With 22 days until the Breeders' Cup and a lull in the prep action, I started looking through the 25 years of BC charts yesterday and saw that Danzig sired the first-ever BC winner (Chief's Crown in the 1984 Juvenile) and one thing led to another and ... here's your list of the all-time leading sires in the first quarter-century of Breeders' Cups:
Fun Facts:
--Of the five stallions who have sired four or more BC winners, four are sons (Sadler's Wells, Danzig), gandsons (Storm Cat) or great-grandsons (Awesome Again) of Northern Dancer (right). Those four Northern Dancer line sires have accounted for the winners of 10 BC dirt races and nine on the grass. The only top-5 sire outside the Northern Dancer line is Kris S. (Roberto.)
--Nijinsky II, another son of Northern Dancer, may have sired the most diverse trio of BC winners: a dirt sprinter (Dancing Spree), a turf miler (Royal Academy) and a dirt router (Ferdinand.)
--In addition to the 15 sires of three or more BC winners in the chart above, another 19 sires have two BC winners: Chester House, Cozzene, Danehill, Doyoun, Elusive Quality, Fappiano, Indian Ridge, Marquetry, Mt. Livermore, Phone Trick, Pleasant Colony, Private account, Rahy, Raja Baba, Relaunch, Smart Strike, Street Cry and Unbridled's Song. Another four stallions sired one BC winner who won two BC races: Cape Cross (Ouija Board), Cee's Tizzy (Tiznow), Consultant's Bid (Bayakoa) and Real Quiet (Midnight Lute.)
--Most BC starts, by sire: Danzig (49), Mr. Prospector (42), Sadler's Wells (42), Storm Cat (39).
--Biggest 0-fers: Dynaformer (0 for 24), Affirmed (0 for 17), Sovereign Dancer (0 for 13.). Half of Dynaformer's 24 starts came from just three horses: Perfect Drift (5), Riskaverse (4) and Film Maker (3).
--Last year's eight winners over the synthetic Pro-Ride track at Oak Tree were sired by Chester House (Ventura, Muhannak), Tapit (Stardom Bound), Street Cry (Zenyatta), Albert the Great (Albertus Maximus), Unbridled's Song (Midshipman), Real Quiet (Midnight Lute) and Elusive Quality (Raven's Pass).
