One of the young stallions that we are most excited about is the G1W Annapolis, who is going into his second year at stud at Claiborne Farm in 2025, and continues to be heavily supported by Ramona Bass, who raced him and just purchased the recent Fasig February sales-topper to breed to him this spring (having done the same thing a year ago). Wasabi is also going to be supporting him with multiple mares again in ‘25, including with the Juddmonte-bred Tapit mare Prosperity.
To refresh the reader, 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 odds. 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 never got a chance to try anything but turf.
Meanwhile, Prosperity is a half-sister to the multiple graded winner and G1-placed millionaire Fulsome (best around a mile on dirt), to the multiple-stakes placed Citrus Burst (a turf sprinter) (both by Into Mischief), to G3-placed Mr. Darcy (best around a mile on dirt, by Into Mischief’s sire Harlan’s Holiday), and to the G3-placed Rimprotector (a turf marathoner). Her multiple French stakes-winning dam Viviana also produced a pair of multiple G1Ws in Sightseek (dirt) and Tates Creek (turf) — so there’s that versatility again.
Interestingly, while War Front himself has had outstanding results with Tapit mares (three black-type winners from 17 starters, including G1W Halladay and G3W Munitions, incorporating Rasmussen Factor inbreeding 4×4 to Ruby Slippers), his sons have but a single black-type winner from 67 runners out of such mares — which leads TrueNicks to call this particular mating a “D”.
We believe that there are reasons that Annapolis might have more success than the other sons of War Front on this particular cross, though — specifically related to the fact that he’s out of an Unbridled’s Song mare and takes more after the UBS line in his physical appearance. What this means, pedigree-wise, is that Unbridled will appear 4×4 in the foal (a successful pattern), with Fappiano 5x5x5 — so it’s reinforcing even more that Tartan Farms blood.
Also noteworthy, we think, is that the Unbridled’s Song sire-line has worked very well with Tapit mares, to the tune of six black-type winners from 79 runners by sons of UBS out of Tapit mares, including the likes of Arcangelo. Then there are three more black-type winners from just 40 foals out of Tapit mares and sired by stallions whose broodmare sire is UBS. So those are promising stats, and lead us to hope that Annapolis can buck the War Front trend when it comes to success with Tapit mares.
War Front and his sons have also done well with Distorted Humor-line mares, he being Prosperity’s broodmare sire.
Prosperity’s deeper female family has also had repeated success with Danzig-line stallions, including the course record-setting black-type winner Flavius (by War Front), ‘24 black-type winning 2YO Mister Omaha (by War Front’s son Omaha Beach), black-type winner Preferential (by Dansili), and additional black-type runners by Exchange Rate, Kingman, Oasis Dream, Catcher in the Rye and Pine Bluff.
Physically, this match is a beautiful case of like-to-like, as Prosperity is a big, strapping mare with plenty of substance and leg, just like Annapolis, and we can’t wait to see the foal they produce together in 2026!