The late Smart Strike was a highly versatile sire, as shown by his 76:70 split by dirt and turf among his 134 career black-type stakes winners.
With 69 graded stakes winners winning from 2 to 6, the son of Mr. Prospector also has been represented by a sizable number of 3-year-old stakes winners. Among his 76 stakes winners on dirt (which also includes four winners on all-weather surfaces), 33 (43%) won at least one black-type stakes at 3.
In the American classics, Smart Strike's progeny have been most successful in the Preakness Stakes (G1). He is one of 10 sires represented by two or more Preakness winners during its 146 runnings. His winners are Curlin (2007) and Lookin At Lucky (2010). For comparison, Smart Strike has had two runners place in the Kentucky Derby (G1)—Curlin finished third and Battle of Midway was third in 2017—and only one place in the Belmont Stakes (G1), Curlin again, who was second.
Both Curlin, later named Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008, and eventual dual champion Lookin At Lucky went on to successful stallion careers, with Curlin standing at Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa and Lookin At Lucky standing at Ashford Stud.
Smart Strike, who stood at Lane's End until he died at 23 in 2015 due to laminitis, became the leading North American sire in 2007 and 2008 on the strength of Curlin's racing career, which produced consecutive Horse of the Year titles along with honors as champion 3-year-old male and champion older horse. Lookin At Lucky also earned multiple championship honors as 2009 champion 2-year-old male and 2010 champion 3-year-old male.
Smart Strike's last crop is 6 this year but his influence will be present in the 147th Preakness May 21 through Fenwick, a son of Curlin, and Skippylongstocking, a son of top 10 third-crop sire Exaggerator, the 2016 Preakness Stakes winner by Curlin.
Fenwick is out of the Malibu Moon winner Make the Sun Shine, who is a daughter of grade 3 winner and daughter of Giant's Causeway, Sunshine for Life.
The cross of Curlin with mares by A.P. Indy and his sons has been an extraordinarily successful cross, having produced 21 (15%) black-type stakes winners, which include 14 graded stakes winners. The specific cross of Curlin with daughters of Malibu Moon has produced six-time grade 1 winner Stellar Wind.
Fenwick will need every bit of the potential within his pedigree in the Preakness, where he faces four tested graded stakes winners in Epicenter and Simplification , who were second and fourth, respectively, in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1); Secret Oath, who won the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) and was third in the Arkansas Derby (G1); and, Early Voting , who won the Withers Stakes (G3) and was second by a neck in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2).
Bred by John Oxley and raced by Villa Rosa Farm and Harlo Stable, Fenwick comes into the Preakness off an 11th-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1). He flashed more potential in his start prior to the Blue Grass when he won a one-mile and 40-yard maiden special weight at Tampa Bay Downs gate to wire by 5 1/4 lengths.
Skippylongstocking is another longshot but he comes into the Preakness off a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial. The colt, owned by Daniel Alonso and trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., is the first runner by Exaggerator to win or place in a graded stakes.
Exaggerator is a three-time grade 1 winner, who earned a slot in the 2016 Kentucky Derby by winning the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and finished a respectable second in the Run for the Roses. He went on to win the Preakness and then reinforced his grade 1 status by taking the betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1). For his career, he won or placed 10 times from 15 starts and banked more than $3.58 million. The colt entered stud at WinStar Farm in 2017 and now stands at Elite Thoroughbreds in Louisiana for $5,000.
Exaggerator has consistently ranked in the top 10 for his sire class since their first crops began racing in 2020. The stallion is ranked seventh by 2022 progeny earnings as of May 19 and is the leader so far by number of winners with 51, which is one more than leading third-crop sire Not This Time .
Both Fenwick and Skippylongstocking are inbred to Mr. Prospector, who is Smart Strike's sire. Fenwick is inbred 3x4 with a third influence of Mr. Prospector's sire Raise a Native in the fifth generation on his dam side through Exclusive Native. Skippylongstocking is inbred 4x5, with his dam contributing Mr. Prospector through the family of his broodmare sire War Chant.
In a head-to-head comparison of the dominant North American sire lines of Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector in the Preakness, it is a bit surprising that the Mr. Prospector line has the edge considering Northern Dancer won the Preakness in 1964 and stood in Maryland at Windfield's Chesapeake City farm from 1969 until his retirement in 1987. Mr. Prospector and tail-male descendants have sired 17 Preakness winners since 1984 compared to 12 for the Northern Dancer male line.
The Northern Dancer line has plenty of opportunities to close the gap this year with morning-line favorite Epicenter along with other entrants Simplification, Creative Minister, and Happy Jack.
Meanwhile, the Mr. Prospector line could widen its advantage if the winner's circle is occupied by either Secret Oath, Early Voting, Armagnac, Fenwick, or Skippylongstocking.
