SUN KING
2002 by Charismatic–Clever But Costly, by Clever Trick
Sun King was an on-and-off racehorse, but when he was on, he had the talent to run with the best. The winner of four graded stakes during his career, he had his finest moment when running eventual Horse of the Year Invasor (Arg) to a nose in the 2006 Whitney Stakes (gr. I).
Sun King offers a unique opportunity to inbreed to one of the best sire-producing mares of the late 20th century, Weekend Surprise, who is the dam of his paternal grandsire, Summer Squall. Weekend Surprise is also the dam of A.P. Indy (by Seattle Slew) and Honor Grades (by Danzig). Daughters of A.P. Indy would offer a reverse cross to the pedigree of 2005 U.S. champion juvenile male Stevie Wonderboy (who is by A.P. Indy’s son Stephen Got Even out of a daughter of Summer Squall). While Honor Grades was not as good a racer or sire as A.P. Indy, he is by Danzig, who is also the paternal grandsire of Sun King’s grade III-winning half-sister Ocean Drive and of grade I winner Peeping Tom (out of Sun King’s half-sister Artful Pleasure).
Sun King is free of both Mr. Prospector and Seattle Slew, both lines that worked well with Summer Squall, and it is worth noting that Sun King’s grade I-winning half-brother Traitor is by Cryptoclearance (by Fappiano, by Mr. Prospector), while multiple grade II winner Allamerican Bertie is by the Fappiano horse Quiet American out of a half-sister to Sun King. Other strains of Mr. Prospector to consider include Gone West, Seeking the Gold, and Forty Niner.
Other pedigree elements to consider in possible mates for Sun King include Buckpasser, Halo, Roberto, His Majesty, and Dr. Fager, which have all succeeded at above-average rates with multiple strains in his pedigree. — by Avalyn Hunter