Incoming Sires 2016 – Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem

Giant’s Causeway – Rebridled Dreams, Unbridled’s Song

Enters Stud 2016 at WinStar Farm for a fee of $25,000

Race Record

Carpe Diem’s career began even before his first race.  He was a $550,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland September by Northwest Stud, a pinhooking group.  They trained him over the winter and prepped him for a run at the prestigious OBS March Two Year Olds In Training Sale for which he worked an eighth of a mile in :10 1/5.  He turned a lot of eyes that day and come sale day he was the sale topper at $1.6 million to WinStar Farms and Stonestreet Farms in a joint venture.  Carpe Diem was turned over to trainer Todd Pletcher who did not debut the colt until Saratoga where he won a loaded maiden special weight over a colt who would eventually become a grade two winner, Ready for Rye.  He jumped straight up in class to the Grade One Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, a race he absolutely dominated, winning by more than six lengths.  Finishing behind him that day were Keen Ice and Mr. Z.  From there it was on to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile where he was among the favorites but he had to settle for second behind the runaway winner Texas Red.  As a three year old he debuted in the Grade Two Tampa Bay Derby which he won by five lengths over Divining Rod and Dnazig Moon, among others.  A return to Keeneland saw him run away by three lengths in a victorious appearance in the Grade One Blue Grass Stakes.  His next start was the Kentucky Derby and it would prove to be his last start as he was injured and off the board.

Pedigree

Giant’s Causeway has been a perennial leading sire since his retirement in 2001.  He has been the leading sire in North America three times during that run and was the leading sire of two year olds twice.  He was the leading son of Storm Cat on the racetrack and has become his sire’s successor in the breeding shed.  His major winners include Shamardal, Take Charge Brandi, Dalkala and Irish Mission, all champions.  His sons at stud include Shamardal, First Samurai and Footstepsinthesand.  Many of his best runners have been inbred to Northern Dancer, including Dalkala, Irish Mission, Man Of Iron and Eskendereya.  The other very popular cross for Giant’s Causeway as a sire is with Mr. Prospector line mares, which Carpe Diem is a product of.  Both Shamardal and Take Charge Brandi fit that profile along with grade one winners My Typhoon and Carriage Trail.  Giant’s Causeway is a son of the wonderful mare Mariah’s Storm who is the granddam of fellow 2016 freshman sire Gleneagles.  Carpe Diem’s dam is the stakes winning Unbridled’s Song mare Rebridled Dreams.  She has also produced grade one winner J.B.’s Thunder (by Thunder Gulch) and stakes winner Doncaster Rover (War Chant) from seven foals.  His second dam was a stakes winner by Corridor Key but it isn’t until you go back to his fifth dam to find another graded stakes horse.  Carpe Diem is inbred 4×5 to Northern Dancer.

In the Sim

In the game Giant’s Causeway is ranked the third leading sires for stallions who are still active and tenth overall.  He gets 21.8% stakes winners and 7.1% graded winners.  He has one Hall of Fame son, Casterly Rock who had the Mr. Prospector son Gone West as DS.  From his seven champions (including Casterly Rock) three of them were from mares by Mr. Prospector-line studs with one each for Sadler’s Wells, A.P. Indy, Exceed and Excel and Dynaformer.  The cross with Kingmambo-line mares has been especially potent getting at least seven grade one winners including five million dollar earner Carnival of Love.  A.P. Indy and his sire Seattle Slew are represented at DS in at least six of Giant’s Causeway’s grade one winners.  Realistically Giant’s Causeway can give even an ordinary mare an extraordinary foal.  Giant’s Causeway’s sons at stud have not been given the love he himself receives in the game.  Shamardal is his best son at stud in the game and he gets 10.6% stakes winners and 2.4% graded winners.  Shamardal is out of a mare by Machiavellian, a son of Mr. Prospector (whereas Carpe Diem is out of an Unbridled’s Song mare who is a great grandson of Mr. Prospector).  Shamardal was a champion in Europe and his best runners in the game have been on the turf.  He has crossed best with mares by sons of Sadler’s Wells and Danzig and to a lesser extent with Seattle Slew and A.P. Indy mares.  Eskendereya is Giant’s Causeway’s next leading son in the sim.  He’s sired three grade one winners, two out of Mr. Prospector-line mares and one out of a His Majesty mare.  Lastly First Samurai is an interesting sire to consider.  He’s by Giant’s Causeway out of a Dixieland Band mare but his second dam is Fappiano, the grandsire of Unbridled’s Song.  He has yet to produce a grade one winner in the game but he has done very well with A.P. Indy line mares including mares by A.P. Indy’s son Bernardini who is out of a Quiet American mare, with Quiet American being by Fappiano.

Breeding Recommendations

For Carpe Diem, his cross of Mr. Prospector is far enough back that he could easily be bred to mares by that sire’s sons and grandsons such as Kingmambo, Seeking the Gold and Street Cry.  He has no Seattle Slew blood and that makes Slew and his sons including A.P. Indy a good idea to cross with.  The cross with A.P. Indy’s son Bernardini seems especially intriguing as it would give you inbreeding to Fappiano who is a significant source of class in the sim.