It happens every year that mares end up switching off of their owners’ first choice of a mate, for any of a variety of reasons. In the case of Gun Slingin this year, as excited as we were for her pairing with Authentic, we’ve been forced to “change horses midstream”, as it were, and she will now be part of the first book of mares for Justify’s first Grade 1-winning son, Arabian Lion.
For a mare with a commercial profile like Gun Slingin — being as she is a full-sister to last year’s Grade 3-winning 3YO Disarm, who was 2nd in the Travers-G1 and 4th in the Kentucky Derby-G1 — first-crop stallions are always a safe choice. And Arabian Lion has every right to be one of the most popular first-year sires of this intake.
First and foremost, he was a $600,000 2YO in-training purchase by Zedan Racing who scored in his debut later that season for trainer Bob Baffert with an excellent 92 Beyer Speed Figure. As a 3YO, he scored in the Sir Barton Stakes going two turns on the Preakness undercard with a 103 Beyer, then was a brilliant winner of the 7-furlong Woody Stephens-G1 on the Belmont undercard with a 109 Beyer.
In addition to his successful racing career, Arabian Lion also brings a fantastic pedigree to stud. He’s from the first crop of Triple Crown winner Justify, whose own stud fee skyrocketed in 2024 after Arabian Lion had become his first Grade 1 winner. And Arabian Lion’s black-type placed dam is out of a daughter of the unbeaten Hall of Fame Personal Ensign, making her a half to Grade 1 winners Miner’s Mark, My Flag (also a Grade 1 producer) and Traditionally, from one of the best families in the stud book.
The fact that he is a son of Justify — he, in turn, by the Grade 1 winner and leading sire Scat Daddy — makes Arabian Lion especially interesting for Gun Slingin because, in addition to being a full-sister to the aforementioned Disarm and a 3/4-sister to the multiple black-type placed Total Tap (by Candy Ride), she is a half-sister to the Venezuelan champion (plus black-type winner and Grade 3-placed in the USA) Tap Daddy, by Scat Daddy.
And although TrueNicks doesn’t have enough information to give this matchup a rating, Justify has already produced the multiple black-type winner Valentine Candy out of a mare by Candy Ride (Gun Slingin’s grandsire).
We also love this matchup physically — Gun Slingin is a long, leggy, racy mare who will absolutely benefit from Arabian Lion’s stout, bulky build, and we can’t wait to see the gorgeous, commercial foal that they produce together in 2025!
