First Foals of Caravaggio, Aclaim Among Curragh Entries

First-season sires Caravaggio  and Aclaim could kick-start their stallion careers in earnest March 21 with the pair holding entries in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden over five furlongs at the Curragh.

The first 2-year-old contest of the Irish flat season has attracted 11 entries, with Silver Surfer boasting a particularly eyecatching pedigree. The Donnacha O'Brien-trained colt is one of 155 foals from the debut crop of Caravaggio, who covered his first book at a fee of €35,000, and is certainly bred to be an early type.

His sire was an unbeaten 2-year-old who rattled off four victories, a run that began with success at Dundalk in mid-April before he took the Coventry Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot, in which he beat last year's record-breaking first-crop sire Mehmas, and the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes (G1).

He returned at 3 and saw off Harry Angel and Blue Point to land his second top score in the Commonwealth Cup (G1), and later added the Derrinstown Stud Flying Five Stakes (G2).

Silver Surfer is the fourth foal out of Riskit Fora Biskit, herself a daughter of record-breaking juvenile sire Kodiac, whose five successes are headed by the listed Prix du Cercle.

In turn Riskit Fora Biskit is a sibling to three black-type performers, including Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Gimcrack (G2) runner-up Crown Prosecutor (raced as Bullish Champion in Hong Kong), as well as Fox Trotter and Mur Hiba who finished second in the Worthingtons Whizz Kidz Horris Hill Stakes (G3) and Jimmy O'Neill Irish Racing Excellence Curragh Stakes (G3) respectively.

Caravaggio, who switched from Coolmore's Irish base to Ashford Stud in Kentucky for the 2021 season and stands for $25,000, is the 5-2 favorite with Skybet to be crowned leading first-season sire by number of individual winners in Britain and Ireland up until Dec. 31.

Silver Surfer, who was bred by Ed's Stud and is owned by Atlantic Thoroughbreds, boasts the second-highest price tag of the 11 entries in the contest, having been signed for by Coolmore's M.V. Magnier at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale at 100,000 guineas (US$135,651).

The Feb. 11 foal had previously been pinhooked by Glenvale Stud at 78,000 guineas ($105,741) when offered as a youngster. The most expensive entrant is the Coolmore-owned and Aidan O'Brien-trained Cadamosto, a £130,000 ($168,013) Goffs Orby Sale purchase who is by another of Scat Daddy's sire sons in No Nay Never.

The other first-season sire entry is the Gerard O'Leary-trained Satin Snake, a son of the National Stud's Aclaim who was born on Jan. 31.

Satin Snake, who was bred by B & B Equine and was a £33,000 ($42,294) yearling purchase by Avenue Bloodstock, is the eighth foal out of the Golden Snake mare Snake's Head, whose three winners at paddocks are headed by the listed-placed sprinter Staxton.

Aclaim, whose first book yielded 113 foals bred at a fee of £12,500, made a winning debut at 2, albeit in December, and progressed steadily through the following two seasons. He retired at 4 having landed seven races, including the Qatar Prix de la Foret (G1) and a brace of group 2s, namely the Alan Wood Plumbing & Heating Park Stakes (G2) and the Dubai 100 Challenge Stakes (G2).

Aclaim will be looking to enhance Acclamation's already exceptional record as a sire of sires, having been responsible for the likes of Dark Angel, sire of seven group/grade 1 winners, and Mehmas, who smashed the world record for number of first-crop winner when represented by 58 successful sons and daughters in 2020.

Jim Bolger is responsible for four of the 11 entries, including the colt I Have A Voice and the filly Missing Matron, both of whom are by Vocalised, and the fillies Freedom of Speech and Gaire Os Ard, who are by Australia and Teofilo respectively.