By Avalyn Hunter
When a stallion has risen from the ranks to become a top sire, one can generally expect that his career as a broodmare sire will follow a similar curve. Such appears to be the case with Dynaformer. Once just another $5,000 stallion (his initial published fee), Dynaformer has now finished among the top 10 North American based-sires in six of the last seven years and has firmly established himself among Kentucky’s elite stallions. Before long, the Three Chimneys Farm stallion may be an elite broodmare sire as well. Thirty-fourth on the broodmare sire list in 2006 and 15th in 2007, he is currently second on the 2008 list and has recently been represented by Donn Handicap (gr. I) winner Spring At Last and Strub Stakes (gr. II) winner Monterey Jazz.
When a stallion has risen from the ranks to become a top sire, one can generally expect that his career as a broodmare sire will follow a similar curve. Such appears to be the case with Dynaformer. Once just another $5,000 stallion (his initial published fee), Dynaformer has now finished among the top 10 North American based-sires in six of the last seven years and has firmly established himself among Kentucky’s elite stallions. Before long, the Three Chimneys Farm stallion may be an elite broodmare sire as well. Thirty-fourth on the broodmare sire list in 2006 and 15th in 2007, he is currently second on the 2008 list and has recently been represented by Donn Handicap (gr. I) winner Spring At Last and Strub Stakes (gr. II) winner Monterey Jazz.
Dynaformer had his first graded stakes winner as a broodmare sire in 2001, when Diadella (Diesis (GB)–Rabiadella, out of Crystal Goddess by Dr. Fager) came home first in the Canadian Handicap (Can-II). Since then, he has been represented by 13 more graded or group stakes winners. From 752 foals of racing age, Dynaformer has 42 stakes winners (5.6%) as a maternal grandsire, and his numbers should improve as daughters from his better-bred later crops continue coming into the broodmare ranks.
Winter’s Gone has been the most productive of Dynaformer’s daughters so far. A 1996 daughter of the Graustark mare Stark Winter, she is a half-sister to multiple grade I winner Bien Bien (by Manila), to multiple grade III winner Dr. Schwartzman (by the Herbager stallion Fluorescent Light), and to stakes winner Fantasy Lover (by Raja Baba).
After producing solid winners in Winter’s Quest (by Coronado's Quest) and Turkish Cavalry (by Victory Gallop), Winter’s Gone broke into the ranks of stakes producers with her third foal, Sharp Lisa. A 2002 daughter of Dixieland Band, Sharp Lisa won the 2005 Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I) and two grade II races. She sold for $3.4 million as a broodmare prospect at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale.
Spring At Last, a 2003 son of Silver Deputy, won the 2007 Etisalat Godolphin Mile (UAE-II) but was sidelined by ankle trouble until Dec. 26, winning an allowance race at Santa Anita. He proved himself back to his old form with a solid win in the Donn on February 2, and trainer Doug O’Neill has indicated that he would like to point the colt towards the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I).
Winter’s Gone produced Sharp Susan in 2004 to the cover of Touch Gold. The filly became a multiple graded stakes winner in 2007, winning the Lake Placid Stakes (gr. IIT) at Saratoga and the Herecomesthebride Stakes (gr. III) at Gulfstream Park. Winter’s Gone was barren in 2005, slipped her foal in 2006, and produced a 2007 colt by Storm Cat.
The most accomplished runner produced by a Dynaformer mare so far, Hollywood Story is the first foal of stakes-placed Wife for Life (out of Huggle Duggle, by Never Bend). While not the most consistent of runners, the daughter of Wild Rush saved her best races for big events, all of her four wins from 27 starts coming in graded stakes races. Her top scores were in the 2003 Hollywood Starlet Stakes and the 2006 Vanity Invitational Handicap (both gr. I). Wife for Life has since produced the winners Qadar (2002 gelding by Dixie Union) and Toyo Cozzene (2003 colt by Cozzene), non-winner Cut the Cake (2004 filly by Diesis), and Indy Summer, a 2-year-old filly by A.P. Indy.
Infini (BRZ), a 1996 daughter of Dynaformer and the Known Fact mare Ex Facto, was foaled in Brazil following the exportation of her dam. A winner of one race from 13 starts, she is the dam of Parfum Parfait (BRZ) (her first foal, by the good Brazilian sire Clackson), winner of the 2005 Grande Premio Juliano Martins (Brz-I). Her second foal is Questo Sappore (BRZ), a Jules colt who ran third in the 2006 Grande Premio Nestor Jost (Brz-III).
Generally speaking, Dynaformer mares do not seem to be particularly fussy about the sire lines they are matched with. Aside from the runners already mentioned, Dynaformer mares have produced graded or group winners by Maria’s Mon, Sharp Victor, Lit de Justice, Smoke Glacken, and Doc's Leader, leading to the conclusion that as a group, Dynaformer mares have enjoyed decent but not exceptional opportunities so far. Another tentative conclusion is that they do best when matched with horses that are not too large and massive, not really surprising when considering Dynaformer’s own huge size.
One rather remarkable affinity that may be emerging is for the male line of Sharpen Up (GB), not a common one but the source of three graded or group winners out of Dynaformer mares. Diesis, as previously mentioned, is the sire of Diadella; he is also the sire of Irish-bred New Girlfriend (out of New Story, a stakes-placed daughter of the Danzig mare Dancey Kate), winner of the 2005 Prix Robert Papin (Fr-II). Sharp Victor, a much less heralded son of Sharpen Up, is the sire of Now Victory (out of Zoelu, out of the Don B. mare C’Est Moi Cheri), winner of the 2007 Bay Meadows Breeders’ Cup Handicap (gr. III).
Given that Dynaformer’s daughters from later crops are not only likely to have better pedigrees but to receive better opportunities than did his elder daughters, Dynaformer should be a force to reckon with in the broodmare sire ranks over the next decade. Although some care in matching conformation types is likely to be needed with his daughters, as a group they offer the opportunity to tap into Dynaformer’s stamina and soundness, both attractive commodities in a gene pool often lacking in one or both.
