Trotting Sires With First Crops Racing In 2015

A few years down the line we’ll all be anticipating the sons and daughters of Father Patrick and Hambletonian winner Trixton in freshman stakes races, but 2015 holds slim pickings for those anxious to see new trotting blood in action.

The premier stallion in this group is obviously the mercurial Manofmanymissions, a son of Yankee Glide who fits into that general break or win category. MOMM, as he came to be known, was a surprise winner of the Breeders Crown at two, setting a world record of 1:53.2 and paying a generous $28.80. The handsome, perfectly constructed, blueblood commanded a $215,000 price as a yearling.

Yankee Glide is the sire of Triple Crown winner Glidemaster, Passionate Glide, Ken Warkentin, Holiday Road, Solveig, D’Orsay and Guccio. MOMM’s dam Armbro Vanquish won the ISS, Buckette and Hudson Filly Trot. Her daughter Armbro Déjà vu, is the dam of Dejarmbro, who stands in Ohio and will sell his first crop this year. He can call Manofmanymissions uncle MOMM.

Manofmanymissions began his stallion career in Ontario, where he stood for $6,000 in 2012 and 2013. He was relocated to Ohio for the 2014 season and still stands there for $5,500. He bred 128 mares in Ontario in 2012, resulting in 78 registered foals. And in 2013 he got 52 fewer mares, again in Ontario, resulting in only 43 foals. MOMM was a genuine drama queen on the track and he’s apparently continuing to keep us guessing as a stallion. The Ontario program is softer on the trotting side than comparable programs in Pennsylvania and New York, so maybe things will work out for MOMM with this first crop to hit the track.

Break The Bank K, a son of Revenue, is a trotting stallion whose output many have looked forward to. The winner of 16 of 54 starts and $1.1 million had his finest moment when he beat Lucky Chucky in the 2010 Breeders Crown at Pocono Downs in a then world record 1:52.2.

He bred nine mares in Pennsylvania, the home base of owner Robert Key, in 2012, but only three registered foals resulted from those matches. He subsequently was shifted to Midland Acres in Ohio, where things got off on the right foot, but a low sperm count issue became progressively worse. That problem was apparently resolved in short order and the farm felt he was on the road to a full recovery. He covered 80 mares in 2013, resulting in 34 registered foals. So, I guess Break The Bank’s racetrack debut as a stallion will be put off for at least another year.

The SJs Caviar stallion Triumphant Caviar is also standing in Ohio. Seventeen-year-old SJs Caviar, who was the top trotter approaching the 2000 Hambletonian, but couldn’t start because he wasn’t staked, is the sire of early season earnings leader Not Afraid and Sevruga. He has no track record as a sire of sires in NA, but nine-year-old Triumphant Caviar, the winner of 16 of 68 starts and $800,000, is a full brother to Ake Svanstedt’s Haughton winner Centurion Atm and a half- brother to Buckette and Circle City winner Prayer Session.

He stands for $3,000 and has been relatively popular. Seventy mares in 2012 turned into 41 registered foals. He drew 27 additional mares in 2013, for a total of 97, but that only resulted in 45 registered foals.

If Triumphant Caviar is going to get it done in the Ohio Sire Stakes, now is the time. Big Rigs, the Andover Hall stallion out of Filly At Bigs, will have yearlings for sale this year. And so will former world record holder Dejarmbro. And Dontyouforgetit, the Yankee Glide half to Shake It Cerry, is in his second season, as is the Cantab Hall stallion My MVP, who won the Kentucky Futurity. Stormin Normand, is also in his second season. Wishing Stone is in his second season, but his first in Ohio. Uncle Peter, the priciest trotting stallion in the state, is in his first year. So, the boys are coming for all that slots money.

Our fascination with the blueblood stallion that gave every indication of being a world beater, but never made it to the racetrack, goes back a long way in this sport. A good recent example on the trotting side is Master Glide, a full brother to the great Yankee Glide filly, Passionate Glide. Brittany supported him for several years, but last year, when he was standing for $1,000 and his prospects were as dim as ever, he was sold to a group Down Under and relocated to Christchurch, New Zealand.

Passionate Glide also plays a part in the lineage of Lionhunter, her unraced son by Muscles Yankee. He stands in Ohio for $2,500 and will see his first limited crop race in 2015. There are only 21 registered foals, the result of 35 mares being bred, in that initial offering. But all it takes is one Wiggle It Jiggleit to light up a marginal stallion. The 15 sold averaged $8,300, with a top of $28,000. On the other hand, only two Mr Wiggles yearlings from Wiggle It Jiggleit’s crop sold, for an $1,800 average.

Another Ohio based trotting stallion who comes online this year is the journeyman performer Homestretch. The eleven-year-old was sired by Valley Victory when he was seventeen-years-old and almost completely infertile. He obviously had one more in him and Homestretch is it. Another Muscles Yankee? Probably not.

There are some other interesting trotting sires bringing yearlings to market for the first time this year. Chapter Seven, the world champion who is trying to extend his short-lived sire Windsong’s Legacy, bred 112 mares in 2013, resulting in 82 registered foals. He drew 102 mares last year, and had his fee cut $1,000 to $7,500 for 2015.

Muscle Mass and Dewey relocated from Ontario to New York last year, and Crazed is back in the Empire State. This in addition to Conway Hall, Muscles Yankee, Chucky and RC Royalty. Plus, Archangel bred 43 mares in New York in 2013, before returning to the track. The 30 foals resulting from that period will also join an increasingly crowded mix.

Winning Mister and Donato’s son out of Mystical Sunshine, Power Play, will also be selling yearlings this year.

Joe FitzGerald