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Medaglia d'Oro (TrueNicks,SRO) is currently in command of what looks to be a promising group of second-crop sires (the leaders' list also includes Tapit (TrueNicks,SRO) , Candy Ride (ARG) (TrueNicks,SRO) , Speightstown (TrueNicks,SRO) , and Lion Heart (TrueNicks,SRO) ), and he added another stakes winner recently when She's Our Annie took the Prima Donna Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

She's Our Annie is out of the Roar mare Girl Gone Crazy, and Medaglia d'Oro's only other starter out of a mare by Roar is Rachel Alexandra, a grade II winne, who many regard as the best 3-year-old filly around.

It is not immediately obvious why Medaglia d'Oro would hit it off so well with Roar. Looking at the broad Mr. Prospector cross, his sire El Prado (IRE) (TrueNicks,SRO) has at least 13 stakes winners out of Mr. Prospector-line mares, but only one of those is a graded winner, and the strike rate is not tremendous relative to opportunity. There also doesn't appear to be a particularly obvious affinity between Sadler's Wells and Roar' sire, Forty Niner.

Roar's dam is by Northern Dancer, out of a daughter of a Hail to Reason mare, where Sadler's Wells is a Northern Dancer/Hail to Reason cross. Roar's granddam is a Ribot/Hail to Reason (Royal Charger line) cross, while Medaglia d'Oro's fourth dam is a Ribot/Royal Charger cross, and Ribot and Hail to Reason/Turn-to tend to combine well, but we'd admit we're pretty much guessing at this stage!

So... coincidence or trend? We note virtually all of his top performers to date are females. We'd be very hesitant to draw conclusions on the basis of one crop, and it may just be that the colts are slower maturing than the fillies, but its a point worth watching.

Filed under: Recent Winners, Emerging Nicks, Sires