Darby Dan Stallions on Derby Trail

I can't claim that it seems like only yesterday, but I remember very well making a visit to the famous Darby Dan Farm one very hot day in July nearly 30 years ago. This was long after the farm had been home to two of the world's all-time-great racehorses, Ribot and Sea-Bird II, but there was still plenty to see at the Galbreath family's stallion station.

The oldest of the six stallions on show was Ribot's hugely talented son Graustark. It is a telling sign of how much the industry has changed that Graustark, at the age of 25, was credited with having only 495 foals of racing age in the Thoroughbred Record's Sire Book for 1988. Compare that to some of the veteran stallions currently standing in the U.S. The 25-year-old Langfuhr is credited with 1,281 Northern Hemisphere foals, plus another 379 in the Southern Hemisphere, while the 24-year-olds Elusive Quality and Distorted Humor respectively have 1,368 and 1,264 in the Northern Hemisphere alone.

Graustark's five-year-younger brother His Majesty was another of the six stallions at Darby Dan, where he had sired just 314 foals in his first 12 crops. The 1985 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Proud Truth had recently joined his sire Graustark.

Another of the farm's elder statesmen was Roberto, who had carried John W. Galbreath's colors so spectacularly in Europe in 1972, when he won the Derby and dethroned the mighty Brigadier Gerard in the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup. Galbreath had also enjoyed Classic glory two years later, when his homebred Sea-Bird colt Little Current won the GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. Completing the six-strong team was Turkoman, the champion older horse of 1986.

Unfortunately, the careers of Proud Truth and Turkoman fell well short of the standards set by their predecessors and one could have been forgiven for wondering whether Darby Dan's glory days were over (at least as a stallion farm). Although the farm currently stands eight stallions, none of them stands for more than $15,000 and six are priced at $7,500 or less.

I'm delighted to say, though, that as many as three of them have already made their presence felt on the road to this year's GI Kentucky Derby. The points standings are currently headed, with 64 points, by Dialed In's GII Fountain of Youth S. winner Gunnevera. Fourth, with 50 points, is Malagacy, the unbeaten Shackleford colt who triumphed in the GII Rebel S. three days ago. And fifth, also with 50 points, is Girvin, the Tale of Ekati colt who won the GII Risen Star S. in February. These recent wins mean that Shackleford and Dialed In, respectively, hold first and third positions on the TDN's list of leading second-crop sires, by 2017 earnings, with these places being reversed on the cumulative list.

Appropriately, Malagacy is inbred 4×3 to Pleasant Colony, the His Majesty colt who won the first two legs of the 1981 Triple Crown.

Shackleford is billed as the only American Classic winner by a son of Storm Cat, his sire being Forestry. This winner of the GI King's Bishop S. enjoyed a spectacular surge almost as soon as his first runners reached the track. Having spent his first five years at $50,000, his fee peaked at $125,000 in 2007 in his eighth year. This surge was fuelled by the likes of Forest Danger, Diplomat Lady, Discreet Cat, Smokey Glacken and Teton Forest.

Then Forestry's popularity went into reverse, with the economic downturn no doubt being a factor. From $100,000 in 2008, his fee was slashed to $40,000 in 2009 and then to $17,500 in 2010. Even Shackleford's emergence didn't halt the precipitate fall and by 2013, not long after Shackleford's fine efforts as a 4-year-old, Forestry was available for only $8,000. By the end of 2014, it had been announced that the 18-year-old would not be returning from his shuttle visit to Brazil.

Therefore, the most appealing aspect of Shackleford's pedigree is arguably that he is a son of Oatsee, the exceptional producer who was named Broodmare of the Year in 2011. Other earners of this prestigious title include the dams of A.P. Indy, Awesome Again, Empire Maker, Mineshaft (the sire of Dialed In), Ghostzapper and Bernardini (though it must be said that having a Broodmare of the Year as one's dam doesn't confer an automatic ticket to stallion success).

Oatsee's record stands at eight winners from 10 starters. Shackleford heads a team of four graded winners–each by a different stallion–which also features Lady Joanne (GI Alabama S.), Afleeting Lady (GII Falls City H.) and Baghdaria (a triple Grade III winner). Lady Joanne sold for $1.6 million in 2009, a year after Oatsee herself had changed hands for $1.55 million.

Breeders sometimes despair when a mare produces filly after filly. One example is the GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Alabama S. winner Flute, who has so far produced 12 daughters and just two sons. Oatsee is another, although her record isn't quite so extreme. Ten of her 14 foals are fillies, including her 3-year-old Avena (by Frankel) and her as-yet-unnamed 2-year-old by Distorted Humor.

With so many daughters, there must be a good chance that Oatsee is going to establish a very prolific female line. Two daughters–Grand Portege and Haysee–have already enjoyed stakes success as producers and Oatsee's daughters have youngsters by such as Giant's Causeway, Kitten's Joy, Street Cry, Deep Impact, Speightstown, Tapit and Medaglia d'Oro, so there should be further black-type successes in store.

Shackleford's broodmare sire Unbridled has exerted a powerful influence on the Triple Crown both through his male line and his broodmare daughters. Shackleford won the 2011 Preakness S., having finished fourth at Churchill Downs, while the 2013 Kentucky Derby fell to Orb, another with a dam by the 1990 Kentucky Derby winner.

Some of the gloss was knocked off Shackleford's Preakness victory when he failed to win again during a lengthy 3-year-old campaign, but he was certainly tough and sound, as he showed with his Grade I wins in the Metropolitan H. and Clark H. as a 4-year-old. His success in the Clark H. came on his 20th and final appearance. The TDN report on that victory recorded:

“Straight to the lead under Jesus Castanon–who was aboard for the Preakness and had last ridden Shackleford in the Churchill Downs–the second choice was allowed a relatively easy time of it through splits of :24.31, :48.65 and 1:12.49, with this year's GI Florida Derby winner Take Charge Indy in closest pursuit. Still traveling sweetly at the head of the lane, Shackleford kept right on going in the stretch, exuding one more time the grit and determination that had garnered him such a large fanbase.”

In addition to Malagacy, he has enjoyed graded success with Wellabled, who landed the GIII Arlington-Washington Futurity. Although his book has fluctuated a little over the first four years of his stallion career, his totals stood at 168, 122, 153 and 138 mares, so he has maintained demand far better than many a young stallion, giving himself every chance of proving his worth.

Shackleford's tendency to force the pace didn't help him when it came to racing over a mile and a quarter or more, but he led until inside the final furlong in the Kentucky Derby. Will Malagacy handle the distance any better? His two lines of Pleasant Colony should help, as should the presence in his pedigree of such as Unbridled, Secretariat and Halo. He comes from a Windfields Farm family, which helps explain why there is a distinct Canadian flavor to his family's recent history. His fifth dam, Deceit, achieved impressive career figures of 27-11-6-4, with her 11 victories including four stakes successes at two and both the GI Mother Goose and GI Acorn S. at three.