So, Who's the Leading First-Crop Sire of 2019? Competitive Edge

Competitive Edge | Coolmore

It's always among the key questions on everyone's mind as 2-year-olds begin racing when Keeneland opens in April and the first-year sires have their first chance to show off their progeny. In this ongoing series, we have sought the opinion of several top judges as to who will be on top of the podium when 2019 is in the books.

Nick de Meric, de Meric Thoroughbred Sales

COMPETIVE EDGE

“I have to qualify any insights I give you by first saying any opinions are going to be based on horses we have in our care and the young sires whose progeny we have in our care. That may not cover the whole spectrum. And with some of the freshmen sires, I might only have one, so it's hard to make many predictions off such a small supply. There's also a precocity component to your question. You get a list of horses that people love right now and that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be around three, four years from now running in the (GI) Breeders' Cup Classic.

“But to cut to the chase and answer your question, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Competitive Edge. I really like the filly I have by him a lot. She looks precocious and she's tough. She's actually a bit of a witch. But she's just a great moving, competitive filly and the harder we lean on her the better she likes it. She outworking horses that cost a lot more than she did. I'm really liking her at the moment. Everything she's doing, she's going in the right direction.

“I love my Constitution filly and I have a Commissioner colt that I like. I have two Bayern colts that look very solid. But when it comes to precocity and early speed and horses that should have an affinity for 2-year-old racing I'm going to go with Competitive Edge. I've also heard other people mention the Competitive Edges that they have on their places and how much they like them. That means they are attracting quite a bit of attention and that underscores the confidence I have in this one filly I have been talking about.”

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