City of Light Shining Among Talented Sire Class

The 2022 class of first-crop sires is an impressive group. It comprises 20% of the current top 25 of the General Sires List based on progeny earnings.

These sires—which include Justify , Mendelssohn , Bolt d'Oro , and Good Magic —have been spread throughout the rankings. One member of this up-and-coming group of sires has steadily grown in stature and is holding his own with his classmates.

City of Light  was a star on the track and has already sired a star of his own in the breeding shed.

Now 11, City of Light is by another top sire in his own right, Quality Road . City of Light won more than half of his 11 career starts and never finished off the board. His 6-4-1 record also banked more than $5.6 million in earnings. 

His career ended on a high note: winning the 2018 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) in his final two starts. 

Standing this year at Lane's End near Versailles, Ky., for $35,000, City of Light has already made his mark. 

His first runners were led by Chop Chop ($425,450), who helped put him as the ninth first-crop sire of 2022. That first crop earned $1,348,733. 

But it was his second crop that has already left a mark on the sport. Leading the way in 2023 is that year's champion 2-year-old colt, Fierceness. He won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). Having earned $1.1 million of the $6 million-plus that City of Light's offspring earned that year helped elevate the sire to fifth among second-crop sires. He also debuted 54th among all sires based on progeny earnings. 

The following year, 2024, was even better.

Again led by Fierceness, who won the Florida Derby (G1), the Jim Dandy Stakes (G1), and the Travers Stakes (G1) on top of a second in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). City of Light's champion son earned $2.7 million of the $10.6 million banked by all of the sire's offspring.

Also standing out for City of Light last year were Chop Chop, who earned nearly $700,000 winning the Dowager Stakes (G3T) and Bewitch Stakes (G3T), and finishing on the board in two other graded contests. Formidable Man, who earlier this year won the Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1T), won the Del Mar Derby (G2T) and the Hollywood Derby (G1T) en route to $587,725 in earnings. 

City of Light had the top earner among third-class sires last year and tied for the most graded stakes winners (5).

These successes moved City of Light to No. 18 among all sires and third in his class. 

Perhaps 2025 sounds like an echo of the past two years, but if the tune is a hit, the DJ is going to keep playing it. 

Fierceness leads the charge of City of Light's offspring once again. He won the Alysheba Stakes (G1) and finished second in the Met Mile (G2) with eyes on some of the biggest races in the second half of the year. 

City of Light currently sits 23rd overall and fifth in his class.