Besides Gainesway's Tapit , another stallion who enjoyed a strong weekend during the June 10-11 card at Belmont Park was Ashford Stud's late sire Scat Daddy.
The son of Johannesburg—Love Style, by Mr. Prospector, had two graded stakes winners during racing June 10-11. He was represented by Celestine in the Longines Just a Game Stakes (gr. IT) and Chilean-bred Dacita in the New York Stakes (gr. IIT).
Celestine was bred in Kentucky by Phoenix Rising Farms and bought as a yearling for $100,000 by James Bryan Jr.'s Phaedrus Flights, which tried to sell her as a 2-year-old, but the fall-of-the-hammer price was not enough. Bryan races her and has now won five stakes, including two graded stakes this year. Celestine is the second stakes winner and first graded winner out of her dam Mona Mia. She has won six times in 12 starts and earned $784,755.
Dacita is a gem that has dazzled on two continents. She was a multiple group I winner in Chile and the champion 2-year-old filly of 2014 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2015 before she was brought to the U.S. in 2015 by Pete Bradley's Bradley Thoroughbreds. The filly is co-owned by Bradley and Sheep Pond Partners. Her dam, Daja, has produced 10 winners from 10 foals to race, including two graded stakes winners out of three black-type winners and two group I-placed runners. Dacita was bred by Haras Paso Nevado, which stood Scat Daddy during the 2009-11 Southern Hemisphere breeding seasons.
Scat Daddy has sired 71 black-type winners to date, of which 43 won graded/group stakes. He also has a budding superstar in Lady Aurelia, the 2-year-old filly who romped in the Queen Mary Stakes (Eng-II) June 15 at Royal Ascot.
The sire power lost when Scat Daddy collapsed and died suddenly Dec. 14, 2015, at age 11 was substantial, but he has six sons standing at stud. They are No Nay Never at Coolmore Stud in Ireland (€17,500); Handsome Mike at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Florida ($5,000); Daddy Long Legs at Strouds Lane Farm in Florida ($4,000); Frac Daddy at Park Stud in Ontario (Can$4,000), Daddy Nose Best at BG Thoroughbred Farm in California ($2,500); and Finale at Hunter Creek Farms in New Mexico ($2,500).
