The mantle of 2-year-old champion colt has proven to be a powerful harbinger of future success as a stallion.
Out of the 14 North American 2-year-old champions since 2000 that went on to stud careers, 10 stallions wound up ranked among the top 10 of their sire class during either their first-crop, second-crop, or third-crop year, and six of these ranked among the top three during one of those first crucial years for a stallion. The 10 highly ranked stallions have to date sired an average of 31 black-type winners, 15 graded/group winners, and more than $33 million in progeny earnings.
Five juvenile champions since 2010 who entered stud include two who became leading freshman sires: Ashford Stud's Uncle Mo and American Pharoah . Uncle Mo went on to become the second-crop and third-crop leader of his sire class, while American Pharoah is currently the second-leading second-crop sire by progeny earnings as of Sept. 24 but the leading sire by number of black-type winners. Darley's first-crop sire and classic winner Nyquist leads the freshman sires standings by progeny earnings and by number of graded stakes winners to date with two. Both of Nyquist's graded stakes winners are grade 1 winners.
Lane's End's Game Winner becomes the latest 2-year-old champion to launch a stud career in 2021. The 4-year-old son of Candy Ride , who also stands at Lane's End, was undefeated at 2 and earned the championship title by winning three consecutive grade 1 stakes: the Del Mar Futurity (G1), American Pharoah Stakes (G1), and Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
"Champion 2-year-olds make great sires," said Bill Farish with Lane's End. "Street Sense , Uncle Mo, American Pharoah, and now Nyquist looks very promising. All were the very best of their generation and now are among the elite stallions in America. Game Winner is a champion from the immediate family of a champion." Game Winner's second dam is Fleet Indian, who was 2006 champion older mare.
Game Winner was retired with five wins, all in graded stakes, out of eight starts. He finished second in two other starts—the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and Rebel Stakes (G2)—and earned $2,027,500 in purses.
Sires who were champion 2-year-olds have a strong representation on BloodHorse's general leading sires list through Sept. 23. If the leading North American sires are ranked by number of black-type winners so far this year, five stallions who were juvenile champions are among the top 30 active stallions ranked by this category.
The leader among these five stallions is Uncle Mo, who is the runner-up on the leading sires list by both progeny earnings ($7,741,151) and number of black-type winners with 17. He ranks behind Spendthrift Farm's Into Mischief , last year's leading sire and the current leader with $12,611,415 in progeny earnings and 24 black-type winners, including recent Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner Authentic .
The other top-ranked sires/juvenile champions by number of 2020 black-type winners are American Pharoah and Darley's Midshipman , who are co-ranked as the ninth-leading sires with eight stakes winners; Darley's Street Sense, who is the co-ranked 13th-leading sire with seven stakes winners; and Ashford's Lookin At Lucky, who is co-ranked in 20th with five stakes winners.
