The Life and Legacy of Grand Slam

Grand Slam's daughter Millionreasonswhy winning The Matron-G2
Photo:  Adam Coglianese, Courtesy of NYRA

Grand Slam, a regally bred son of champion sire Gone West who demonstrated brilliance and tenacity on the track, and as a sire, passed those attributes on to his progeny, died suddenly yesterday, felled by heart failure.  The 17-year-old stallion, who has thus far sired 73 stakes winners from 11 crops of racing age, was standing at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky at the time of his death, for a published fee of $12,000. 

Grand Slam’s unexpected passing came just two days after the untimely demise of Coolmore’s world-class sire, Montjeu, a 16-year-old champion son of Chef-de-Race Sadler’s Wells who stood at the group’s main farm in Ireland.

Bred by Overbrook Farm, Grand Slam was a $300,000 Keeneland yearling, purchased by the partnership of Robert and Christina Baker, William Mack, and David Cornstein, who raced him under the tutelage of Wayne Lukas. 

Grand Slam signaled from the outset that he was something special, breaking his maiden by 11 lengths in his first start while equaling the Belmont track record (1:03.06) for five and a half furlongs. He went on to triumph in the Grade I Futurity and Champagne, and seemed invincible until the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, when he suffered a gash to his hind leg that not only took him out of the race, but almost ended his career.

He was never quite the same again, though his sheer courage and ability shone through again at three, when he captured the nine-furlong Peter Pan at Belmont and ignited hopes that he was good as new.  Alas, that wasn’t true.  But Grand Slam acquitted himself with honor for the rest of that season, gutting out second-place finishes in the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint-G1, the one-mile Jerome-G2, and the nine-furlong Swaps-G2, as well as a third-place effort in the Haskell. 

Visionaire winning the King's Bishop-G1 at Saratoga
Photo:  Adam Coglianese, Courtesy of NYRA

At stud, Grand Slam has sired 26 graded stakes winners, many of whom were produced from mares who, like his own dam, Bright Candles (by El Gran Senor), descend from Northern Dancer. They include Jim Dandy-G2 winner Strong Hope (out of Shining Through, by Deputy Minister), King’s Bishop-G1 victor Visionaire (out of Scarlet Tango, by French Deputy), Brooklyn Handicap-G2 winner Limehouse (out of Dixieland Blues, by Dixieland Band), Mr. Prospector-G3 winner Apriority (out of Midway Squall, by Storm Bird), Daytona-G3 turf specialist Dilemma (out of Heavenly Cat, by Tabasco Cat), and Kentucky Cup Classic-G2 hero and recent Old Friends retiree, Ball Four (out of Making Faces, by Lyphard).

Malibu Prayer winning the Ruffian-G1 at Saratoga
Photo:  Adam Coglianese, Courtesy of NYRA

Grand Slam has also shown an affinity with A. P. Indy, having sired the current Kentucky Oaks hopeful Millionreasonswhy (out of In Secure, by A. P. Indy), winner of the Matron-G2 at two and of the Wide Country Stakes at Laurel last month.  Grand Slam’s stakes-winning daughter, Grand Prayer, who brought $1 million at last November’s Edward P. Evans dispersal at Keeneland (in foal to Medaglia D’Oro), produced the highly regarded Grade I winner Malibu Prayer (by A. P. Indy), who sold for $2 million (in foal to Smart Strike) at the same dispersal.  Both mares were purchased by Besilu Stables.

In the sales ring, Grand Slam’s individuals seem to get better as they mature.  His 137 weanlings sold at auction have averaged $88,613, his 719 yearlings, $110,281, and his 191 two-year-olds, $127,412.  Grand Slam’s colts have typically brought significantly more than his fillies, and for the most part, they have outshone his fillies on the racetrack, too.  He will have one of each sex in next week’s Keeneland April Two-Year-Olds-in-Training Sale.  A dark bay or brown colt out of the Awesome Again mare, Tyne, will be offered as Hip #81, and a chestnut filly named, “Work for a Living,” out of the Tiznow mare, Tiz Maya, is catalogued as Hip #77; she was a $4500 Keeneland September yearling.

Through March 25th, Grand Slam had sired 798 winners, with average earnings per starter of over $60,000.  At the time of the stallion’s death, Coolmore’s website sported a banner broadcasting his achievement in siring four three-year-old stakes winners in just the last three weeks:  Tribune (Fr) (out of Tanguista, by War Chant); Slamit (out of Excedius, by Seattle Dancer), Millionreasonswhy, and The Lumber Guy (out of Boltono, by Unbridled’s Song).  He will be missed.

To the Derby, via Dubai

Daddy Long Legs wins the UAE Derby-G2
Photo:  Andrew Watkins, Dubai World Cup

Daddy Long Legs, a Kentucky-bred son of red hot sire Scat Daddy, bested a stellar international field of 13 other three-year-olds to win the mile and three-sixteenths UAE Derby-G2 on the undercard of the Dubai World Cup at Meydan today.   He was the only U.S.-bred runner to capture one of the prestigious contests on World Cup day.

With his victory over Meydan’s synthetic Tapeta surface, in his first start of the year, the long-striding chestnut avenged his 12^th place finish in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, which was captured by eventual Two-Year-Old Champion Hansen.  He also defeated the reigning Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf  hero, Wrote, who finished third.  All three colts are likely to meet again in the Kentucky Derby, to be run at Churchill Downs on May 5^th.

The lightly raced Daddy Long Legs, who runs in the Coolmore colors of John Magnier, Derrick Smith, and Michael Tabor, has now won three of his five starts, and amassed earnings of $1,308,909, including the $1.2 million winner’s share of the UAE Derby.  That will be more than enough to ensure that he’ll get a place in the Derby starting gate, if his connections want one.  And based on the comments of his trainer, Aidan O’Brien, immediately after the race, it sounds like that’s where Daddy Long Legs is headed.

Daddy Long Legs’ stylish performance in the UAE Derby makes him the current leading earner among members of the precocious initial crop of Scat Daddy, a multiple Grade I stakes-winning son of Johannesburg who stands for $17,500 at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky.  With 23 winners and three two-year-old stakes winners last year, Scat Daddy was 2011’s leading first crop sire.  And it looks like his progeny’s early success was no fluke.  Commenting after Daddy Long Legs’ victory today, Aidan O’Brien said, “the Scat Daddys are doing very well this year and it’s interesting that they’re improving from two to three.” 

Indeed, Scat Daddy now has two sons on the Derby Trail.  Another colt, Daddy Nose Best (out of Follow Your Bliss, by Thunder Gulch), notched last week’s $800,000 Sunland Derby-G3 in rallying style and has earned enough to guarantee his place in the Kentucky classic.

Out of the stakes-winning Meadowlake mare, Dreamy Maiden, Daddy Long Legs is bred on the same pattern as crack sprinter Henny Hughes (by Scat Daddy’s grandsire, Hennessy, out of Meadow Flyer, by Meadow Lake), who is now standing at Darley’s Lexington division.  And, like all but one of Scat Daddy’s current stakes winners, Daddy Long Legs is inbred to Northern Dancer.

He descends from the French mare, Affection, the ancestor of influential Broodmares of the Year Delta and Levee (dam of multiple Champion Shuvee).  This is also the family of Slew o’Gold, Coastal, and Aptitude.  Daddy Long Legs is the seventh foal and sixth winner from his dam, who previously produced the multiple stakes-winning Chester House filly, Tres Dream.  Dreamy Maiden brought $170,000, in foal to Street Sense, at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton November sale, while her weanling Giant’s Causeway colt RNA’d for the same price at Keeneland November. 

Daddy Long Legs was plucked out of the 2010 Fasig-Tipton July Select sale by Ashford Stud for $100,000, a price that now looks like a very smart bargain.