No Nay Never a Group 1-winning son of Scat Daddy

NO NAY NEVER (USA) - 2011 bay/brown horse

Scat Daddy (by Johannesburg) was a prolific Group/Grade 1 sire in both the northern and southern hemisphere and his premature death just before the start of the 2016 season was a huge loss.

​His precocious son No Nay Never, a Group 1 star who was a half-length runner-up to Bobby's Kitten in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on his final start, was Timeform-rated 118+ at two and 117 at three, he was one of the most popular new recruits in 2015 and he covered 146 mares in his first season for Coolmore Stud.

The speed and precocity of No Nay Never, Acapulco and Caravaggio have led some to form a mistaken impression that is what one expects of a Scat Daddy, but, in fact, many of his best results come with his milers and middle-distance horses. He is a stallion who was also capable of getting sprinters and juveniles, and not one who necessarily imposed any such limitations on his progeny's distance range.

This will add a potentially interesting dimension to his stallion sons. No Nay Never's race record attracted plenty of speed-oriented mares to him and so we can expect that some of his offspring will be early types and sprinters of all ages. But he also looks likely to get milers, which could, if he becomes a success, open the possibility of him getting classic horses.

His dam, Cat's Eye Witness (by Elusive Quality), won once and has produced two other multiple winners in addition to her star son, and two of her siblings were blacktype scorers in the USA. Her dam, Comical Cat (by Exceller), won four times at three and was placed in the Grade 3 Las Flores Handicap, and that mare's siblings included the Group 2 St James's Palace Stakes winner Half A Year (by Riverman).

His half-brother Winning Pact (by Alydar) won the Grade 2 Del Mar Futurity, their half-brother Half Term (by Mr Prospector) was placed in the Group 3 Beeswing Stakes, and their half-sisters have produced some interesting descendants. One is the grandam of the Grade 1 scorer Tamarando (by Bertrando) and another is an ancestor of the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes winner So Many Ways (by Sightseeing).

The smart colts in the family who got chances at stud did not get anything like the sort of opportunities afforded to No Nay Never, and so they are not really any help in assessing his potential, but some of them, including his dam's Grade 3-winning half-brother Cat's Career (by Mr Prospector) and also the Grade 1-placed Grade 2 scorer Event Of The Year (by Seattle Slew), who is out of Comical Cat's half-sister Classic Event (by Mr Prospector), did get some stakes winners.

NO NAY NEVER (USA) – b/br.2011 – Scat Daddy – Cat's Eye Witness, 4 wins inc Prix Morny (Gr1), Norfolk Stakes (Gr2), Keeneland Woodford Stakes (Gr3), 2nd Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (Gr1), Swale Stakes (Gr2). Sire in Ireland. First foals in 2016.

FOALS CATALOGUED (updated)
bc – Amethyst (by Sadler's Wells)     Goffs     Nov     withdrawn
chc – Brigids Cross (by Sadler's Wells)     Goffs     Nov     withdrawn
chc – Choose Me Please (by Choisir)     Goffs     Nov     €30,000
bc – Corking (by Montjeu)     Goffs     Nov     €52,000
bc – Dance Company (by Aussie Rules)     Goffs     Nov     withdrawn
bf – Dansable (by Dansili)     Goffs     Nov     €26,000
chc – Dynacam (by Dynaformer)     Tattersalls     Nov     46,000gns
bc – Eminence Gift (by Cadeaux Genereux)     Tattersalls     Nov     not sold
bc – Fancy (by Key of Luck)     Goffs     Nov     €46,000
b/grf – Gleaming Silver (by Dalakhani)     Tattersalls     Nov     not sold
bc – Kawn (by Cadeaux Genereux)     Tattersalls     Nov     withdrawn
bc – Lace (by Sadler's Wells)     Goffs     Nov     €68,000
bf – Lady Ederle (by English Channel)     Goffs     Nov     €44,000
bf - Love Over Gold (by Peintre Celebre)     Arqana     Dec     ​€21,000
bc – Special Assignment (by Lemon Drop Kid)     Tattersalls     Nov     75,000gns