I am glad to see Stroll returning to Claiborne Farm after having spent a couple years in Italy. The grade I turf star and a son of Claiborne's hot sire Pulpit has seven stakes winners in his first crop, which were 2-year-olds of 2008. As a second-crop sire he is currently co-ranked ninth by number of stakes winners (3) along with Congaree, Even the Score, Chapel Royal, and Birdstone. His chief earner for this year is Afternoon Stroll, who the Appalachian Stakes (gr. IIIT) as a 50-1 longshot then finished a respectable sixth in a field of 14 in the American Oaks (gr. IT).

We've been watching for Stroll's return because of the strong performance of his first crop. The sire was also a standout when assess by the MarketWatch Index, a sire rating developed by The Blood-Horse MarketWatch that combines the performance success with the earning power of a sire's progeny. You read more about Stroll's MWI on the MarketWatch blog post of April 28. — Eric Mitchell