Posts Tagged ‘sky mesa’

By Ray Paulick
In the sale ring, on the racetrack and in the breeding shed, A.P. Indy has been a star. The son of Seattle Slew topped the 1990 Keeneland July yearling sale when he sold for $2.9 million. He was the champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year in 1992, his victories including the Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic. He’s been leading sire in North America on two occasions—2003 and 2006—and he has sired the winners of 10 or more Graded/Group stakes races in eight of the 14 years he’s had runners on the track.

Furthermore, A.P. Indy has developed into a leading sire of sires, with eight sons ranking in the top 100 on bloodhorse.com’s leading sires by North American earnings for 2009. One of those sons, Pulpit, has two of his own sons on the list, Tapit and Sky Mesa. So, including A.P. Indy, his sons and his grandsons, 11 of the top 100 positions by North American earnings trace to this horse sired by a Triple Crown winner, produced from a broodmare of the year, Weekend Surprise, who is a daughter of another Triple Crown winner, Secretariat.

A.P. Indy is also the leader by number of American Graded Stakes winners of 2009, with nine sons and daughters winning 14 AGS races. His sons Pulpit and Malibu Moon rank second with seven AGS winners each. A.P. Indy has achieved this great success at stud without the benefit of super-sized foal crops. Only one of his 14 crops exceeded 100 foals, and the average size of each of his foal crops of racing age is 71. The average number of foals in each of Pulpit’s nine crops is 62, and the average for Malibu Moon’s seven crops is 79.

Perhaps less is more.

Three of A.P. Indy’s nine American Graded Stakes winners of 2009 won Grade 1 races: Flashing (Test and Gazelle), Music Note (Ballerina and Beldame) and Telling (Sword Dancer Invitational). Malibu Moon has two Grade 1-winning daughters, Funny Moon (Coaching Club American Oaks) and Devil May Care (Frizette); Pulpit sired Grade 1 winners Pyro (Forego) and Mi Sueno (Del Mar Debutante). Two other sons of A.P. Indy sired Grade 1 winners of 2009, Jump Start (Rail Trip, Hollywood Gold Cup) and Stephen Got Even (I Want Revenge, Wood Memorial).

One of his most exciting sons to enter stud is Bernardini, whose first crop turns two years old in 2010. A.P. Indy has already solidified his position as one of the most influential and important sires of the modern era, but his final chapter is yet to be written.