We were excited to send two mares to the first-year G1W Annapolis at Claiborne Farm in 2024 for our friends at Wasabi Ventures Stallions, who will be supporting him again in 2025. With a lovely recent feature in the TDN by Chris McGrath bringing Annapolis back to the forefront, it seemed a perfect time to publish the first of this year’s recommended matings to him, featuring the gorgeously-bred Godolphin product Ebb Tide.
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.
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 dirt 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, so plenty of dirt form in this family even if Annapolis got a chance to try anything but turf.
War Front and his sons rate an “A+” on TrueNicks when crossed with Medaglia d’Oro mares like Ebb Tide, with graded winners Seal Team, First World War and Band of Brothers among the seven black-type winners from just 61 runners bred on this cross. Three of War Front’s sons already have black-type winners to their credit from MDO mares, while two additional sons of his have sired black-type placed runners out of them. And the broader cross of War Front/Sadler’s Wells (the grandsire of MDO) has produced the likes G1Ws War of Will, Hit It a Bomb, Brave Anna, Roly Poly, US Navy Flag, Fog of War, etc.
Even though Ebb Tide’s female family has not had opportunities with War Front or his sons so far, that strong nick rating gives us some confidence here, as does the fact that Annapolis is out of an Unbridled’s Song mare (and favors his broodmare sire more than he does War Front) — and this family has had plenty of success with stallions from that sire-line. Specifically, Ebb Tide’s dam is a half to G1W Emcee (by Unbridled’s Song), plus there are two black-type runners by Midshipman (a son of UBS) under Ebb Tide’s second dam, and another black-type runner by Cairo Prince (by a grandson of UBS’s sire Unbridled).
We also love this matchup physically: Annapolis, not to belabor the point, is a big, strapping horse and should hopefully add a bit of leg to Ebb Tide’s foal.
So there are plenty of reasons to recommend this pairing, and we can’t wait to see how their foal turns out!