Tuesday, January 5, 2021
After dominating Florida's freshman sire list for 2019, Journeyman Stud's Khozan came right back and made it no contest on the state's general sire list of 2020.
The son of Distorted Humor racked up progeny earnings of $3,496,717 in a year marked by less racing days, less races, and diminished purses. Arindel Farm's Brethren was a distant second with $2,250,607, still impressive because a large majority of his runners are home-breds.
Third on the list is Double Diamond Farm's consistent First Dude with $2,178,255, more than $300,000 ahead of Ocala Stud Farm's Adios Charlie ($1,847,153).
There are 12 stallions who reached earnings of more than $1 million, three of them from Ocala Stud. Pleasant Acres Stallions is next with two, and Arindel, Journeyman, Double Diamond and Northwest Stud have one each. The other three in the top 12 are Big Drama, who has no doubt set some kind of record with respect to the number of Marion County farms at which he has resided, Soldat, who is merely listed in the Blood-Horse as 'moved,' and Field Commission, who performed so respectably for Solera Farm despite a lesser number of foals, and who died recently.
Having to go up against the monsters in Kentucky, along with their bands of regally-bred broodmares, only four of Florida's stallions were able to get a graded stakes-winner: Brethren, Adios Charlie, Pleasant Acres' dual hemisphere ace Treasure Beach and Solera's 22-year-old Greatness.
Brethren's Cookie Dough won the Gr. III Royal Delta Stakes at Gulfstream Park, while Adios Charlie is the sire of the phenomenal Jean Elizabeth, who won the Gr. III Whimsical at Woodbine. She has captured her last eight in a row dating back to September 21 of 2019, amid a perfect in-the-money career record of 15-4-2 in 21 starts, with earnings of $662,786.
Treasure Beach can boast of Raymundo's Secret, winner of five of eight career starts with earnings of $200,971, and best in the Gr. II John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar. However, he has a slew of Gr. I stakes-winners in Argentina.
Lady's Island, by Greatness, won the Gr. III Sugar Swirl at Gulfstream less than one month ago and is an incredible 17-5-4 in 34 starts with earnings of $604,195. In 2020 alone, she went 4-2-1 in eight tries.
On the winners' side, First Dude was easily best from start to finish, and wound up with 64 runners who made it to the winners' circle at least one time. Brethren was second with 53, one ahead of Khozan. Adios Charlie was next with 51, and Northwest Stud's Gone Astray fifth with 44 even though he is severely handicapped by no longer making it into any of the stallion registers.
There were only two real members of the freshman class, and Ocala Stud's Jess's Dream defeated Pleasant Acres' Ride On Curlin, 7 to 3. There will be several more on the list for 2021.
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