Heading into his third season at stud, Annapolis remains a young stallion that we are excited about. His first crop of weanlings averaged just over $50k (with a $50k median) in 2025, off of his $12,500 stud fee — so that’s a very solid return, and bodes well for the looks of his foals. We’re excited that our friends at Wasabi will be using him again in 2026, this time for the talented runner and well-bred mare Calling All Angels.
A homebred for the Bass Racing Stable, Annapolis served notice of his potential with a series of bullet works leading up to his 2YO debut at Saratoga, and he didn’t disappoint first-time out, winning off by more than four lengths in a TDN Rising Star performance at 1-1/16 miles on turf. He came back and showed grit to go with his brilliance when he was up against it style-wise in a four-horse field for the G2 Pilgrim Stakes. Sent to keep tabs on a well-meant Chad Brown runner on the front-end, Annapolis dueled the length of the Belmont stretch with that rival before just prevailing by a head, earning an 89 Beyer Speed Figure — the highest Beyer for a 2YO on turf that season.
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He returned as a sophomore and finished 2nd in the G3 Penn Mile over soft turf off a seven-month layoff, then won the Manila at Belmont by open lengths. A close 2nd in the G1 Saratoga Derby when stretched to 1-3/16 miles preceded a romping, 5-1/2 length, wire-to-wire victory in the 1-1/16-mile G3 Saranac at Saratoga at 1/9. Leaving straight 3YO company after that, Annapolis was sent out against a talented field of older horses in the G1 Coolmore Turf Mile and showed a brilliant turn of foot to go clear of G1Ws Ivar and Order of Australia, with the likes of Set Piece, Casa Creed, Classic Causeway, Atone, Santin and Somelikeithotbrown even further back. His winning time of 1:33.1 was a new stakes record. He then closed out his 3YO year beaten just 5-1/2 lengths in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Mile.
Annapolis returned at 4YO with a gritty victory in Churchill’s Opening Verse, then ran 2nd to Casa Creed in both the G3 Kelso and the G1 Fourstardave, prior to closing his career with a pair of off-the-board finishes when beaten small margins in the Mint Million at Kentucky Downs, and when attempting to defend his title at Keeneland.
In addition to the precocity and brilliance that he showed on the racetrack, Annapolis brings a stunning physical and an excellent pedigree to stud. He’s a strapping 16.2 hands, with loads of scope and substance. And in addition to being by War Front (the best statistical sire in the country by percentages of stakes winners, graded winners, and G1Ws), Annapolis is out of the G2W My Miss Sophia, a daughter of Unbridled’s Song who placed in the G1 Kentucky Oaks and was a $4 million broodmare buy. She’s also a half-sister to the G1 Florida Derby winner Materiality, from the immediate family of G1 Travers winner Afleet Express and G1 Alabama winner Embellish the Lace.
Calling All Angels herself was purchased as a Goffs Orby yearling for the equivalent of $105k by DJ Stable, and made her first four starts as a 2YO in Ireland (including a 3rd over 5 furlongs at Naas). Shipped stateside for her sophomore campaign, she ran eight times here and won three races, plus was 2nd in three more. Her wins came at 7-1/2 furlongs on turf, 1-1/16 miles on turf, and at 1-1/16 miles on the all-weather at Gulfstream.
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In addition to her own achievements, Calling All Angels is a half-sister to the G2 winner Duhail, plus five more winners. Two of those winners (including Belmont Avenue, who is the highest rated of the five by Timeform) are sired by Danzig-line stallions like Annapolis.
TrueNicks rates this match a “C+”, but it is looking at a very broad cross as there aren’t enough foals bred on the War Front/Dark Angel cross specifically to draw any meaningful conclusions. We believe that their similar proclivities bodes well for its chances, though. Especially since one of War Front’s sons has produced a G2 winner from a mare by Calling All Angels’s broodmare sire Singspiel, while another of his sons has a G3 winner from a mare by another son of In the Wings (like Singspiel), there is plenty here to recommend this pairing on paper.
We also love this match physically — as mentioned, Annapolis is a big, good-looking horse with lots of length and substance, whereas Calling All Angels is well-balanced and leggy, but a bit more feminine and European in appearance. So hopefully Annapolis can infuse a bit of bone and body into her foal, which should be a talented turf runner regardless!