at six-figure fees. They should be in the pipeline, though, as we see more of the results of his liaisons with daughters of Galileo and other more Classically-bred mares. Little Big Bear, although bearing those Scat Daddy-line hallmarks of size, strength and straightforwardness, is an example of such a mating that offers hope for him staying a mile. He was bred by Camas Park Stud and Summerhill out of Prix Cleopatre winner Adventure Seeker, by Bering and a maternal granddaughter of Arc heroine All Along, who was bought for €125,000 from the Wildenstein dispersal at Goffs in 2016. |
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Heartbreak Lass, a three-year-old daughter of Cotai Glory who makes her debut in the five-furlong novice stakes at Windsor today (6.35), is appropriately named as she is the last foal of an exciting broodmare who died far too young. She was bred by Andrew Davis out of Motion Lass, a placed Motivator half-sister to Darley Stakes winner and Coronation Cup third Enforcer.
The mare, who was bought for 9,000gns when she was carrying Heartbreak Lass at the Tattersalls February Sale three years ago, produced just three offspring – the others being Norfolk, Flying Childers and Sapphire Stakes hero A’Ali, who stands at Newsells Park Stud, and the four-time scorer Slowmo – before her untimely death at the age of nine later in 2019. Heartbreak Lass was retained by Davis after she failed to meet her reserve when bidding reached £150,000 for her at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, and she is trained for him by Henry Candy. |
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