Why Aidan O'Brien's sky-high praise for Justify might turn out to be not so overblown after all

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On this occasion, Martin Stevens takes a closer look at Justify's career so far and what is come to from the Coolmore-based stallion – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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A few eyebrows were raised when Aidan O’Brien described Justify as potentially “the best ever” sire in an interview in Good Morning Bloodstock last year – not long after he had sent out Warm Heart, Galileo’s 99th top-level winner, to score in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational with the bravery that was a trademark of her father's output.

“Justify is definitely the most different stallion,” said the master of Ballydoyle about the new apple of his eye. “He’s different from any other thoroughbred you’ve seen. He’s a big, muscly, powerful horse. It beggars belief that he was able to stretch out and win a Belmont.

“His stock stood out the moment they arrived. They’re big, rangy horses with huge strides, all of them genuine and with good wind. We had to wait and see whether they had the class, but as soon as they started racing, it all came out.

“If there’s any sire in the world who demonstrated class, it was him in his last three months of racing. Nobody could have asked him to do more than what he did. One follows another like night follows day, and his progeny are the same. They go forward, they cruise and they quicken. It’s so exciting.

“It’s unbelievable. Justify is a big sprinter, like a quarter horse, who was able to win over a mile and a half. Where on earth does that come from? I think it’ll be unbelievable what his progeny are going to do. I don’t think we’ve seen anything like what’s going to happen yet.”

‘Well he would say that, wouldn’t he?’ was probably some of my more cynical readers’ response to O’Brien’s paean of praise for the son of Scat Daddy. ‘After all, it's in the job description to talk up the Coolmore stallions.'

I must confess that I did think myself that O’Brien might have got a little carried away with the rhapsodising – not out of his own self-interest, but because of recency bias, with the sire having just supplied the European champion two-year-old colt and filly, City Of Troy and Opera Singer, both of whom were housed at Ballydoyle.

But, as time goes by, O’Brien is looking more and more justified – pardon the pun – in placing the Triple Crown laureate on such a high pedestal.

Ruling Court (William Buick) beats Field Of Gold and Shadow of Light in the 2,000 GuineasCredit: Edward Whitaker

Whether Justify turns out to be “the best ever” stallion is debatable, but the trainer was right: there is something other-worldly about him (we learned in a piece with Coolmore’s staff on the ground in Good Morning Bloodstock in February that he weighs 700 kilos, a full 50 kilos more than any horse who has stood at the operation’s Irish base) and he has been passing on his exceptional gifts to his offspring with regularity.

City Of Troy went on to win the Derby, Eclipse and Juddmonte International to be named joint-world champion, and is serving his first book of mares at Coolmore in Ireland; Opera Singer overcame an interrupted spring to take the Nassau Stakes; and the Christopher Head-trained Ramatuelle atoned for her 1,000 Guineas near-miss by bolting up in the Prix de la Foret.

Now, thanks to Ruling Court’s game victory in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday, Justify has his eighth Group/Grade 1 winner, the fifth trained in Europe, from four crops of racing age. 

The colt, who made a record amount for a breeze-up horse in Europe when sold by Norman and Janet Williamson's Oak Tree Farm to Godolphin for €2.3 million in Deauville last May, was bred in Kentucky out of the Grade 3-placed High Chaparral mare Inchargeofme. 

Ruling Court's pedigree was dealt with in this space after he won the UAE 2,000 Guineas in March: you might remember he is descended from Hascombe and Valiant Studs’ bonny little Falmouth Stakes heroine Inchmurrin.

Her maternal line has been in fine form of late, having also given us The Lion In Winter, who beat Ruling Court into third when successful in the Acomb Stakes last August, and Liberty Lane and Godwinson, winners of the Cambridgeshire and Lincoln handicaps in the past year.

Ruling Court is an important horse for the direction of breeding in Europe as, all being well, he will become a first stallion son of Justify for Godolphin’s breeding arm of Darley, presumably in Britain or Ireland.

It is, dare I say, no bad thing to see this particular branch of the Scat Daddy sire-line expand when it has shown itself to be more capable of delivering progressive and versatile horses than some others.

Success should breed success for Justify. His two-year-olds were conceived at a fee of $100,000 but in his fourth season at stud, before he had proven himself, and so while there are plenty of well bred members of that crop, it won't have quite the same strength in depth as other generations, in terms of pedigree. 

Justify's son City Of Troy is serving his first book of mares at Coolmore in IrelandCredit: GROSSICK RACING

But with City Of Troy and co driving demand for the sire’s stock on the track last year, those two-year-olds still sold for an average of $327,000 and median of $250,000 as yearlings last year, up from an average of $285,000 and median of $245,000 in 2023.

Seven of those Justify juveniles are set to be offered at the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale, the source of Ruling Court, on Saturday. Buyers are creatures of habit, so expect any of those lots who please in their breeze to make a small fortune.

Justify’s yearlings of 2024 were also conceived at a fee of $100,000 after he showed significant promise with his first two-year-olds without setting the world alight (no harm in that, as the current ‘best ever’ sire Galileo showed). 

Only 13 came up for auction as foals last year, and they sold for an average of around $286,000 and median of $249,000: a decent mark-up on the cost of production, but European interest in the sire redoubled by Ruling Court might see many vendors of his yearlings this year make even bigger profits.

Justify’s book really went blockbuster last year, after a bumper set of results in his sophomore season in 2023. 

Woody Stephens Stakes hero Arabian Lion, Belmont Oaks winner Aspen Grove and Bluegrass Stakes and H Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes runner-up Verifying emerged from his first crop, while four Group/Grade 1-winning two-year-olds came out of his second generation: City Of Troy and Opera Singer in Europe, and Hard To Justify and Just FYI at the Breeders’ Cup meeting in the US. 

Together Forever: dam of City Of Troy has been covered by Justify againCredit: Edward Whitaker

Equineline reports that Justify covered 263 mares to northern-hemisphere time at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky last year.

They included no fewer than 57 daughters of Galileo, to replicate the cross that produced City Of Troy. Among them were Coolmore’s own top-flight winners Alice Springs, Clemmie, Empress Josephine, Forever Together, Found, Happily, Hydrangea, Love, Magical, Magic Wand, Minding, Rhododendron, Shale, Tuesday, Warm Heart, Was and Winter. This cohort also includes Together Forever, the dam of City Of Troy, unsurprisingly.

Best In The World, the dam of ill-fated triple Oaks heroine Snowfall, and Toy, the impeccably well bred Irish Oaks runner-up, are just two of the other high-profile Galileo mares sent by the operation to the stallion last year.

Other notable names owned by Coolmore partners, outright or in part, covered by Justify in 2024 included Abel Tasman (by Quality Road), Alpine Star (Sea The Moon), Bellafina (Quality Road), Bracelet (Montjeu), Campanelle (Kodiac), Cayenne Pepper (Australia), Even Song (Mastercraftsman), Fairyland (Kodiac), Fancy Blue (Deep Impact), Fleeting (Zoffany), Gagnoa (Sadler’s Wells), Gamine (Into Mischief), I Can Fly (Fastnet Rock), Immortal Verse (Pivotal), Kimari (Munnings), Legatissimo (Danehill Dancer), Mother Earth (Zoffany), Newspaperofrecord (Lope De Vega), Roly Poly (War Front), Rosdhu Queen (Invincible Spirit), Rushing Fall (More Than Ready), Samaready (More Than Ready), September (Deep Impact) and Sparrow (Oasis Dream).

Safe to say that the Coolmore top brass play by the rules of ‘go big or go home’.

Lots of other breeders with European connections also made sure to get in on the action with Justify at his private fee last year, though.

Ruling Court’s owner Godolphin supported the stallion with US Grade 1 victress Dickinson (Medaglia D'Oro), Balanchine winner Summer Romance (Kingman), dual Group 3 scorer Tranquil Lady (Australia), 104-rated Victory Wave (Distorted Humor) and high-class With The Moonlight (Frankel).

Juddmonte got behind him with a number of mares including British-breds Jubiloso (Shamardal), who ran third in the Coronation Stakes, and Juncture (Dark Angel), a dual Listed winner. Both are related to Frankel, the former being out of the unbeaten world champion’s half-sister Joyeuse and the latter being out of his daughter Occurrence.

The Aga Kahn-owned Tahiyra was among Justify's book of mares this yearCredit: Alan Crowhurst

The Aga Khan Studs sent four-time Group 1 heroine Tahiyra (Siyouni), Group 2 winner Darkaniya (Frankel) and Group 3 scorer Tariyana (Sea The Stars).

Lady Bamford’s well-credentialled mares Rosscarbery (Sea The Stars) and Queen Of My Heart (Dubawi) also went to him for their first dates. 

Fittocks Stud and Arrow Farm & Stud sent Program Trading’s dam Dreamlike and Fethard Bloodstock sent Sioux Nation’s dam Dream The Blues, both mares being by Oasis Dream.

Among the other proven mares with European interest sent to Justify last year were Star Terms’ dual Group 2-winning dam Best Terms (Exceed And Excel), owned by the Barnett family, and Trillium’s similarly classy dam Marsh Hawk (Invincible Spirit), owned by Rockcliffe Stud.

There was also Camille Pissarro and Golden Horde’s dam Entreat (Pivotal), owned by CN Farm; Mishriff’s dam Contradict (Raven’s Pass), owned by Prince Faisal’s Nawara Stud; and Tilsit’s dam Multilingual (Dansili), owned by Ben Sangster.

Furthermore, Merry Fox Stud sent Round Tower Stakes winner Treasure Trove (Siyouni); Moyglare Stud sent Group 3 winner and Group 1 runner-up Malavath (Mehmas); and Watership Down Stud sent Too Darn Hot’s winning full-sister Darlectable You (Dubawi).

Justify is far from an outpost of European breeding activity, though, and among the more permanently North American-based Grade 1 winners he was mated with last year were Bleecker Street (Quality Road), Byrama (Byron), Cambier Parc (Medaglia D’Oro), Chasing Yesterday (Tapit), Dunbar Road (Quality Road), Eda (Munnings), Malathaat (Curlin), Marketing Mix (Medaglia D’Oro), Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock), Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), Sharing (Speightstown), Spendarella (Karakontie), Uni (More Than Ready) and War Flag (War Front).

All of that is only really scratching the surface of Justify’s 2024 book, which was deep on quality and will be so again this year, at a fee of $250,000 that made him America's joint-most expensive sire.

 There is time, and every opportunity, for the stallion to prove O’Brien right by becoming “the best ever” or at least one of the best, then. We might not have “seen anything like what's going to happen yet” after all.

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Pedigree pick

It’s a bountiful bank holiday for well bred newcomers. Pedigree nerds studying today’s racecards in Britain and Ireland will find no end of siblings to and/or offspring of high-class performers making their racecourse debuts.

The one that stands out most for me, though, is Spy Chief in the six-furlong maiden for three-year-olds and older horses at Kempton (2.00). 

The three-year-old gelding, trained by John and Thady Gosden for Godolphin, is by top sire Kingman and out of Epsom and Curragh Oaks runner-up Shirocco Star, making him a half-brother to five winners including Group 2 scorers Al Suhail and Telecaster, as well as Group 1-placed Mistral Star.

 Spy Chief’s immediate family is not only up to scratch, but he hails from his breeder Meon Valley Stud’s outstanding Reprocolor dynasty. It is no wonder that Godolphin were pushed to 750,000gns to secure him from Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

 The only small surprise is that he is making his debut over a sprint distance, when his dam and all of his siblings to have raced bar Al Suhail have needed a trip. He must presumably have suggested to connections that he has more of his sire Kingman and paternal grandsire Invincible Spirit’s speed.

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Good Morning Bloodstock is our unmissable email newsletter. Leading bloodstock journalist Martin Stevens provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday