Grade 1 winner Annapolis, just completing his second breeding season at Claiborne Farm, continues to be heavily supported by his owner Ramona Bass, who raced him and has sent him a plethora of her own well-bred and highly-accomplished mares in his first two years at stud, along with several new mares purchased explicitly for the purpose. Her faith and support is one of the reasons that Wasabi will continue to support him in what is typically a stallion’s tricky second year, and will re-route the young Uncle Mo mare Wand Work his way.
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 for trainer Todd Pletcher. 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.
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He came back 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.
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That physical presence is a big reason that we think Annapolis will make a great match for Wand Work, who needs a mate that will bring some size and substance to the table to help stretch her foal out a bit.
We also like the matchup on pedigree: so far, sons of War Front with daughters of Uncle Mo have produced three winners from just four foals (which we think is more promising than the “D” TrueNicks rating would suggest). And the only runner under Wand Work’s first two dams by a Danzig-line stallion (he being War Front’s sire) is the black-type placed six-figure earner In a Spin, by Hard Spun. So we think that bodes well for this cross, too. Finally, the black-type winner and Grade 1-placed Grand Mo the First is a son of Uncle Mo out of a half-sister to Annapolis’s dam, so these lines have already blended well in reverse.
So plenty of reasons to think that “Plan B” for Wand Work this spring can work out “A” okay!