NEWS
Freshman Sire Blog: A ‘Flash’ of brilliance
Posted: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 4:27 PM
John Egan's Freshman Sire Blog appears weekly as part of the 2011 Freshman Sire Contest presented by Markel and Thoroughbred Times
by John Egan
Plenty of freshman sires had the opportunity at Royal Ascot for their progeny to show up and obtain some black-type wins, but none would cross the finish line first.
I thought that my pick for freshman sire champion honors in Europe, Teofilo, had the best chance of all with Teolane going into the Albany Stakes (Eng-G3) with a big reputation behind her. However, by standing still in the stalls at the start, every other runner was out in front of her and by missing the break she was never in the race.
In the end, the best performance by a juvenile from the first crop of any freshman sire was Fort Bastion by Lawman. However, in the seven-furlong Chesham Stakes, Fort Bastion finished second behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained Maybe, who is a very impressive looking daughter of Galileo (Ire).
Galileo was the sire of the one-two in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby (Ire-G1) and stamina presents no problems to Maybe. She looks a star in the making. I would expect Fort Bastion to go on to win some nice races in 2011 to frank the form.
Since Royal Ascot there has been a lot going on with freshman sires and again those who are part of the freshman sire Facebook page have been receiving a number of daily updates.
It was great to see a graded stakes win by a freshman sire on June 25 as Flashy Lassie, by Flashy Bull, won the Debutante Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs. Flashy Bull, who stands at Airdrie Stud in Midway, Kentucky, was a winner of the nine-furlong Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) as a four-year-old and his daughter, Flashy Lassie—who is also out of a dam by Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Lemon Drop Kid—closed extremely well to win the six-furlong Debutante.
It appears that Flashy Lassie will definitely appreciate more distance as she matures and she is a graded stakes winner at Churchill. It may be too early to talk about the first Friday in May and 1 1/8 miles at Churchill, but let’s hope that this filly continues to show enough this year to warrant a place in the 2012 Kentucky Oaks (G1) starting gate.
Since the first blog I wrote for the freshman sire competition—which now seems like many moons ago—I have put all my eggs into the Hard Spun basket. It was therefore great this week to see this stallion have two winners in two days in England.
The only disappointment being that he is my selection in Group 1 of the competition, but due to the purse structure in England two wins only gained me about $11,000 in earnings!
Remember to keep visiting the freshman sire page and also look for updates on Facebook as you may be able to see which sires are set to go on a hot streak.
Previous Freshman Sire blogs:
Spring at last
It's a marathon, not a sprint
Alright son, you're nicked!
Remembering Rags to Riches
Is 2011 a safe bet for a Darley double?
What is your name? What is your favorite color?
A change of pace
Small victories
Spin around
The passing of a legend
Zen proves to be good karma
Let's Sheikh on it
I saw him first
Royal Ascot, Part 1
Royal Ascot babies for Thursday, Friday, Saturday
About John Egan
A native Londoner, John Egan has been a racing enthusiast from a very young age and even owned interests in Thoroughbred racehorses with his parents. After graduating from University with a business degree in 1997, John spent three years working in the London insurance market before pursuing his desire to work in the racing industry. He began work as an assistant to a trainer and was predominately based at Wolverhampton racecourse in England. After a spell in training, John then went to work for Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber's farms of Watership Down in England and Ireland before relocating to Kentucky and Lane's End Farm in 2002. After two years at Lane's End, John decided to combine his experience in the horse and insurance industries and became an equine insurance agent, which he did for three years, before making the transition to underwriter for a large multi-national insurance company. In 2008, he became underwriting manager of the Lexington office of Markel Insurance Company, which was opened in October of that year with the primarily focus of writing Thoroughbred equine mortality insurance.
With the launch of the Lexington office, John has become actively involved in Thoroughbred media to help promote Markel. He appeared on the Horse Racing Radio Network's Saturday morning show in 2009 and 2010 to discuss horses on the Kentucky Derby trail. In 2009, John also began a freshman sire competition and created a newsletter with that competition called The Freshman. That contest caught the eye of THOROUGHBRED TIMES and a partnership was formed to present the Freshman Sire Contest together in 2010. The partnership continues with the 2011 competition also being presented by Markel and THOROUGHBRED TIMES.
John lives in Lexington and is married to Melissa, who is a small animal veterinarian.
