His proven consistency and versatility (which he demonstrated on the racetrack and is now passing along at stud) make Bucchero exactly the type of stallion that’s perfect for a breed-to-race program, especially one in New York where the installation of a synthetic surface is imminent, and where breeder bonuses for state-sired runners are twice what the bonus would be for an out of state (i.e., Kentucky)-sired runner. Not to mention a program where state-bred restricted races have purse parity with their open-company equivalents.
Bucchero was a winner and black-type performer each year from 2YO through 6YO; on dirt, turf and synthetic; and from 5 furlongs to 1-1/16 miles. He scored his biggest victories when going back-to-back in Keeneland’s Woodford Stakes-G2 at 5YO and 6YO at 5-1/2 furlongs on turf. That status as predominantly a turf sprinter, when combined with being a son of Kantharos, meant that he started his stallion career in Florida rather than Kentucky. But the unwavering and vocal support of his ownership group meant that he got every chance in Florida, covering 471 mares in his five years there.
His oldest runners are 4YOs in 2024, and from 213 foals of racing age he has sired 146 runners, 95 of which have won a race. Most impressively, his runners have finished in the top three in 49% of their races, which is an astronomical figure for a sire’s runners.
Bucchero has so far sired five black-type winners, including 2024 Grade 1 winner Book’em Danno, and another ten of his offspring have earned black-type (which equates to 15 black-type horses from 146 runners, a very strong 10.3%). He has a higher AEI than CI, which is a ratio that we put a lot of stock in, and his runners have shown the same surface versatility as Bucchero himself did (Book’em Danno is a G1W on dirt, Beauty of the Sea is a black-type winner on turf, and Bucaro is a black-type winner on all-weather).
In Bluelightspecial, Bucchero will meet a fellow Indiana-bred who won seven of her 21 starts from 2YO through 4YO, including a pair of Indiana-bred black-type stakes. She placed in seven more races, including four additional black-type events, one of them an open company stakes at Oaklawn, and another her only turf try. So she had plenty of ability, and lots of speed, if not quite the same versatility as Bucchero. We are excited to have recently helped CJT Stables acquire her as a broodmare prospect.
Although TrueNicks gives this match a “No Rating” designation, four of the twenty runners bred on this unrated cross have earned black-type, which is good for 20%. And when looking specifically at foals by Bucchero’s sire Kantharos out of dams either by Bluelightspecial’s sire Super Saver or her grandsire Maria’s Mon (Bucchero himself has no runners yet out of Super Saver mares) there are six runners, of which four are winners and two are black-type placed runners. So that’s a pretty solid start, and one that gives us plenty of confidence in this pairing. Additionally, Bluelightspecial’s dam is a half-sister to a black-type earner of $444k by Tale of the Cat, who is Kantharos’s grandsire.
And then looking at the physicals involved in this mating, Bluelightspecial is a tall mare with plenty of scope to her, which should hopefully add the little bit of leg to her foal which Bucchero might lack.
But regardless of what the foal looks like, we have every expectation that it will be a fast and talented runner who will earn plenty of state-bred accolades just like her classy parents!