Bill's Columns

Street Cry really jumped the tracks as a dirt racehorse by Machiavellian out of Helen Street, by Troy – surely an all-grass pedigree. But no: Street Cry ran 12 times in his career, all on fast dirt tracks, won five, including the 2002 G1 Dubai World Cup and G1 Stephen Foster, as a 4-year-old, was second six times, and was third once, in the 2000 G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, to Macho Uno and Point Given. Timeform rated him 130 in Racehorses of 2002, and he ran Beyers of 118-119 in his final two starts, when winning the Stephen Foster and running second to the ill-fated Left Bank.

As a sire, Street Cry made an astonishing start, his first crop (2004) including Zenyatta and Street Sense, the first horse to win the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile – G1 Kentucky Derby double. In fact in his first three Kentucky crops, Street Cry sired 13.82% A Runners/named foals (the top five sires in the world sire 10% A Runners/named foals), and 5.28% G1/G2 winners (4% is world top five). However he had more A Runners (34) and G1G2 winners (13) in his first three crops than in his subsequent nine Northern Hemisphere crops (33 and 11 respectively) combined, in which he sired 3.54% A Runners and 1.28% G1G2 winners. He also sired nine crops in Australia, of which Winx came from his sixth Australian crop. If we add it all up together, from 1,877 foals in 21 crops, Street Cry sired 136 A Runners (7.24% of named foals) and 45 G1G2 winners (2.40%), including two of the greatest racemares of all time, Zenyatta and Winx, and Street Sense. The latter has a big chance to extend Street Cry’s sire line through the top prospect McKinzie, headed to stud in 2021, and the very promising 3-year-old Maxfield. But another strand of Street Cry has unexpectedly appeared in the form of New Year’s Day, sire of 2019 Champion 3-year-old and 2020 Saudi Cup winner Maximum Security.

Ben Glass bought New Year’s Day, from Street Cry’s eighth US crop, for $425,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September sale. Trained by Baffert, he broke his maiden over a mile on the synthetic at Del Mar in his second start, then sprang a 10-1 surprise to win the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, over Havana and Strong Mandate, in just his third start. But an untimely injury cut short his racing career, and he went to stud at Hill ‘n’ Dale, for a $12,500 fee, as a 3-year-old in 2014. He did have 168 foals in his first three crops, but his 2018 and 2019 crops contained just 18 and 17 foals respectively, and he was unceremoniously – and understandably – shipped off to Brazil in late 2018. Once Maximum Security came along Japan’s Shadai Farm came and swooped, and North America’s leading fourth-crop sire by cumulative progeny earnings is standing the 2020 season at Shadai Farm in Japan.

Through no fault of his own Maximum Security has become a hugely controversial horse, but for the moment he is the earner of $11.8-million, propelling his sire, New Year’s Day, to clear leadership among 2020 North American fourth-crop sires, who stand or stood in North America. Yes, it is true that New Year’s Day would be pushed to make the top 20 without Maximum Security, and yes, this is reflected by his very average APEX A Runner Index of 0.80. But, flawed as he may be, the records still show Maximum Security as the winner as of the Kentucky Derby, the Eclipse Award, and the Saudi Cup as of now.

New Year’s Day isn’t the only top F2015 sire now standing in Japan, in fact fully four of the top ten (originally) North American F2015 sires now stand there, though New Year’s Day is the only one at Shadai. The others are #4-ranked Declaration of War; #6 Shanghai Bobby; and #10 Animal Kingdom. The first two covered their first Japanese crops in 2019; Animal Kingdom in 2020. Plus, of course, #3-ranked Take Charge Indy just returned from South Korea for 2020, and #11-ranked Overanalyze has now gone to Korea.

It is in fact one of those sold to Japan, Declaration of War, who has emerged as this sire crop’s best sire of black-type horses. He stood his first season at Coolmore in Ireland in 2014, then transferred to Ashford in Kentucky, and was sold to stand in Japan late in 2018. But his first three crops have resulted in 21 Black-Type Winners, including 10 Group winners, and two Group 1 winners, Olmedo and Decorated Invader, and a total of 33 Black-Type Horses, 17 Group Horses, and five Group 1 horses; in all six categories he is the top F2015 North American sire. Decorated Invader, winner of the G1 Summer S. at Woodbine last year and of the Cutler Bay S. at Gulfstream in his 2020 debut, is one of 12 black-type horses so far from Declaration of War’s 2017 crop. For good measure, from two Australian crops he had the G1 Melbourne Cup and G1 Victoria Derby winners last November.

Shanghai Bobby, also exported by Coolmore to Japan, and Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Violence are tied for second by number of black-type winners, with 14 each. WinStar’s pair of Take Charge Indy, repatriated from Korea, and the leading fourth-crop sire in 2020, Paynter, have 12 BTW each; Spendthrift’s Jimmy Creed (11) is the only other sire with 10 or more BTW. Jimmy Creed and Animal Kingdom, another exported to Japan, have four GSW each, though they are distant seconds to Declaration of War’s 10; New Year’s Day, Violence, and Take Charge Indy have three GSW each. Violence is second to Declaration of War’s 17 with 12 Graded Stakes Horses; Animal Kingdom (10), Jimmy Creed (9), and Shanghai Bobby (8) come next. Declaration of War is the only North American F2015 sire with more than one G1W; seven sires have one each.

F2016 SIRES

The North American sire crop with first foals 2016, first 4-year-olds 2020, is still in formation, especially with the restricted opportunities so far this year, but the top three with cumulative progeny earnings over $7-million are all showing positive signs. Spendthrift’s Goldencents, sire of three-time G2 winner By My Standards and four-time G3 winner Mr. Money in his first crop, is the money leader, and along with Airdrie’s Cairo Prince (second in cumulative progeny earnings), Spendthrift’s Cross Traffic, and WinStar’s Fed Biz, is tied for the lead by number of Black-Type Winners, with seven each. Third by cumulative earnings is Adena Springs’ Mucho Macho Man, sire of 2020 G1 Pegasus winner Mucho Gusto.

Goldencents is the narrow leader by number of Black-Type Horses, with 17, followed by Fed Biz (16), Cross Traffic (15), and Cairo Prince (14). Goldencents and Cairo Prince have three GSW each, Mucho Macho Man and Lane’s End’s Noble Mission two each. Cairo Prince is the sire crop leader with six Graded Stakes Horses; Three Chimneys’ Will Take Charge is second, with five. Mucho Macho Man, Cross Traffic, and Pennsylvania’s Diamond B Farm’s Flashback have sired Grade I winners, the latter two 2018 and 2019 G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Eclipse Award winner Jaywalk and British Idiom, respectively.

For more articles by Bill Oppenheim, APEX ratings, and Brianne Stanley’s Worldwide Sales Ticker, please visit www.billoppenheim.com. Twitter @billoppenheim