The continuing influence of the glorious stallion El Prado surfaced over Haskell weekend, as two of his sons, Artie Schiller and Medaglia D’Oro, sired stakes winners, Bowie’s Hero in the Eddie Read S.-G2 at Del Mar and Golden Award in the Shuvee S.-G3 at Saratoga. El Prado, a foal of 1989, died in 2009, but his sons are carrying on his legacy in a grand fashion, especially the spectacular Medaglia D’Oro, whose sales figures reflect the value of his sons and daughters on the track.

El Prado stood his entire career at the old Adena Springs, in Midway, Kentucky. A Champion Two-Year-Old in Ireland, he was raced by Robert Sangster and trained by Vincent O’Brien, but it was his stellar pedigree that set him apart and turned him into a sire of race horses and a sire of sires. By Sadler’s Wells out of the Sir Ivor mare Lady Capulet, the dams in his bloodlines are like a who’s who of great mares of the twentieth century: Almahmoud, Lalun, Rough Shod II, Somethingroyal, Gaga. As well, we see where his spectacular coloration came from: he is 5 x 5 x 4 Mahmoud, the gray horse responsible for most of the gray coloration in thoroughbred horses today, and this is on the zigzag, through two daughters, Almahmoud and Ghazni, and a son, Mr. Trouble.

Of course, he was by Sadler’s Wells, responsible for so much greatness in Irish breeding, including Galileo himself, whose own sons are now making such a splash.

Artie Schiller has disappeared from the world of thoroughbred studs, after standing at Winstar Farm and then in Australia, but he has a terrific pedigree, being out of the Majestic Light mare Hidden Light, a daughter of Tallahto. He was a useful sire, but no match for Medaglia D’Oro.

Medaglia D’Oro, standing at Darley, is a superstar. The sire of such as Rachel Alexandra, Songbird, Vancouver, Mshawish, Plum Pretty, Violence…the list goes on forever. His offspring tend to have good size and conformation, and are uniformly beautiful yearlings in the sales ring, frequently fetching million dollar bids.

So the stallion that had the best Haskell weekend? Has to be the unforgettable El Prado, who was matched only by Cozzene for sparkling white beauty and success at stud.

-- Roberta Smoodin