(By Avalyn Hunter)
Regardless of temperatures across the country, it's been a hot 2012 so far for recently pensioned A.P. Indy and his sire line. So far, 14 graded classic preps have been run (effectively 15, since the grade III Southwest Stakes was run in two divisions), and six have fallen to A.P. Indy grandsons or great-grandsons:
- Holy Bull Stakes (gr. III): Algorithms, by Bernardini
- Withers Stakes (gr. III): Alpha, by Bernardini
- Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II): Thunder Moccasin, by A.P. Warrior
- Risen Star Stakes (gr. II): El Padrino, by Pulpit
- Gotham Stakes (gr. III): Hansen, by Tapit
- Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II): Prospective, by Malibu Moon
The next most productive line has been that of Storm Cat, represented by:
- Sham Stakes (gr. III): Out of Bounds, by Discreet Cat
- Sam F. Davis Stakes (gr. III): Battle Hardened, by Giant's Causeway
- El Camino Real Derby (gr. III): Daddy Nose Best, by Scat Daddy
- San Felipe Stakes (gr. II): Creative Cause, by Giant's Causeway
- Swale Stakes (gr. III): Trinniberg, by Teuflesberg).
Numbers aren't everything, and there is no guarantee that either A.P. Indy or Storm Cat will have a starter in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), let alone a winner. Algorithms and Out of Bounds are already off the Derby trail with injuries, and both Thunder Moccasin and Trinniberg look better suited to sprinting, at least at this stage of the game. But it's nonetheless an interesting comparison. The results look particularly strong for A.P. Indy considering that Storm Cat is nine years his elder, sired more foals (1,452 to 1,189), and has more sons and grandsons at stud.
The Mr. Prospector sire line accounts for four graded preps with:
- LeComte Stakes (gr. III): Mr. Bowling, by Istan
- Robert B. Lewis Stakes (gr. II): I'll Have Another, by Flower Alley
- Southwest Stakes (gr. III): Castaway, by Street Sense
- Southwest Stakes (gr. III): Secret Circle, by Eddington
Mr. Prospector has more than one route to get his genes to the Derby winner's circle, however; thanks to his daughters and those of his sons and grandsons, he appears in the pedigrees of all six of A.P. Indy's representatives as well as the pedigrees of Out of Bounds, Daddy Nose Best, and Trinniberg. Mr. Prospector also appears in the pedigree of current Derby favorite Union Rags through his son Gone West, the colt's broodmare sire, and in fact appears well on his way to becoming universal in the pedigrees of top-class American runners.
