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We are very excited to have been able to recommend the brilliant 2-year-old Kantharos, whose success and versatility at stud have already outstripped what he himself accomplished in an abbreviated career on the racetrack, as a first match for the well-bred Midnight Lute mare, Midnight Swinger.
Because Midnight Swinger is herself a half-sister to a multiple stakes-placed winner by Harlan’s Holiday, our initial thought was that another Storm Cat-line stallion would be a sensible plan for her own first mating. And though Midnight Swinger’s sire, Midnight Lute, is too young to have any meaningful statistics as a broodmare sire from which we could take direction, he has crossed successfully over Storm Cat-line mares, so it is not unreasonable to expect that the reverse cross could be successful as well. We are also encouraged by the fact that Midnight Lute’s sire, Real Quiet, has produced the dam of a stakes winner by the Storm Cat son Giant’s Causeway, while the broader cross of Fappiano-line mares (Real Quiet being a grandson of Fappiano via Quiet American) under Storm Cat-line stallions has produced no fewer than ten Grade 1 winners already.
Especially when one notices that Midnight Swinger is inbred 4×4 to Fappiano (her own dam, Emma Carly, being a daughter of Unbridled’s Song, who is the broodmare sire of Giant’s Causeway’s Grade 1 winner Carpe Diem), we believe that this cross has a lot of merit.
Midnight Swinger’s family is also poised for additional successes with this cross, as several of her female relatives have foals by Storm Cat-line stallions in the pipeline: Midnight Swinger’s own 2-year-old half-brother is a son of Scat Daddy, and he cost Mike Ryan $360,000 at last year’s Keeneland September Sale; Royale Harbor (who is closely related to Midnight Swinger’s dam, being by Unbridled’s Song’s son Rockport Harbor and out of the same dam) has a 2-year-old by Into Mischief that cost $100,000 at Keeneland September, along with a yearling filly by Lea, and a 2018 foal expected by Not This Time; Royale Michele (a Grade 2-winning half-sister to Emma Carly, by Elusive Quality) has a 3-year-old by Eskendereya that cost $300,000 as a juvenile in-training, and a yearling filly by Carpe Diem; while Royale Michele’s daughter Royale Paradise (by Unbridled’s Song, and thus closely-related to Emma Carly) has a 2-year-old colt by Goldencents that the Winchells just paid $400,000 at OBS March, with a Carpe Diem yearling colt coming next.
Once we had confirmed that a Storm Cat-line stallion would be a reasonable way to go with Midnight Swinger, the next step was to figure out which option fitting that criteria makes the most sense. And given that Midnight Swinger’s foal will most likely be offered for sale at public auction, we quickly decided that the stallion in our price range with the most (commercial) upside and lowest amount of risk was Hill ‘n’ Dale’s recent Florida transplant, Kantharos.
A brilliant 2-year-old, Kantharos won his three juvenile starts by a combined 28 and a half lengths, including the G2 Saratoga Special and the G3 Bashford Manor. Unfortunately, he was injured while preparing for the G1 Hopeful and forced to retire, which he did to Vinery in Florida, as his abbreviated race record and not-quite-commercial pedigree (which is also what limited him to a $250,000 purchase price at OBS as a 2-year-old) were not enough to find him a home in Kentucky right off the bat, despite his obvious talent and good looks.
As auspicious a start as he’d gotten off to during his racing career, Kantharos’s stud career began almost as impressively – he had 18 first-crop 2-year-old winners from 31 runners, putting him just narrowly behind Florida stalwart Wildcat Heir as the state’s leading juvenile sire. His first crop of 51 foals now contains 39 individual winners, including six stakes winners (12%), and he has remained almost as hot with his subsequent crops, with two stakes winners from 23 foals in his second crop, and five stakes winners from 70 foals in his third (through the end of their 4-year-old season in 2018). His total thus far of fifteen stakes winners from 220 foals aged 3 and up is good for 6.8%, which is an outstanding percentage in this big book era – especially in light of the fact that he’s achieved those results (and a 1.65 AEI) with mates good for just a 1.26 CI.
As early as the beginning of 2016, when his first crop had just turned 4-years old, Kantharos had been identified as a stallion on the rise, and the “best value sire on the planet,” given his high percentage of good winners from fairly modest, regional mares. His continued success that year resulted in his relocation from Florida to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky for the 2017 season, where, despite a fee increase from $5,000 to $15,000, he was still deemed an excellent value by pundits as well as, apparently, by breeders, who sent him more mares (155) than he’d covered in any season previously. Runners by Kantharos continued to have success in 2017 and thus far in 2018 to such a degree that he has again been identified (by us in a blog post, as well as by more recognizable commentators) as a value sire for 2018.
Nor have the Kantharos offspring been as fragile as he himself was, his runners thus far averaging more than eleven starts apiece (including the stats for his just-turned 3-year-olds), and they have not been flashes in the pan either, as his Graded stakes winners Bucchero, X Y Jet and Mr. Jordan have all won or placed in stakes races this season as 6-year-olds (X Y Jet having run a close 2nd this past weekend in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen for the second time). Kantharos’s runners have also been able to run farther than might have been expected, with Mr. Jordan and Ancient Secret both taking Graded stakes around two-turns (on dirt and turf, respectively).
Kantharos has obtained solid sales results with his offspring as well, with 23 of his 28 yearlings offered in 2017 averaging $40,957, with an impressive median of $40,000, including a $130,000 filly at the Fasig-Tipton July sale. And this year he’s already had a $410,000 2-year-old colt (to Rockingham Ranch) and a $130,000 2-year-old filly (to Eclipse Thoroughbreds) at the OBS March sale – all of these results coming from a crop conceived at just $5,000 while he was still in Florida.
With respect to Midnight Swinger more specifically, Kantharos has produced one stakes winner so far from a Fappiano-line mare (Danbury, out of a daughter of the Unbridled’s Song stallion Werblin) from fairly limited opportunities, and he has had success with mares from other Mr. Prospector sire-lines, as well. Given that Kantharos’s grandsire Tale of the Cat, when crossed with mares by Fappiano’s sons or grandsons, has produced the likes of Eclipse Champion 2-year-old filly She’s a Tiger and Graded stakes winners A Shin Top, Appealing Tale, Favorite Tale, Spellbinder (out of a mare by Quiet American), Alpha Kitten and Meal Penalty, we think there’s every reason to believe this cross will be successful with more opportunities.
In addition, as a two-time winner on turf, from 6-1/2 furlongs (at Santa Anita) to a mile (at Del Mar), Midnight Swinger’s racing proclivities match up nicely with what Kantharos has produced so far.
With his increased recent support, both in terms of quantity and quality, we believe that Kantharos is well on his way to enhancing his status as a successful and representative member of the Storm Cat male-line, and are excited to be able to recommend him for Midnight Swinger’s first mating.
Kantharos wins the G2 Saratoga Special
Kantharos wins first-time out at Churchill Downs
Bucchero, by Kantharos, wins the G2 Woodford
Ancient Secret, by Kantharos, wins the G2 Lake George
X Y Jet, by Kantharos, wins the G3 Mr. Prospector