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Speaker’s Corner was a first-crop stallion that we were very high on in 2023 and sent several mares his way. Given the discounted level at which Darley has priced him for 2024, we’re just as bullish on him this spring, and he’ll be a perfect match for the young mare Frame of Mind.
Speaker’s Corner highly-hyped from the beginning of his career and broke his maiden at 2, returned at 3YO to win allowances at Saratoga and Belmont, and at 4YO ripped off impressive wins in the G3 Fred Hooper and G2 Gulfstream Park Mile, both going a flat mile at Gulfstream, then scorched 7 furlongs in the G1 Carter to win by 4-1/2 lengths and earn a 114 Beyer, the best earned in the past 3 years by any horse other than Flightline (he previously earned a 109 at 3, equal to the highest of all 3 Eclipse finalists in the category that year). Speaker’s Corner followed that 3-race win streak with a game 3rd in the G1 Met Mile after making Flightline run him down on the front end, then was 2nd to Life Is Good in the G2 John Nerud before two subpar races to end his career with a total record of (13) 6-2-2, $739,963. He has the pedigree to back up his class, as well, being a son of leading sire Street Sense out of a Bernardini mare (meaning he’s bred identically to Darley’s second year sire Maxfield), while his 2nd dam is G1 winner Round Pond (the dam of G1 winner Long River), and his 3rd dam is a half to Euro champions Black Minnaloushe and Pennekamp.
Speaker’s Corner also has an outstanding physical. He has a huge hip and a nice straight hind leg — it’s easy to see where his speed came from. And while he could be described as a bit plain, that’s fully in keeping with his sire-line.
In Frame of Mind he’ll get a mate who is a big, strapping, not-quite-coarse mare, from a family that has worked repeatedly with the Street Cry, the grandsire of Speaker’s Corner. Specifically, Frame of Mind’s dam is a half-sister to the SW and G2-producer Speckled, and to the dam of G3PW Sky Painter (also the dam of ‘23 G1W Wet Paint), while further back is the G3W/G1P Cat o’ Mountain — and Speckled, Sky Painter and Cat o’ Mountain are all by Street Cry. Interestingly, Sky Painter is out of a mare by an A.P. Indy-line stallion, so her pedigree looks quite similar to what this foal’s will look like, with Street Cry over A.P. Indy over this female family.
Speaker’s Corner’s sire Street Sense has so far produced seven foals of racing age out of Hard Spun mares like Frame of Mind, of which six have run and five are winners, including the stakes winner Capo Kane. So that to us is even more promising than the “B” TrueNicks rating would suggest, and gives us further hope that this mating will produce a successful foal in 2025!