More Than Ready (by Southern Halo) may not be as familiar a name here as he is in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, but with 19 Group/Grade 1 stars among a career tally of 162 stakes winners, this WinStar Farm team member is one of the world's leading sires.
Progeny of the grandson of Halo (by Hail To Reason) include multimillionaire and eight-times Group 1 heroine More Joyous, 2016's Group 1 Queensland Derby winner Eagle Way, and US Grade 1 star and Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes runner-up Verrazano – to name just three on that roll of honour – and the latter is one of his growing number of sons of stud. Sebring, who won the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes and Group 1 Inglis Sires' Produce Stakes as a juvenile, is his best sire son, so far, and that horse's prolific Group 1 scorers and seven-figured earners Criterion and Dissident are now in the early stages of their own stud careers. More Than Ready's stallion sons also include Gimmethegreenlight, a South African Grade 1 scorer and champion who stands at Varsfontein Stud and whose first crop includes last month's Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes-winning juvenile Gunner. And if his latest young rising star fulfills his potential, then a stallion career may also be in the future of the More Than Ready colt Boynton. The chestnut made his first public appearance at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale of 2015, consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency and bought, for $750,000, by John Ferguson.
The Godolphin-owned colt was bred by Twin Creeks Farm, he made a winning debut over six furlongs at Goodwood in early June, and then beat War Decree by three-parts of a length in the Group 2 bet365 Superlative Stakes over a further farther at Newmarket.
That win meant that he had to carry a 3lb penalty when he renewed rivalry with War Decree in the Group 2 Qatar Vintage Stakes, and on that occasion the placings were reversed. The Ballydoyle colt won by one and three-quarter lengths from Thunder Snow, with Boynton a length back third. The proximity of the nursery-winning gelding Pleaseletmewin in fourth may case some doubt over the reliability of the form and it will be interesting to see how the first three get on if they meet again. Boynton is the fifth foal out of Group 3 Albany Stakes third Baffled (by Distorted Humor), he is inbred 4x4 to Mr Prospector (by Raise A Native), and he has two siblings of note. His half-sister Jacaranda (by Congrats) won the Grade 3 Tempted Stakes over a mile at Aqueduct as a juvenile, and his half-brother Constitution (by Tapit), who has completed his first season at WinStar Farm at a $25,000 fee, won the Grade 1 Florida Derby and Grade 1 Donn Handicap. This is an outstanding start to Baffled's broodmare career and it puts her marginally ahead of her own dam, Surf Club (by Ocean Crest), who has a Grade 1 winner, Group 2 scorer and listed race winner to her name. Emcee (by Unbridled's Song) was third in the Grade 1 Alfred G Vanderbilt Handicap and then won the Grade 1 Forego Stakes before finishing out of the frame behind Tapizar in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita four years ago. He is now a Darley sire who stands at Sequel Stallions in New York and whose first crop are yearlings. His gelded half-brother Surfer won the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1, was runner-up in the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 and third to Prince Bishop in the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3. Their half-sister Spring Party (by Smart Strike) has won a listed contest. Notching up a high total of wins is something else that this family does well. Surf Club won six times from two to four years of age, her three blacktype-winning progeny accumulated 15 wins between them, her stakes-winning dam Horns Gray (by Pass the Tab) won a dozen times, and that mare's best pair, Awesome Humor and Dignified Donovan, won six and 13 races respectively. Awesome Humor (by Distorted Humor), whose $45,000 yearling price pales in comparison to that of her young relation, won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes, Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes and Grade 3 Debutante Stakes as a juvenile, and to those she added the following year's Grade 2 Indiana Oaks. Two of her progeny have won six times apiece, including the stakes-placed $320,000+ earner Keep Me Informed (by A.P. Indy). Dignified Donovan (by Regal Classic) won a listed handicap at the age of seven, accumulated career earnings in excess of $450,000, and notched-up a total of 13 wins from three to 11 years of age. Ruled Off (by Saratoga Six) and Bingo Time (by Green Forest), the blacktype-winning siblings of Horns Gray, won 10 and eight times respectively, and their unraced dam, Cox's Angel (by Cox's Ridge), was out of blacktype scorer Anjelicco (by Angle Light), a five-times winner from whom various other stakes and graded winners have descended. Being a good-looking son of a major international sire, a half-brother to a dual Grade 1 winner and with a Grade 1 winner also under his second and third dams, it is easy to see why Boynton cost so much as a yearling. The Charlie Appleby-trained colt holds entries in the Group 2 At The Races Champagne Stakes, Group 1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes, Group 2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes and Group 1 Dubai Dewhurst Stakes, and wins in any of those would both enhance his classic prospects for 2017 and his future appeal as a stallion. He looks likely to be best at around a mile next year, but as his half-brother Constitution was a dual Grade 1 star over nine furlongs, and his dam's half-brother Surfer was Group 1-placed over 10, it is possible that he too may stay the latter distance. |
Archives
September 2018
Sires
All
|