Any betting person would have selected American Pharoah to be the leading freshman sire of 2019, and, with progeny earnings of $2,703,916 and 27 winners, he was. But the second leading freshman sire was more than a bit of a surprise: Constitution, with as many winners as American Pharoah from a smaller foal crop, and $2,168,422 in earnings. To kick off the new year, Constitution’s unbeaten son, Independence Hall, won the Jerome S. at Aqueduct with ease, placing himself firmly on the Triple Crown trail (besting an American Pharoah colt who dead heated for second).

Though he started only eight times, Constitution earned over a million dollars and won both the Florida Derby-G1 and the Donn H.-G1. When he went to stud at Winstar Farm in 2016, in Kentucky, he commanded the stud fee of $25,000, modest compared to American Pharoah. The usual, intense inbreeding exists in his pedigree, as he is by Tapit, out of the Distorted Humor mare Baffled. He is, therefore, 4 x 5 Seattle Slew, 4 x 5 x 4 Mr. Prospector (with one of those crosses being through Fappiano), and 5 x 5 x 5 Northern Dancer, through his sons Nijinsky II, Danzig, and Storm Bird, though the latter isn’t through his best son, Storm Cat, but rather through the lesser known stallion Ocean Crest. Through Seattle Slew, Mr. Leader, and Cox’s Ridge, we see multiple doses of Turn-to, and we also see an assortment of crosses to La Troienne, through two doses of Buckpasser and two doses of The Axe II. All of the Northern Dancer and the two doses of The Axe II also builds up an impressive presence of Mahmoud.

The Constitutions hit the ground running, with Tiz the Law winning the Champagne S.-G1, Grade 3 winners Amalfi Sunrise, By Your Side, and Independence Hall, and G1 placed and much touted Gouvernour Morris, all with surprisingly different dams’ sides. The key to Independence Hall’s pedigree, however, is that his second dam, Desert Stormette, is by Storm Cat, strongly echoing the Storm Bird on the top side, while also adding a dose of Secretariat, through Storm Cat’s dam, Terlingua, which complements the Secretariat in A.P. Indy’s pedigree, through his dam, Weekend Surprise.

Add more Mr. Prospector, Buckpasser, and Seattle Slew through his broodmare sire Cape Town, not to mention the My Babu through Damascus (his third broodmare sire) reaching out to the same classic sire in A.P. Indy, and we begin to see one of those pedigrees in which the same ingredients are juggled, top and bottom, to maximum effect. It also doesn’t hurt that Desert Stormette is a full sister to Breeders Cup Sprint-G1 winner Desert Stormer; though she wasn’t the race horse her sister was, Desert Stormette was a winner with the same genetic cocktail as her speedy sister. It must be noted that this pedigree features multiple crosses to the two great Triple Crown winners of the ‘70s, Secretariat and Seattle Slew.

It should come as no surprise that Constitution will stand, in 2020, for $40,000. With Independence Hall marking New Year’s Day for his sire in the Jerome, Winstar clearly might have raised the stud fee higher and still over-filled Constitution’s book. Though Constitution isn’t that glamorous frosty gray that his sire, and other exciting young Tapit stallions such as Frosted and Mohayman, possess, the handsome bay horse may indeed be, as his farm advertises, “the son of Tapit we’ve all been waiting for.”

-- Roberta Smoodin