It looks like all the sales results reflected American Pharoah’s value as a stallion correctly. Today, April 13, at Naas Racecourse in Ireland, Monarch of Egypt was the Triple Crown Winner’s first starter, and his first winner. He took the opener at Naas, leading all the way, as the 9/10 favorite for trainer Aidan O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore.
Owned by Peter Brant and Mrs. John Magnier, the colt was a $750,000 purchase at the 2018 Keeneland September Sale, making him relatively low-priced in terms of the many millionaire yearlings by American Pharoah sold last year. Bred in Kentucky by Ran Jan Racing, Inc., and out of the Galileo mare Up, the five furlong contest seemed just a walk in the park for this colt with a bright future.
Finishing third was an offspring of another first crop stallion standing in Kentucky, Karakontie. In the Present, bred by Flaxman Holdings, another stellar name in the thoroughbred firmament, made a promising debut for his young and relatively unheralded sire.
— Roberta Smoodin