Posts Tagged ‘Dixie Chatter’

By Ray Paulick
It’s not the least bit surprising to see horses like Giant’s Causeway, A.P. Indy and Unbridled’s Song among the leading sires of American Graded Stakes winners, a weekly feature brought to you by Keeneland. After all, Giant’s Causeway leads all American-based sires by progeny earnings in 2009, A.P. Indy is fifth on the list and Unbridled’s Song ninth, according to bloodhorse.com.

A.P. Indy has seven AGS winners of 2009 that have won 10 graded stakes; Giant’s Causeway has six AGS winners of nine races, and Unbridled’s Song and Pulpit (16th on the general sire list) each have five AGS winners of seven graded stakes.

But right in the middle of those five sires–which had 2009 stud fees ranging from a high of $250,000 for A.P. Indy, $125,000 each for Giant’s Causeway and Unbridled’s Song and $80,000 for Pulpit—is a stallion who is priced much more affordably and is quietly having his best year at stud, as represented by his offspring on the track and the sale ring. That stallion is Dixie Union, a multiple-American Graded Stakes-winning son of Dixieland Band who stands at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky. Dixie Union has been represented by six AGS winners of 2009 that have won eight AGS races.

Dixie Union’s 2009 stud fee was $35,000, payable when foal stands and nurses.

Thoroughbred owners have taken notice of Dixie Union’s success, even though he only ranks 21st on the list of leading American sires by progeny earnings. Through the first three days of the Keeneland September yearling sale, Dixie Union has had five yearlings sell from seven offered for an average price of $235,000 and a median of $205,000. His two RNAs were bought back at $140,000 and $235,000. Those are very good numbers–even at his earlier stud fee of $50,000.

Dixie Union was a top-class racehorse at ages two and three for trainer Richard Mandella and his breeder, Herman Sarkowsky, who co-owned the colt with Gerald Ford of Diamond A Racing. At 2  in 1999 he won three AGS stakes: the Hollywood Juvenile Championship at Hollywood Park, Best Pal at Del Mar and Norfolk Stakes during the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting at Santa Anita. He finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and came out of that race with a bone chip in his knee. Dixie Union’s return was too late to make the 2000 Triple Crown races, but he won a pair of Grade 1 races at 3: the Haskell Invitational and Malibu Stakes. He retired to stud with a slight tendon injury following the Malibu.

Dixie Union’s six AGS winners of 2009 are: Justwhistledixie, winner of the Grade 2 Davona Dale and Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream Park; Dixie Chatter, winner of the Grade 2 Arcadia at Santa Anita; Bold Union, winner of the Grade 3 Endine Stakes at Delaware Park; Dixie Band, unbeaten winner of the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity; Hot Dixie Chick, a two-time Saratoga stakes winner of the Grade 2 Schuylerville and Grade 1 Spinaway; and most recently, Gone Astray, winner of the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby.

While Lane’s End has other, higher-profile stallions among its roster of 22 (most notably, Horses of the Year A.P. Indy, Mineshaft and Curlin, and leading sire Smart Strike, among others) no one at Will Farish’s successful Versailles, Ky., operation may offer better value than Dixie Union.