A Trio of Sire Firsts

The progeny of freshman sires Espoir City and Lethal Force as well as English second-crop sire Bated Breath recently produced important firsts for their sires.

Multiple grade 1 winners Espoir City and Lethal Force were each represented by their first winners, while group 2 winner and group 1-placed Bated Breath got his first black-type stakes winner.

T's Loire, the fourth starter for Espoir City, became his first winner May 18 in a 1,200-meter (about six-furlong) maiden race on dirt at Monbetsu in Japan. The final time was 1:16. The filly was bred in Japan by Lucky Bokujo, which sold her as a yearling to T's Corporation for ¥2,160,000 (US$19,412) at the Hokkaido Summer Sale.

Espoir City, winner of the 2009 Japan Cup Dirt (G1) and a 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) contender, compiled a 17-10-3 record out of 40 starts to retire with more than US$11.4 million in earnings. He stands at Yushun Stallion Station. 

Cheveley Park Stud's Lethal Force got his first winner May 22 when Queen of Kalahari won the Sartorius Novice Auction Stakes at Leicester in England. The filly out of Aromatherapy ran the five furlongs on soft going in 1:02.29 and won by a length.

Bred in Great Britain by Minster Stud, Queen of Kalahari was sold for £15,000 (US$19,704) at the 2016 Goffs UK Premier yearling sale to BBA Ireland. The filly is now raced by Mrs. J.K. Powell. 

Lethal Force became a group 1 winner at 4 when he took the 2013 Diamond Jubilee Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot. He won or placed 12 times out of 17 starts and retired with $1,151,683 in earnings. The son of Dark Angel now stands for £10,000.

Vik The Billy, a 2-year-old filly by Juddmonte Farm's Bated Breath, became her sire's first black-type stakes winner in the Premio Alessandro Perrone in Rome.

The filly, out of Epiphany (Zafonic), now has two wins from two starts for owner Scuderia Giacobbe Ferruccio. Bred in Great Britain by Saleh Al Homaizi & Imad Al Sagar, Vik The Billy was sold for £4,000 (US$5,293) at the 2016 Goffs Doncaster Silver yearling sale to New Factory Racing out of the Houghton Bloodstock consignment.

Bated Breath, a 10-year-old son of Dansili, is the second group stakes winner produced by black-type winner Tantina, who also produced group 1 winner Cityscape (Selkirk). Racing for Prince Khalid Abdullah, Bated Breath finished second in four group 1 stakes—the Darley July Cup, Betfred Sprint Cup, Nearctic Stakes, and the King's Stand Stakes. 

The Juddmonte homebred has sired 28 winners to date and also sired group 2-placed winner Al Johrah, who finished second at last year's Queen Mary Stakes (G2) at Ascot and in the Prix Robert Papin (G2) at Maisons-Lafitte. Bated Breath stands at Abdullah's Banstead Manor Stud in England for a 2017 fee of £8,000.