To me, it’s hard to beat sitting down on a cold winter day and reading the Stallion Register; plowing through each page while searching for the best stallion to breed to an imaginary mare, or trying to find the perfect mate for Zenyatta, or simply marveling over the incredible records of the finest stallions in North American. And of course, it’s always fun to stumble across names like Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, and Invasor; taking a trip down memory lane as you recall Birdstone wearing down good old Smarty in that final furlong of the 2004 Belmont Stakes, or remembering when Curlin flew past Wanderin Boy deep in the stretch of the 2008 Jockey Club Gold Cup to finally surpass the great Cigar’s earnings record.
But undoubtedly one of my favorite things to do when reading the Stallion Register is to search for stallions that may be worth more than their stud fees. For example, I’ve always felt that Kitten’s Joy was worth more than he stood for, and that opinion has been vindicated by his recent successes as a stallion. He will command a fee of $50,000 in 2012.
While browsing through the register over the last few days, I noticed one stallion who stands out as a horse that, in my opinion, is worth much, much more than his stud fee. He is Awesome Of Course, a little 15.1 hand stallion standing for a mere $5,000 at Journeyman Stud in Ocala, Florida.
Awesome Of Course, a son of Awesome Again out of the Lyphard mare Mais Oui, was born in the year 2000 and proved to be a useful competitor on the racetrack, earning $152,440 over the course of two seasons while winning the Inaugural, Western Border, and Heckofaralph Stakes. He retired to stud at the end of 2003 and his first foals arrived in 2005. Standing in Florida, he was, of course, not going to get the same number or quality of mares that are sent each year to leading stallions such as Giant’s Causeway, Smart Strike or Bernardini. In fact, Awesome Of Course’s first crop comprised just eight named foals. What is amazing is that all eight of them went on to win a race, giving him an amazing total of 100% winners from foals in his first crop. By comparison, Giant’s Causeway’s first crop yielded only 58% winners.
The success continued for Awesome Of Course. His next crop featured nine foals, and while only six made it to the races, they all won. His 2007 crop garnered four winners from five starters. His 2008 crop contained two winners from four starters. 2009? Three winners from five starters. And the thing is, those non-winners from his last two crops still have excellent chances of breaking their maidens even still, for they are still quite young. According to the Stallion Register’s statistics, 28 of Awesome of Course’s 40 foals have made it to the races, and 23 of them have won. Those are simply mind-boggling statistics.
And he is not just getting winners. He is getting stakes winners, like Awesome Feather, the Eclipse champion 2yo filly of 2010, and Fort Loudon, who swept the 2011 Florida Stallion Stakes Series. All told, he is the sire of 5 stakes winners from 40 foals, a percentage of 13%. Now here is a list I compiled of some of the prominent stallions standing in this country, along with the percentage of stakes winners from named foals:
Distorted Humor – 11%
Giant’s Causeway – 9%
Tapit – 9%
Smart Strike – 8%
Street Cry – 7%
Candy Ride – 6%
Kitten’s Joy – 6%
Medaglia d’Oro – 6%
Bernardini – 5%
This list makes Awesome Of Course’s 13% look simply amazing. And this is for a stallion standing in Florida, where opportunities for stallions to make it big have traditionally been few and far between, with all of the best mares going to the Kentucky stallions. In addition to the facts listed above, allow me to quote a few other stunning statistics from Awesome Of Course’s ad in the Stallion Register:
“Highest 2-year-old average per starter in the nation - $147,568.”
“Highest average earnings per starter in Florida – 109,494.”
To me, these statistics make it clear that Awesome Of Course could be one of the best sires in the nation if given the opportunities of a stallion like Distorted Humor or Giant’s Causeway. From just 40 foals, he has sired five stakes winners. 23 of his 28 runners have made it to the winner’s circle. And he stands for just $5,000.
That is what I call a bargain.
-Keelerman
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