Cat Thief, Golden Missile Among Favorite First- Crop Sires at Fasig-Tipton

Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky July select yearling sale gave buyers an opportunity to see the progeny of many first-crop sires. Their opinions of the young stallions' progeny were as follows:

John Stuart, Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services: "I was a little surprised at how well the More Than Readys have done. They're better than I expected. The sire line doesn't always have a great, big beautiful yearling, but the ones that I've seen are pretty damn nice."

Reiley McDonald, Eaton Sales: "At this sale, the first crop sires I've seen that particularly stand out are Cat Thief and Golden Missile. The Cat Thiefs really have a great athletic body, and they have good length. The Golden Missiles all seemed to have that great profile that so many people look for, a great hip and very athletic looking. I haven't seen enough of the Fusaichi Pegasuses on the grounds, but I have some great ones coming up. I think his yearlings are taking a little time (to develop) and are just now coming into their own. They have some leg and some length and some hip to them. I don't think we saw the best of them as weanlings. I think the best is yet to come. Some that I've seen are absolutely striking.

Hoby Kight, Florida pinhooker: "I love Cat Thief because he was a racehorse and he danced every dance, from the time he was a 2-year-old until he was a 4-year-old. Most of them (his offspring) look fact, but they also look like they can go a route of ground. I love the Chief Seattles for the same reasons: They look fast, but they look like they can go a route of ground. The Tiger Ridges look fast, plain fast. The Golden Missiles look like they are going to be horses than can go a route of ground, but I bought one that I believe is going to go fast, too. I wasn't really disappointed with the Is It Trues, but they didn't change much from weanlings to yearlings. They kind of stayed the same."

Bill Farish, Lane's End: "I'm thrilled with all three of our first crop sires. The Lemon Drop Kids are a very good looking group. He (Lemon Drop Kid) gets a horse with some length that looks like the classic type, a two-turn horse. The Dixie Unions are much more the Northern Dancer type, very well-made, good-bodied horses. Stephen Got Evens are a different type, but they have some length to them."

Samantha Siegel, California buyer: "I found one I like that I had never heard of, Tiger Ridge. The yearlings that I looked at were real sharp looking, and they've got a lot of Storm Cat in them. They've got some style to them. He (Tiger Ridge) is a half-brother to be A.P. Indy, so obviously he was bred to be any kind of horse. Sometimes, like Danzig, a horse runs only one or two races, then all of a sudden becomes the best (sire) there is. Who knows, he might be the next Danzig. You have all these over-hyped stallions, but sometimes you have one like this comes out of the cracks and you go, 'Whoa! Where did this one come from? What's the story on him?"

Cat Thief was Fasig-Tipton's top sire, with three offspring selling for an average price of $336,250. The sale's other leading first-crop sires were:
Golden Missile, eight sold for an average of $133,750,
Cape Canaveral, three for an average of $133,333.
Yes It's True, three for an average of $118,333.
High Yield, three for an average of $105,667.
Tiger Ridge, four for an average of $97,500.
Dixie Union, four for an average of $91,750.
Chief Seattle, seven for an average of $90,571.
Straight Man, three for an average of $88,333.
More Than Ready, four for an average of $85,500.