Thoroughbred breeding suffered a sad loss with the sudden demise of Scat Daddy this morning. One of Kentucky's most popular sires, the Ashford Stud stallion bred 217 mares in 2015 and was expected to draw another large book in 2016 after cracking the top 10 on the 2015 American general sire list with 30 stakes winners and over US$9.5 million in progeny earnings. He will also be missed in Chile, where he was champion sire in 2013/14 and has seven Group 1 winners of 2015 including El Derby winner Il Campione and Las Oaks heroine Wapi.
A handsome, good-bodied son of 2001 American and European champion 2-year-old male Johannesburg and the unraced Mr. Prospector mare Love Style, Scat Daddy himself was a high-class racehorse, winning the Champagne Stakes (USA-G1) at 2 and the Florida Derby (USA-G1) at 3. He got his stud career off with a bang as he led the 2011 American freshman sire list and was third on that year's juvenile sire list. Since then, he has consistently been among the best young sires in the country, finishing a close second to Hard Spun on the 2012 American second-crop sire list and fourth on the 2013 American third-crop sire list. To date, Scat Daddy has sired 38 Northern Hemisphere stakes winners and another 31 Southern Hemisphere stakes winners, and 42 of his stakes winners have scored at graded/Group level.
Scat Daddy's greatest attraction as a stallion was versatility; he could get European speedsters, intermediate-distance North American dirt runners and South American horses capable of getting classic distances. In this, his stud career appears to reflect that of Mr. Prospector, to whom he was inbred 4x2. Nonetheless, his greatest strength has been throwing good juveniles, a hallmark of the Storm Cat male line in general. This year, Scat Daddy set a new North American record by number of juvenile stakes winners with nine, headed by Frizette Stakes (USA-G1) winner Nickname. And the horse whose record he broke? Storm Cat, of course.
In light of Scat Daddy's too-early departure, this latest embellishment of an already strong stud record has to be bittersweet to his connections. Nonetheless, it may not be the last note in his career as he will have three more crops come to the races. We can hope that their members will provide a suitable coda to a song cut off too soon.
A handsome, good-bodied son of 2001 American and European champion 2-year-old male Johannesburg and the unraced Mr. Prospector mare Love Style, Scat Daddy himself was a high-class racehorse, winning the Champagne Stakes (USA-G1) at 2 and the Florida Derby (USA-G1) at 3. He got his stud career off with a bang as he led the 2011 American freshman sire list and was third on that year's juvenile sire list. Since then, he has consistently been among the best young sires in the country, finishing a close second to Hard Spun on the 2012 American second-crop sire list and fourth on the 2013 American third-crop sire list. To date, Scat Daddy has sired 38 Northern Hemisphere stakes winners and another 31 Southern Hemisphere stakes winners, and 42 of his stakes winners have scored at graded/Group level.
Scat Daddy's greatest attraction as a stallion was versatility; he could get European speedsters, intermediate-distance North American dirt runners and South American horses capable of getting classic distances. In this, his stud career appears to reflect that of Mr. Prospector, to whom he was inbred 4x2. Nonetheless, his greatest strength has been throwing good juveniles, a hallmark of the Storm Cat male line in general. This year, Scat Daddy set a new North American record by number of juvenile stakes winners with nine, headed by Frizette Stakes (USA-G1) winner Nickname. And the horse whose record he broke? Storm Cat, of course.
In light of Scat Daddy's too-early departure, this latest embellishment of an already strong stud record has to be bittersweet to his connections. Nonetheless, it may not be the last note in his career as he will have three more crops come to the races. We can hope that their members will provide a suitable coda to a song cut off too soon.
RSS Feed