Midshipman remains one of the very few proven stallions in Kentucky at a reasonable fee who still provides breeders with a chance to make a buck at the sales. As such, he’s the perfect option for an owner that hopes to be able to race a foal out of her mare, but doesn’t want to foreclose the possibility of needing to sell that foal instead.
An Eclipse Champion 2YO for trainer Bob Baffert, Midshipman remains arguably the most successful stallion son of Unbridled’s Song (Liam’s Map and the late Arrogate being the two others who could make that claim) — he’s now up to 59 black-type winners (better than 8% to runners) with another 60 black-type runners to his credit. His career AEI to CI ratio stands at 1.36/1.16, meaning that he moves his mares up substantially. Four of those black-type winners are from his current 2YO crop, which includes 14 winners from 37 runners, and this precocity is also helpful to a breeder who doesn’t want to have to wait *too* long for a return on a homebred kept to race.
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Modernism herself was also precocious, finishing 3rd on debut in August of her juvenile season for Godolphin (though that wound up her only start). She is a daughter of Darley/Godolphin’s stellar racehorse Frosted, and under her second dam appears a black-type runner by Midshipman (G3-placed All Star Bub), a black-type winner by another Unbridled-line stallion in Cairo Prince (G2 winner New and Improved), plus two black-type runners by the Unbridled-line Pioneerof the Nile. So this family has worked repeatedly with this sire-line already, which is where we always begin our analysis.
Similarly, Midshipman has had success with Tapit-line mares (Tapit being the sire of Frosted), including a black-type winner and two additional black-type placed runners. So this cross works well from both directions.
Most intriguingly of all, though, is the fact that this particular pairing will result in Rasmussen Factor inbreeding 2×4 to the multiple G2-winning mare Fleet Lady, who is the dam of both Midshipman and of Frosted’s G2-winning dam Fast Cookie. Although there are not yet any foals of racing age by Midshipman out of Frosted mares, there are three runners inbred to Fleet Lady on other combinations, including the black-type winner Senescal, who is by Frosted with a second dam by Midshipman. So that’s a promising start for Fleet Lady’s Rasmussen Factor influence.
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Physically, Modernism is a medium-sized mare who will benefit from the infusion of bulk that Midshipman brings to the table, and we are excited to see what this foal does on the track for its breeder!