![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/American-Pharoah-300x208.jpg\")
Was there really ever any doubt as to who would be the leading freshman sire of 2019? American Pharoah was always the stand-out among the first crop sires. The surprise is that he\u2019s turned out to be a great turf sire.<\/p>\r\nWas there really ever any doubt as to who would be the leading freshman sire of 2019? American Pharoah was always the stand-out among the first crop sires. The surprise is that he\u2019s turned out to be a great turf sire.<\/p>\r\n
At Future Stars Friday, the first day of Breeders\u2019 Cup festivities, American Pharoah was the champion sire, with Four Wheel Drive winning the Juvenile Turf Sprint-G2, and Another Miracle finishing third, and Sweet Melania finishing third in the Juvenile Fillies Turf-G1. American Pharoah\u2019s first crop has now earned $2,316,893, with 20 winners out of 53 runners, led, of course, by Four Wheel Drive ($692,500). Remember, American Pharoah never ran on grass, and of course won the Triple Crown and the Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic-G1, North America\u2019s signature dirt races. The mysteries of genetics are profound.<\/p>\r\n
Examining the pedigrees of American Pharoah\u2019s three Breeders\u2019 Cup graded stakes juveniles, a startling similarity appears. Four Wheel Drive is inbred 6 x 5 x 7 x 6 to Northern Dancer, through a variety of sons and daughters, and 5 x 6 to Hail to Reason, through Halo and Stop the Music, giving him a powerful coupling of Almahmoud\u2019s two influential daughters, Natalma and Cosmah. But it\u2019s his second dam, Fleuron, who brings the turf mastery to Four Wheel Drive. She is by Juddmonte\u2019s Distant View (by Mr. Prospector, making this colt 6 x 4 x 5 inbred to that important stallion), whose dam Seven Springs, was by Irish River, one of the great turf influences of all time.<\/p>\r\n
His grandsire, Never Bend, remains a powerful influence in European pedigrees today, and Fleuron\u2019s granddam provides another dose of Never Bend, as well as Vaguely Noble. There\u2019s also Zilzal, by Nureyev (one of Northern Dancer\u2019s best grass sires) by the Le Fabuleux mare French Charmer, adding to the grass ability. The two doses of Hail to Reason, by Turn-to, reach out to the Klairon in Irish River, as they are closely related. All of these significant turf genetic markers reach out to the North American grit and speed of Fappiano and Storm Cat in the sire line (as well as inbreeding to Buckpasser, 6 x 6 x 6), to create this monster turf sprinter.<\/p>\r\n
Another Miracle and Sweet Melania feature similar pedigrees; it\u2019s rare that good nicks for a first-year stallion become so apparent so rapidly. Another Miracle is inbred 6 x 5 x 6 to Northern Dancer, and adds powerful inbreeding to Secretariat (6 x 5), with another cross to his dam Somethingroyal through Sir Ivor. The touch of Damascus, through Bailjumper in Another Miracle\u2019s broodmare sire Medaglia d\u2019Oro, echoes a similar dose in Sweet Melania, through Private Account.<\/p>\r\n
Sweet Melania has, arguably, the best pedigree of the three. She is inbred 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 x 6 (!) to Buckpasser, 6 x 6 x 6 x 4 to Northern Dancer, 6 x 4 to Mr. Prospector, and 6 x 6 x 5 to Secretariat, not to mention that her tail female family is that of A.P. Indy, through the Alydar mare Lassie\u2019s Lady. Lassie\u2019s Lady also brings My Babu to the mix, complementing the Damascus in Private Account. This pedigree is a testament to the theory that there is no such animal as too much of a good thing. Expect great things from this filly in her three-year-old year.<\/p>\r\n
Honorable mention must also be awarded to another freshman sire: Palace Malice, whose son, Structor, won the Juvenile Turf-G1 in impressive fashion, placing his sire securely in third on the freshman sires\u2019 list. Structor\u2019s pedigree is marked by inbreeding to Deputy Minister on the zigzag, a trend we see more and more of, especially when one of the doses if through Dehere, who is out of a Secretariat mare. Dehere, much like Fappiano, seems to have begun his own, important line separate from his sire\u2019s. There is also significant inbreeding to Turn-to, and those all-important doses of Natalma and Cosmah, through Northern Dancer and Halo. Trainer Chad Brown declared, in a post-race interview, that he intends to try this impressive colt on the dirt for his three-year-old campaign, placing him squarely on the Kentucky Derby trail, especially after the bewildering longshot, Storm the Court (Court Vision), won the Juvenile-G1, when Dennis\u2019s Moment and Eight Rings failed to come through, and Maxfield scratched.<\/p>\r\n
It would seem Coolmore American knew what it was doing when it announced all of its stud fees except American Pharoah\u2019s, which was designated TBD\u2014to be determined. Though it\u2019s been private this year, the rumor was that it stood at $100,000. We can guarantee that it will rise for 2020, and rightly so. North American racing would seem to have a new, magnificent turf sire, one who might bring turf racing in this country to new prominence.<\/p>\r\n
— Roberta Smoodin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/American-Pharoah-e1572990836435-150x150.jpg\")
Was there really ever any doubt as to who would be the leading freshman sire of 2019? American Pharoah was always the stand-out among the first crop sires. The surprise is that he\u2019s turned out to be a great turf sire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bloodstock","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoroughbredpeople.com\/blogUS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}