Leading Mid-Atlantic Sire Jump Start Dies at 20

Northview PA's five-time leading Pennsylvania sire Jump Start  was euthanized May 19 due to complications from colitis, according to David Wade, general manager for Northview Stallion Station.

The 20-year-old son of A.P. Indy out of the graded stakes-placed winner Steady Cat (by Storm Cat) was bred and raced by W.T. Young's Overbrook Farm. He broke his maiden at first asking with trainer D. Wayne Lukas, won the 2001 Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) in his second start, and was runner-up in the Champagne Stakes (G1). Jump Start contested the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) but was injured in the race and had to be retired. 

Jump Start entered stud at Overbrook and stood there through 2009, when it was announced the farm would be dispersing its breeding and racing stock. The stallion was relocated to Ghost Ridge Farms in Pennsylvania for two breeding seasons and was then sent to Richard Golden's Northview PA, near Peach Bottom, just north of the Pennsylvania-Maryland state line.

"He was a consummate professional," said David Wade, general manager of Northview Stallion Station. "When his first Mid-Atlantic crop hit the tracks, he was regularly at or near the top of the Pennsylvania and Mid-Atlantic sire lists. His progeny earnings were usually more than $5 million each year, so he was in great demand."

Jump Start led or was runner-up on the leading Pennsylvania sire list nine times since 2009 and currently leads the list year to date with three black-type runners and more than $1.78 million in progeny earnings. He was the leading Mid-Atlantic sire for three consecutive years in 2015-17.

Because of his advanced age, Northview PA had limited his books to between 50-70 mares. Jump Start covered 36 mares so far this year and covered 63 last year.

"He was a special horse to us and we didn't want to tax him," Wade said, noting the farm also had stopped shuttling Jump Start in 2013. The stallion had been shuttled to Argentina for five seasons and sired three South American champions, including 2014 Argentine Horse of the Year, champion older horse, and champion stayer Idolo Porteno, who won the Gran Premio Carlos Pellegrini (G1) and Gran Premio Dardo Rocha (G1). Sent to the U.S., Idolo Porteno was runner-up in the 2016 Pimlico Special Handicap (G3) and was third in the Razorback Handicap (G3).

To date, Jump Start has sired 62 (4%) black-type winners and 60 black-type-placed performers. His progeny earned more than $63.9 million, averaging $60,983 per starter.

His stakes winners included 24 graded stakes winners, led by multi-millionaire Prayer for Relief , who won or placed in 15 graded stakes. His best wins came in the West Virginia Derby (G2), Super Derby (G2), and Iowa Derby (G3). He also finished third in the 2014 Woodward Stakes (G1) on his way to earning $2,277,948.

Other top performers include millionaires Rail Trip, a grade 1 winner and four-time graded stakes winner who earned $1,516,520; and, four-time graded stakes winner and grade 1-placed Pants On Fire, who earned more than $1.64 million. Jump Start's multiple stakes-winning son Icabad Crane finished third in the 2008 Preakness Stakes (G1).