Scat Daddy's legacy set to be further enhanced at Saratoga Select Sale

Scat Daddy fever is about to hit Saratoga this week as Fasig-Tipton's Select Sale kicks off yearling sales season in style at the grand New York State venue.

Despite Scat Daddy's death more than seven years ago, aged only 11, the Florida Derby and Champagne Stakes winner, who earned his first Graded victory at Saratoga in the Sanford Stakes, has compiled quite a legacy and his sons are responsible for some of the stand-out lots at the Select Sale on Monday and Tuesday.

No Nay Never's Norfolk Stakes win for Wesley Ward, which he followed with Group 1 success in the Prix Morny back in 2013, was the first real hint at what Scat Daddy could bring to European racing, as despite never racing on turf himself, he proved more than capable of siring top-class performers on that surface.

The now 11-year-old has been something of a pathfinder for Scat Daddy as a sire, providing the first indications of what he was capable of achieving on the track and in the breeding shed

Coolmore's main Irish conduit for the Scat Daddy line was European champion first season sire and is currently the leading sire of two-year-olds in Britain and Ireland as his first crop bred at a six-figure fee carry all before them.

Impressive Phoenix Stakes winner Little Big Bear is a grandson of Scat DaddyCredit: Caroline Norris

He is now the sire of four individual Group/Grade 1 winners from 40 stakes winners in total and Little Big Bear's stroll to glory in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday promised even greater riches ahead.

Little Big Bear is the fourth individual Group/Grade 1 winner from five crops of racing age by No Nay Never, who is also the sire of this season's July Cup heroine Alcohol Free, a four-time Group 1 winner, Ten Sovereigns, who also won the July Cup, and the Chilean Classic-winning filly Brooke.

No Nay Never currently has 13 juvenile winners in Britain and Ireland from 32 runners, which gives him a strike rate of 41 per cent. His stakes winners to runners rate is highly impressive with four out of six, making it 67 per cent.

In addition to Little Big Bear, who won the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes and the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes, No Nay Never is also the sire of Molecomb Stakes winner Trillium; Blackbeard who missed the Phoenix Stakes but had already been successful in the Prix Robert Papin and Marble Hill Stakes; and the unbeaten dual Group 3 winner Meditate.

Yearlings parade at Saratoga ahead of the Fasig-Tipton Select SaleCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photos/photos by Z

Buyers at Saratoga will have a single shot at purchasing a yearling by the hottest stallion in Europe and they will have to be quick as the colt, consigned by Eaton Sales, is the second horse into the ring on Monday.

Lot 3 is a half-brother to the Group 2 July and Richmond Stakes winner Ivawood, who was also second in the Middle Park Stakes and third in both the 2,000 and Irish 2,000 Guineas for Richard Hannon Sr and Fiona and Ian Carmichael-Jennings.

Ivawood is one of three winners so far out of Keenes Royale, a winning daughter of Red Ransom and Kinnaird, victorious in the Group 1 Prix de l'Opera. Kinnaird is also the dam of Royal Lodge Stakes winner Berkshire, who stands at Kedrah House Stud, and the Listed Wagga Wagga Gold Cup winner Abdon.

Scat Daddy's final crop contained his masterpiece, the unbeaten Triple Crown hero Justify, and the imposing chestnut has made an impressive start to his stallion career with a Group/Graded winning daughter on each side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Unbeaten Statuette, out of Group 1 Coronation Stakes and Prix Jacques le Marois winner Immortal Verse, became her sire's first Group winner when she took the Airlie Stud Stakes at the Curragh. She is a three-parts sister to Cheveley Park Stakes and Prix Jean Prat winner Tenebrism, from the first crop of Scat Daddy's Phoenix Stakes and Commonwealth Cup winner Caravaggio.

Just Cindy, who won the Schuyerville Stakes at Saratoga, is out of a mare by Proud Citizen, as is No Nay Never's Chilean Group 1 winner Brooke.

Lady Aurelia, who was another star to shine so brightly for Scat Daddy in Europe with her victories in the King's Stand Stakes, Prix Morny and Queen Mary, has Forest Wildcat as her broodmare sire as does Eaton Sales' Justify colt out of Be My Prospect (139).

A half-brother to the Grade 2 and Grade 3-placed Cat Burglar by Unbridled's Song, the chestnut's dam is a half-sister to Away, twice placed in Grade 3 contests, and better known as the dam of the ill-fated Eight Belles.

In the frame at SaratogaCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photos/photos by Z

Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn is, like his Ashford Stud colleague Justify, from the penultimate crop of Scat Daddy. Trained by Aidan O'Brien for the Coolmore partners, the half-brother to leading sire Into Mischief and to champion Beholder has sired six winners from 22 first crop runners to date and he is represented by five of his second crop at Saratoga this week.

On pedigree, the filly out of Grade 3 Torrey Pine Stakes winner Munny Spirit (31) looks to be the Mendelssohn offspring of most interest at Saratoga. Consigned by Northview Stallion Station, she is the second foal of her dam, who is a daughter of Munnings and a granddaughter of Hard Spun.

Outside of Scat Daddy's stallion sons, European pedigree interest at Saratoga comes mainly through Galileo's daughters.

There are three fillies in the sale who can boast Galileo as their broodmare sire, and as to be expected, they also possess impeccable pedigrees.

Taylor Made Sales, acting as agent for Town and Country Horse Farms, offers a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro inbred 3x3 to Sadler's Wells (48).

She is out of the Group 3 Munster Oaks and Listed Salsabil Stakes winner Pretty Perfect, who was trained by Aidan O'Brien. Pretty Perfect's dam is the Group 3 Tokyo City Cup winner and Group 1 Schweppes Oaks and Kingston Town Stakes second Milanova, a Danehill full-sister to Group 1 Phoenix Stakes and Grand Criterium winner and leading sire Holy Roman Emperor.

Third dam L'On Vite, an unraced daughter of Secretariat, is a full-sister to champion Medaille D'Or and a half-sister to champions L'Enjoleur and La Voyageuse.

Waiting to show at the Taylor Made BarnCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photos/photos by Z

The same consignor also offers a filly (177) bred on the proven War Front - Galileo cross that has produced horses such as the Group 1 winners and full-siblings US Navy Flag and Roly Poly.

She is the second foal out of the Group 2 Kilboy Estates Stakes winner Elizabeth Browning who is a full-sister to Group 1 Criterium International winner Johannes Vermeer, who was placed in the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Racing Post Trophy. Elizabeth Browning is also a full-sister to Wembley, who was runner-up in both the National and Dewhurst Stakes.

The final member of the trio to come under the hammer is Mulholland Springs' first foal out of Galileo's Melody (195). Her seven-year-old dam was bred by Joseph Allen out of the Grade 2 Dahlia Handicap winner Grande Melody by Grand Lodge and her third dam, Crystal Melody, is an unraced Nureyev full-sister to Fillies' Mile winner and Irish 1,000 Guineas second Crystal Music from the family of Zelzal, Space Traveller and Ocovango.

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