Home

Breeders now have access to complimentary ratings for the 12 stallions at Ashford Stud, as another top Kentucky farm enrolls its stallions on TrueNicks. Ashford's powerful roster is headed by Giant's Causeway (TrueNicks, SRO), who is both Storm Cat's most outstanding runner and his leading stallion son. To date, Giant's Causeway is already sire of 49 stakes winners, 27 of them group or graded, including champion 2-year-old and French Derby (Fr-I) winner Shamardal; undefeated classic winner Footstepsinthesand; and grade I winners Aragorn (TrueNicks, SRO), My Typhoon, First Samurai, Maids Causeway, Heatseeker, Frost Giant, Our Giant, and Juste Momente.

Another champion from the Storm Cat line at Ashford is Hennessy's son Johannesburg (TrueNicks, SRO), who was "World Champion" 2-year-old of 2001, the year in which he became the first horse to capture group/grade I events in four different countries in the same year. With his first crop only 4, Johannesburg has 19 stakes winners, 14 group or graded, including the Champagne Stakes and Florida Derby (both gr. I) winner Scat Daddy (TrueNicks, SRO) (now standing alongside his sire at Ashford) and 2008 group I winner Sageburg. There is another Storm Cat-line father-and-son team at Ashford in the shape of Tale of the Cat (TrueNicks, SRO) and Lion Heart (TrueNicks, SRO). Tale of the Cat has 50 stakes winners to his name, eight of them winning black type in 2008, including the grade I winner and classic performer Tale of Ekati and multiple graded scorer Gio Ponti. Lion Heart reigns as the current leading freshman sire, and already has two stakes winners including the two-time graded winner Azul Leon. Also representing Storm Cat at Ashford is his son Van Nistelrooy (TrueNicks, SRO). His first Northern Hemisphere crop are only 3, and he is already sire of 10 stakes winners, including grade Iwinner Set Play.

The Mr. Prospector line is represented at Ashford by Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winners Fusaichi Pegasus (TrueNicks, SRO) and Thunder Gulch (TrueNicks, SRO), and by Grand Slam (TrueNicks, SRO). Fusaichi Pegasus has 34 stakes winners to his credit, including grade I winners Roman Ruler, Bandini (TrueNicks, SRO) and Floral Pegasus, as well as Haradasun, the Australian champion who traveled to England to defeat the home team in this year's Queen Anne Stakes (Eng-I) at Royal Ascot. Leading sire Thunder Gulch is sire of such celebrities as Point Given (TrueNicks, SRO), Spain, Circular Quay, Balance, Tweedside, and Sense of Style. The consistent Grand Slam has 45 stakes winners to his name, including Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) victor Cajun Beat, Limehouse (TrueNicks, SRO), Strong Hope, Fire Slam (TrueNicks, SRO), and current graded winner Visionnaire.

The Ashford team is completed by champion 2-year-old Dehere (TrueNicks, SRO); the group and grade I winning Sadler's Wells son Powerscourt (TrueNicks, SRO); and juvenile star Chapel Royal (TrueNicks, SRO), already sire of 11 first-crop 2-year-old winners in 2008.

Filed under: Announcements