Exported when his first foals were only three, French Deputy is now one of the world's hottest sires

When the news came that French Deputy had been exported to Japan in December 2000, not many breeders cared a great deal. Foals from first crop were then three years old and, though he had sired six stakes winners among his first three-year-olds and two-year-olds, none of them appeared to be near top class.

As so often happens when horses are sold to the Japanese, the sale of French Deputy to Shadai Farm in Hokkaido now looks like a clear case of the hasty judgment that has become all too common in the current commercial market. French Deputy has doubled his number of stakes winners to 12, seven of them group or graded winners, and over the past three or four months he has been one of the hottest sires in the world.

Bred in Kentucky by Irving and Marjorie Cowan, French Deputy is the fifth foal of the high-class Hold Your Peace mare Mitterand.

The Cowans purchased an interest in Mitterand midway through her stellar racing career from Silver Star Stable and Arnold Winick. Out of the Bold Ruler mare Laredo Lass, Mitterand won six of 17 starts for trainer Randy Winick, including the 1985 La Canada Stakes (G1) and the '84 Railbird Stakes (G3). A very fast filly who stretched her speed well enough to run second in the 1985 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (G1) at nine furlongs, Mitterand was a granddaughter of '63 Milady Handicap winner Fortunate Isle, by *Ambiorix. Irving Cowan bought out his partners for $1-million at the 1986 Keeneland November sale.

The Cowans cannot have had much cause to regret paying seven figures for Mitterand. Her fourth foal, Princess Mitterand, by Seattle Slew, won the 1994 Santa Ysabel Stakes, ran second in the '93 Hollywood Starlet Stakes (G1), and is now a member of the Cowans' broodmare band.

Like many good horses trained by Neil Drysdale, French Deputy did not race often but when he did, he ran very fast indeed.

Highly regarded from the beginning, he blitzed the field in his first start at Santa Anita Park on November 20, 1994, drawing off to win by five lengths over Fritzie's Wish in a sensational 1:08.84 for six furlongs. He was just as impressive nine weeks later in his second start, beating the fast graded stakes winner Score Quick by 2 3/4 lengths over 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.19.

That performance engendered a raging case of Kentucky Derby (G1) fever, and French Deputy boosted the thermometer even higher in his third outing three weeks later, romping home by 11 lengths over Awesome Thought in a one-mile Santa Anita allowance race run in 1:36.29. French Deputy looked certain to be the main challenger for Afternoon Deelites in the San Felipe Stakes (G1), but he bruised a foot and did not run again until September.

No American trainer is better than Drysdale at getting a horse ready for a big race off works alone, and the Racing Hall of Famer had French Deputy ready to run the best race of his life in the Jerome Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park on September 4. French Deputy outran the speedy Mr. Greeley easily, drawing off to win by four lengths in 1:33.53, with Top Account third.

Top Account knocked a little of the shine off French Deputy's reputation one month later, beating him by two lengths in a one-mile Belmont allowance race, and French Deputy had no chance to beat Cigar in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Belmont, finishing ninth.

That race was his last start. Always a difficult colt to train, French Deputy came out of that race with a strained tendon and was retired to Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Kentucky, for the 1996 season.

Big body

French Deputy had just the kind of record commercial breeders adore in a first-year stallion. By leading sire Deputy Minister out of a top-class racemare from a good family, he had shown undeniable brilliance in his brief career, and he is a very handsome individual. A medium-sized colt, he has a weightlifter's physique, with muscles bulging like a Mr. America contestant, his body perched on light-boned but correct forelegs that led to his physical problems.

French Deputy's first crop came to the races in 1999 and did not immediately shine. By the end of that freshman season, the stallion's 13 two-year-old winners from 30 starters among the 61 named foals in his first crop ranked him only 15th among freshman sires of 1999. In the hypercritical commercial marketplace, the grumbling started. More-much more-was demanded from a runner of such brilliance, no matter how briefly that flame burned.

By December 2000, only one runner of real significance had emerged from that first crop. Left Bank (out of Marshesseaux, by Dr. Blum) had just scored his first graded victory in the Discovery Handicap (G3) after surviving major abdominal surgery earlier in his three-year-old year. From French Deputy's second crop, the filly Freefourracing (Gerri n Jo Go, by Top Command) had just added the Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland Race Course to her English Group 3 win.

What the Japanese knew that Americans did not was that French Deputy had a top-class horse in his second crop in Kurofune (Blue Avenue, by Classic Go Go), who had won two of four starts that year in Japan and finished third in the Sansai Stakes, one of Japan's top juvenile races. This year, Kurofune has confirmed that promise, winning the Japan Cup Dirt in brilliant fashion and the NHK Mile Cup, pushing his earnings to $3,043,410. Both races carry Group 1 status in Japan but not in international sales catalogs.

This year, Left Bank has continued his sometimes hesitant development at four, establishing himself as one of the best milers in the country with victories in the Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) and Vosburgh Stakes (G1). Kurofune's full sister Bella Bellucci, a $900,000 Fasig-Tipton Calder purchase by Demi O'Byrne, showed promise of being every bit as good as her brother by winning the Astarita Stakes (G2) this year and running an excellent third from a bad post position in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

The Japanese-based colt Nobo Jack (Flight of Angels, by Afleet) has been almost as effective as Kurofune, winning the JBC Sprint (a Japanese Group 1 race) and four other stakes races this year.

And, in America, the four-year-old filly Queue (P J Floral, by Baldski) and three-year-old filly Latour (Restless Colony, by Pleasant Colony) have both scored Grade 2 victories.

French Deputy's 12 stakes winners represent only 6.3% of his foals of racing age, but if his subsequent crops improve as much with age as have his first two, that percentage is bound to creep close to the 10% benchmark for a really first-rate sire-at least for his five American crops. Japanese percentages tend to be much lower.

French Deputy is basically an outcross; his pedigree is studded only with the standard 5x5 double of the ubiquitous Nearco.

Interestingly enough, six of his 12 stakes winners, including three of the seven group or graded winners, are inbred within the first five generations to Bold Ruler. While that eight-time leading sire is a common name in modern pedigrees, that is a far higher incidence than predicted by chance alone. Whether that is pattern or coincidence is too early to tell.

Unfortunately, it no longer matters to American breeders. Japanese breeders will not have as many opportunities to repeat that propitious pattern, because Bold Ruler is not nearly so common in their pedigrees. But, since the dams of neither Kurofune nor Nobo Jack have a strain of Bold Ruler, they probably do not care very much at this point.