In North America they are three months into their 2yo racing season and the action is only just beginning to heat up.
Yet already the cream is rising with Coolmore’s US base Ashford Stud’s
2018 Horse of the Year JUSTIFY heading the first-crop sires lists in the USA.
JUSTIFY - Sire
As of Friday 29/7/22, from
13 individual starters he has sired 5 individual winners and 7 individual placegetters.
Plus, he’s the sire of
Just Cindy - the leading 2yo filly in North America.
JUST CINDY
Justify is currently the leading freshman (first crop) sire in the USA
Also he is in
Second position as the
leading overall sire of 2yos in the USA by earnings, only behind legendary Uncle Mo, with whom he’s tied in first place with SWs, one of which is Graded (from only two Graded 2yo races run so far in the USA).
Justify is safely installed as
Number One by:
(a) black-type winners,
(b) black-type wins,
(c) black-type horses, and importantly
(d) prizemoney earnings. Fellow Freshman sire Bolt d’Oro is $5,494 behind Justify, having had 17 more individual runners to date.
This is wow-factor stuff.
Whilst Justify is currently in third spot by
(e) number of winners with
5/13.
Leading this group is Sharp Azteca with
12/29 and in second spot is Bolt D’Oro with
8/30 so both the leader and second placed sires have had
16 and 17 individual runners respectively more than Justify has had to date but haven’t produced the class factor that Justify is siring.
The fact that Justify is producing quality is certainly not a surprise.
However, what is a surprise is that the quality has shown itself so soon in the careers of his juveniles.
This is remarkable for a stallion with his sizable physique and who debuted in the third week of February in his 3yo season, before ultimately retiring an
undefeated Triple Crown winner with 4 Gr1 wins from 6 starts.
Winning the Gr1 Belmont Stakes
Those variables will have been taken into consideration by Coolmore when hand-picking his first book of mares, to ensure that Justify would have a chance to impress early with his first crop, and it’s working.
On July 15th, Justify was represented by his second Group Stakes Winner when the Eddie Kenneally-trained
Just Cindy made easy work of the Gr3 Schuylerville at Saratoga. Last month in Ireland,
Statuette, who like Just Cindy is undefeated in two starts, had won the Curragh’s Gr2 Airlie Stud S. on turf for Aidan O’Brien.
Justify is one of only two freshman sires standing in the USA or Europe with at least one GSW — the other is U.K.-based Tasleet (Showcasing), who was a Listed SW and G2/G3 placed at 2 (and a multiple GSW later), has Gr2 Coventry winner Bradsell.
As at 29/7/22 from 13 starters, Justify has sired five (5) winners and seven (7) placegetters, whilst his sole (1) runner not to have finished in the first three placegetters so far did earn prizemoney when it finish 5th of 13 starters at The Curragh in Ireland.
STATUETTE
His winners include
Statuette (2/2) in Ireland, whilst in the U.S., maiden special winners at Churchill (
Just Cindy (2) and
Prove Right), at Santa Anita (
Tahoma, who was then second in a stakes race at Santa Anita in his next start), and at Ellis Park (
Justa Warrior, a five-length debut winner this past Friday).
JUST CINDY
PROVE RIGHT
TAHOMA
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JUSTA WARRIOR
Seven (7) others to hit the track have been placed. They include two runners-up at Saratoga (
Im Just Kiddin and
Rarify), and two runner-ups in quality maiden special company at Churchill Downs (
Justafever and
Just an Angel) whilst
Jordan was runner-up at Lone Star. Then in Ireland there has been a third place at the Curragh (
Unless) and two thirds at Leopardstown (
Dame Kiri and again
Unless).
One thing to take note of here is that despite this early ascendance to Group success as a sire, only one of his progeny to race was sold above the average price of Justify’s yearlings and his big-ticket sales horses have not seen racecourse action as yet.
Justify, whose initial stud fee was
$150,000, had 81 yearlings go through the yearling sales ring last year in the Northern Hemisphere, when he led his classmates by average (
$370,329) and median (
$310,000).
Of his
12 x 2yo’s to win or place to date, six are homebreds with no sales results, leaving six who have been through the auction ring. With the exception of last Sunday’s Saratoga debutant runner-up Rarify, the most expensive of the group is stakes-placed Tahoma, a $160,000 yearling.
Justa Warrior was a $150,000 yearling, Just Cindy was a $140,000 yearling passed-in, and Prove Right was a $15,000 yearling.
Justify is stallion with a yearling sales average of $370,000 that currently has the leading 2yo filly in the USA in a horse whose buy-back amount of $140,000 was $230,000 less than her sire’s average.
In fact, none of the more expensive Justify’s — not the $1.815 million Zipessa colt in Japan, nor the $1.55 million son of True Feelings (Nuclear, who recently had his first registered workout for trainer John Sadler at Santa Anita), nor the $1.1 million Fasig-Tipton March 2yo half-brother to Tapwrit, nor the yearlings that sold for $950,000, $825,000, $775,000, $750,000 (x3), $725,000, $700,000, etc. — there were 23 yearlings to sell for at least $500,000 — have started with the only exception being Rarify.
Prior to last Sunday Tahoma was Justify’s most expensive progeny to race to date, and there were 55 yearling colts and fillies that brought more than he did at auction.
It’s reasonable to assume that a number of other high-dollar Justify’s, will be unveiled at Saratoga and Del Mar this summer, and although we know that high sales prices don’t translate into certain racetrack success, it’s also reasonable to assume based on the early showing by his early starters that some of them will be very, very good.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
A few notes on the pedigree of Justify’s SW STATUETTE:
STATUETTE
Statuette, Justify’s Gr2 SW, is bred on a cross that’s been attracting some attention recently: her G1SW dam Immortal Verse is by Pivotal, who is also damsire of Statuette’s G1SW half-sister Tenebrism (by Scat Daddy son Caravaggio) and Listed SW Nymphadora (by Scat Daddy son No Nay Never), as well as being the sire of the second dam of Blackbeard (No Nay Never), who won the G2 Prix Robert Papin last Sunday.
For the Scat Daddy sons at stud as Sadler’s Wells is prominent in the pedigrees of many of these SWs.
Importantly to Dynamic Syndications who purchased three (3) JUSTIFY yearlings in Australia this season, our filly ex TINGU (FR) is exceptionally exciting because she is closely related to Gr2 Winner STATUETTE who now appears in the third Dam of her female family.
Our Filly by JUSTIFY x TINGU
TINGU (FR) a winner over 1800m in France, is a daughter of INTELLO, a Gr1 winning son of World Champion Sire GALILEO – himself the best son of SADLER’S WELLS.
So, our Justify x Tingu filly has been bred to replicate the proven SCAT DADDY x SADLER’S WELLS Cross which has an A 262% eNick, highlighted above as finding tremendous success.
It was this pedigree rating that attracted us to inspect the filly at yearling sales.
We had identified the cross has worked successfully and importantly, it works on turf so should ideally suit Australian racing.
The cross is believed to impart middle-distance stamina but the Scat Daddy line of Gr1 2yo success adds the key component of juvenile speed and this is on display with Justify’s Northern Hemisphere runners.
This speed is needed in Australian racing that has a fascination with precocious speed.
The fact that Justify can impart precocity into his progeny is very exciting.
With Justify’s deeds abroad in the first 3 months of his first crops 2yo season, its easy to understand how Ashford Farm chose not to send him back to Australia this season to stand at Coolmore Stud, as he is just considered by their team
“too valuable to risk.”
OUR JUSTIFY x TINGU Filly
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Trainers David Esutace & Ciaron Maher
Check out our Justify Filly ex Tingu (FR) being trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
