Category Archives: Bloodstock

Remember Majestic Warrior? A beautifully bred, precocious, grade one winning son of A.P. Indy, out of the millionaire, multiple grade one winning daughter of Seeking the Gold, Dream Supreme, he was the leading sophomore sire of 2013, thanks in part to his fantastic first crop daughter, Princess of Sylmar. She swept the Coaching Club American Oaks-G1, the Kentucky Oaks-G1 (defeating Beholder) and the Beldame Invitational S.-G1 (defeating Royal Delta), earning over $1.6 million.

Unless you’re standing a horse with instant name recognition and a high profile career (think American Pharoah or Honor Code), getting mares booked to a freshman sire can be a daunting proposition. As lower end horses sell worse and worse at auction, while competition for the few mares, two year olds, yearlings and weanlings who are in foal to or by the hottest horses (think Tapit and War Front) and who tick all the boxes in terms of physical perfection heats up, stud farms must bring more and more creativity to their marketing of young stallions.

I fell in love with Honor Code the first time I saw him race. Such a handsome horse, both masculine and elegant, with that magnificent head and eye, and that determined running style. And of course that pedigree—as if the gods of racing designed utter perfection, both on the page and in the flesh.