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.
She was also the sale topping broodmare prospect at Fasig-Tipton November, 2013, when she sold for $3.1 million to Shadai Farm, in Japan. As a freshman sire, Majestic Warrior ranked fourth, but had more winners, 30, than any other freshman sire. But in 2014, he fell to seventh on the third crop sire list, and in 2015, he fell again, to 47th on the general sires list, with only $4.9 million in progeny earnings. Was Princess of Sylmar a fluke, never to be repeated?
The thoroughbred business may be worse than Hollywood in its “what have you done for me lately” mindset. In the fall of 2015, very quietly, without even a press release, Majestic Warrior was sent from Ashford Stud to East Stud in Japan, sold to the same farm that the previous year had purchased leading freshman sire Dunkirk from Ashford. Search for Majestic Warrior on the internet, and all you’ll find are a few Tweets and questions on obscure thoroughbred chat websites, asking the question, “where is Majestic Warrior? What’s happened to him?”
Majestic Warrior wins the 2007 G1 Hopeful Stakes at SaratogaThe business model at Ashford/Coolmore would seem to be one that demands the very best. The culling of such young studs as Dunkirk and Majestic Warrior so early in their careers suggests that, for a stallion starting out, if they’re not performing well, they will be sold on. With all their resources, and all their brilliantly bred race horses running all over the world, Ashford can afford to take this approach. After all, they’ve now added American Pharoah to their stallion roster, and Uncle Mo shows no sign of slowing down. Mistakes are made, however. The case of Empire Maker, whose progeny started running like crazy shortly after he was sold to Japan, illustrates this, and he has now returned to Kentucky to stand at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm. Fans of Majestic Warrior can hope to see him again, though, as of right now, his progeny have vanished from the racing radar.