Here's hoping Arrogate leaves his mark on the breed

Nancy Sexton takes a look at Arrogate's first two-year-old prospects.

Taken from Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, 28th March 2021, by Nancy Sexton:

Four years ago, we saw one of the most spectacular performances in the Dubai World Cup, when Arrogate produced a spectacular come-from-behind effort to overhaul Gun Runner. Sadly, the Juddmonte Farms colt died last year, having produced just two crops. Here Nancy Sexton looks at the prospects for his first two-year-olds, who are due to emerge on the racetrack later this season.

As the sun set on the 2018 breeding season at Juddmonte Farms’ Kentucky division, the operation could bask in the satisfaction of having successfully launched the stallion career of one of the most iconic American racehorses in living memory.

Arrogate, the richest North American racehorse of all time, had brought Juddmonte Farm’s Kentucky stallion arm back to the forefront of the American scene. He had been a rare yearling purchase by Prince Khalid Abdullah’s operation, and, despite initially requiring patience from connections, had risen through the ranks with such ease for Bob Baffert that by the end of his three-year-old season, he was evoking comparisons with some of the sport’s past greats.

The catalyst had been a near 14-length victory in the Gr.1 Travers Stakes, in which he stopped the clock in 1.59.36 - the fastest ever 1m2f run at Saratoga. From there, he claimed the scalp of California Chrome to win the Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Classic and landed another big payday in the Gr.1 Pegasus World Cup before travelling to Dubai, where he overcame a desperate start to win the Gr.1 Dubai World Cup.

Arrogate wasn’t at his best upon his return to America, when the highlight of three subsequent runs was a placed effort in the Gr.1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar. But that didn’t detract from an overall brilliance of a career that had netted over $17.4 million in earnings and enthralled the sport in the process.

The crops left behind
Breeders keen to tap into American racing greatness responded by nominating some of their best mares to Arrogate when he retired at a fee of $75,000. Juddmonte allocated a proportion of its own band, some of whom had been sourced specifically for the job. The end result was a first book that consisted of 63 Graded stakes winners or producers, including 30 at Gr.1 level.

Here was a horse poised to underpin Juddmonte’s Kentucky future for the foreseeable future and beyond. But, as stock people are reminded on a regular basis, life is fragile and fate determined that Juddmonte would be robbed of its champion only three seasons into his stud career. In June last year, Arrogate succumbed to an illness that had left him unable to stand. Left behind was a crop of around 110 yearlings and another of 115 foals.

As the breeze-up season gets into full swing and with the early season two-year-old races just around the corner, this should have been a time of excitement for Arrogate’s supporters. Instead, any notable landmark as his runners take to the track over the next few months will be tinged with sadness - and with a group of such well-connected representatives to run for him, he naturally possesses a real chance of developing into a successful stallion and perhaps even becoming the one capable of extending the legacy of his sire Unbridled’s Song, hitherto a disappointing sire of sires.

Juddmonte itself has 22 juveniles by Arrogate - ten colts and 12 fillies - with which to go to war with this year. The colts include Levanter, a three-parts brother to champion Close Hatches (a daughter of First Defence, an earlier Juddmonte-based son of Unbridled’s Song), Artorius, a colt out of two-time Gr.1 winner Paulassilverlining, and Calloway Peak, a son of the Gr.2 winner and Gr.1-placed Filimbi. Among the fillies is Mount Ararat, a half-sister to Gr.1 winner Emollient and the Classic-placed Hofburg.

They complement a collection of Arrogate youngsters bred by outside interests that include those out of the brilliant Songbird (a filly) and Kentucky Oaks heroine Plum Pretty (a colt), both of whom were bred by Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm.

The Cleary family’s Clearsky Farm, which bred Arrogate out of the Distorted Humor mare Bubbler, are appropriately the breeders of a filly out of Gr.1 winner Justwhistledixie, whose earlier foals include Gr.1 winner and successful sire New Year’s Day alongside Gr.2 winner Mohaymen. Another breeder of significance, John and Leslie Malone’s Bridlewood Farm, bred an Arrogate half-sister to multiple Gr.1 winner Iotapa out of its mare Concinnous.

G Watts Humphrey also has a filly, named Preempt, out of his homebred Gr.1 winner Centre Court while Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable has a filly named By The Gate out of her homebred Gr.1 winner By The Moon.

Wide variety of mares
Bonne Chance Farm sent its Gr.1 producer Lucas Street, the dam of Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint heroine Wavell Avenue (herself the dam of top Japanese two-year-old Grenadier Guards), and were rewarded with a filly who made $460,000 to agent Mike Ryan at last year’s Keeneland September Sale.

Arrogate’s top-priced yearling was a half-brother to Gr.1 winner Weep No More, who was sold by breeder Hinkle Farms for $750,000 at Keeneland to Yugi Hasegawa; now named Poison Arrow, he is in training in Japan.

The half-siblings to Gr.1 winners Whitmore (colt named Arrogates Spirit), Ria Antonia (colt named Barzzley), Wicked Strong (filly named Gate Closure) and Force The Pass (colt named Affable Monarch) are also among Arrogate’s loaded first crop.

“In year one we were focused on getting him a wide variety of mares,” explains Leif Aaron, nominations manager of Juddmonte Farms in Kentucky. “The theory was that maybe we would be able to see what worked best with him. There were also times when Dr Chandler [President of Juddmonte Farms] would remind me that many breeders knew their mares better than I ever would, so to listen to them.

“We ended up with five Eclipse Award-winning breeders using Arrogate in year one.”

He adds: "The biggest stand out to me is that almost all the Arrogate foals have a similar demeanour. I think in humans the term we use is ‘Type A’. They are active, always ready to go on to the next thing and somewhat impatient. Physically, most have very good bone.

“I think at this point it is fair to say that a lot of them resemble his broodmare sire Distorted Humor, which is very encouraging considering how potent his genes have been in recent years.”

Although the Juddmonte name is synonymous with success in Europe, its Arrogate two-year-olds are due to remain in the U.S., as befits the profile of their sire. However, the idea of campaigning a handful in Europe has not been entirely ‘ruled out for the future’, said Aaron. Even so, Europe is set to gain a fleeting sight of Arrogate’s progeny, notably in the form of Arrogan, a colt bred by Haras de Colleville’s Guy Pariente out of the Gr.3-placed Kenriya who is in training with Adrien Fouassier in France.

The Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale in mid-April also offers an opportunity to tap into the line via Lot 11, a colt out of Coaching Club American Oaks winner Funny Moon offered by Star Bloodstock. Working in tandem with Byron Rogers, Star pinhooked the youngster for $100,000 out of last year’s Keeneland September Sale.

“We were looking for an Arrogate,” recalls Star Bloodstock’s Matt Eves of the colt, who is a half-brother to four winners including the highly tried This Tea. "While he’s not generally the physical profile we look for, being a tall, elegant, middle-distance type, we’d had success with American Pharoah the year before and so he was a stallion that myself and Byron Rogers thought might fit if we found the right type to suit.

“We got lucky to find this lad and get him bought as he was a Book 4 horse that fell through the cracks a little. While he’s out of a mare that got 1m2f, he’s built more like a sprinter-miler with plenty of depth and strength to him, and he’s got that loose European walk also.

“He did a very good bit of work for us [last] week at the Curragh, enough to indicate he’s well above average in ability.”

Eye-catching group
More immediately, attention turns to the octet catalogued to the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale in Florida on 31st March.

As to be expected, they are an eye-catching group that includes a half-brother to Gr.1-winning 2yo Mani Bhavan (lot 5; from White Lilac), a filly out of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine She Be Wild (19; from Sequel Bloodstock), a half-brother to Gr.2 winner Neck ’N Neck (lot 78; from SBM Training & Sales) and a half-brother to Gr.1 winner Denman’s Call (lot 158; from Wavertree Stables).

Hopes run high at Hidden Brook for the prospects of their filly out of Mahkama. A half-sister to Dubai listed winner Yulong Warrior, the grey is catalogued to sell at Fasig-Tipton as lot 159.

“This filly has trained like a good horse from day one,” says Mark Roberts of Hidden Brook’s Florida division. “Physically she is powerful, well-made filly. She should show herself very well both on and off the track. I am very excited about her.”

Susan Montanye of SBM Training & Sales is also high on her colt, recently tweeting, “It’s really a shame this sire passed away - I think they’re runners. He’s the only one I have and boy is he special.”

Chances are we will not see the best of Arrogate’s progeny until later in the year and beyond as they grow into their frames. But through sheer brilliance, management and support, he must possess an excellent chance of leaving behind a print of some significance on the breed. Let’s hope that proves to be the case.