BC Juvenile Caps Already Strong Year for Quality Road

The "Future Stars Friday" edition of the Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 5 delivered a crowning achievement for Lane's End sire Quality Road  , in what has already been an extraordinary year for the sire.

His son Corniche , the dominant and uncontested winner of the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1), became Quality Road's fourth Breeders' Cup winner and is in a solid position to become the sire's fourth champion since 2017.

The progeny of Quality Road, a 15-year-old son of Elusive Quality bred and raced by the late Edward "Ned" Evans, had already been making quite the stir at the 2021 yearling sales, with buyers so keen on them that he became the leading North American sire by average ($472,068). These yearlings were the product of high-quality mares sent to the stallion after he sired five grade 1 winners in 2018—the co-highest number of elite runners that year alongside More Than Ready  .

The yearling sales got off to a fast start with a $1 million filly out of Above Perfection that Kindred Stables bought from Indian Creek at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's boutique select yearling sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The sire was represented by two more seven-figure yearlings at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, which were among 23 yearlings to sell for $500,000 or more between the two auctions.

While his progeny were making noise in the sales arena, his runners continued making their presence known on the track. Quality Road has sired nine black-type winners in 2021, which has pushed his lifetime total to 51, and he's sired three graded stakes winners for the year so far among his lifetime tally of 28.

Corniche, a $1.5 million purchase by Speedway Stables at this year's Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale out of the de Meric Sales consignment, began validating his price when he won first out Sept. 4 at Del Mar by 4 1/4 lengths. Trainer Bob Baffert took him next to the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park, which he won by 3 1/4 lengths and became Quality Road's 12th grade 1 winner. The colt's eventual romp in the Breeders' Cup now gives Speedway an exciting prospect to test on the trail toward next year's American classics—a path familiar to Quality Road and to many of his progeny.

As a 3-year-old, Quality Road distinguished himself early with a victory in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and followed with a win in the Florida Derby (G1) in track record time. A quarter crack and tender hoof knocked Quality Road out of contention for the Kentucky Derby (G1), but he rebounded the following year to win the Woodward Stakes (G1), Donn Handicap (G1), and Metropolitan Handicap (G1).

Both colts and fillies by Quality Road have been elite runners at 3, including Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner and 2017 champion 3-year-old filly Abel Tasman ; Santa Anita Oaks (G1) winner Bellafina ; Alabama Stakes (G1) winner Dunbar Road ; and Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Roadster , among others.

If the trajectory Quality Road is on now continues, then a classic winner seems not too far ahead in his future. Maybe Corniche will deliver again.