Smarty Jones 子嗣初勝利
Smarty Jones, the 2004 Kentucky Derby winner and one of the most revered horses to race in the United States for years, has had his first winner as a sire.
La Equivocada, a two-year-old filly from the Nureyev mare I'll Get Along, scored a five lengths win over 1100m in Puerto Rico's Hipodromo-Camarero.
A son of Darley's shuttler Elusive Quality, Smarty Jones was the darling of US fans in 2004 after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.
He only narrowly failed to complete the Triple Crown, when second to Birdstone in that year's Belmont Stakes – his only defeat in nine starts.
In all, he won more than $US7.6million and won the Eclipse Award for Champion 3YO Male.
He stands at Kentucky's Three Chimneys Farm at a fee of $100,000 and he has a first crop of 83 two-year-olds.
Thanks in no small part to Smarty Jones' freakish performances, Elusive Quality has been one of the most keenly sought after stallions in Australia in recent times, with his fee varying between $55,000 and $137,500 in the five seasons he has shuttled to Darley.
Off that bigger fee in 2007, Elusive Quality covered a book of 173 mares.
His best Australian performer to date has been the Group 1 winner Camarilla and his fee for 2008 has been set at $82,500.
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