Third-Crop, Juvenile Sire Titles are Tight Contests
Image:
Description:
Photo: Lee P Thomas/Courtesy of Lane's End
Leading third-crop sire The Factor will return to Lane's End for the 2019 season
Heading into December, two North American leading sire titles are toss-ups.
The top honor as leading third-crop sire is the tightest contest as of Dec. 1, with Lane's End's The Factor holding a slim $45,051 lead over Gainesway's Tapizar .
The Factor, who stood the 2018 season in Japan and returns for 2019 with a $15,000 stud fee, leads the class with $6,301,400 in progeny earnings to Tapizar's $6,256,349. A son of War Front , The Factor is also the class's leader by black-type winners with seven, one more than WinStar Farm's Bodemeister , Airdrie Stud's Creative Cause , and Lane's End's Union Rags . By number of black-type wins this year, The Factor is co-ranked at the top with Crestwood Farm's Get Stormy .
Tapizar's runners have a better record in graded stakes than runners by The Factor, with multi-millionaire and five-time grade 1 winner Monomoy Girl leading Tapizar's 2018 performers with $2,818,200 earned from victories in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1), Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), Acorn Stakes (G1), Coaching Club American Oaks (G1), and, most recently, the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). Tapizar has also been represented by Grey Stakes (G3) winner Solidify.
The Factor's top runner to date is Shakertown Stakes (G2T) winner Bound for Nowhere, who finished third in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot. Bound for Nowhere is The Factor's chief earner this year with $676,617 in prize money.
Also in a tight race for the title of leading sire of 2-year-olds are Lane's End's Candy Ride and Spendthrift Farm's Into Mischief . Candy Ride holds a $70,007 lead through Dec. 1 due in large part to his undefeated millionaire son Game Winner, who recently upped his earnings for the year to $1,496,000 with a victory in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) for owners Gary and Mary West.
Into Mischief has all chambers loaded and could take back the top spot he once held. The son of Harlan's Holiday has 159 named 2-year-olds, compared with 120 for Candy Ride, and is the second-ranked juvenile sire with 30 winners behind the late Scat Daddy at 31. Into Mischief is also the leading juvenile sire with nine black-type stakes runners and is the co-leading sire by number of juvenile black-type winners with five, along with Claiborne Farm's Flatter , Lane's End's Quality Road , and Spendthrift Farm's Cross Traffic .