It was a first top-flight victory for Sir Prancealot, who based from Tally Ho Stud, was Europe's leading first season sire in 2016. He shuttled to Cornerstone Stud for the past three seasons and is now set to embark on an American breeding career at Rancho San Miguel from 2020.
His resume continues to build, with seven stakes winners from his Northern Hemisphere crops. Lady Prancealot elevated herself to the top of his progeny with a tough win in the American Oaks for trainer Richard Baltas and jockey Joe Bravo.
Originally trained in the UK by David Evans, she has won three of her 10 starts Stateside for Baltas, including victories in the G3 Honeymoon S. in June and the G3 Pin Oak Valley View S. in October.
“This filly came over here from Europe and the first time she worked she had an issue and we gave her a bunch of time,” Baltas said after the Grade 1 win.
“We thought we bought a bad horse, but we didn’t. She has been ultra-consistent. I want to give a hats off to the guys at San Luis Rey Downs, my assistant trainer who has had her there most of the time. ‘Jersey Joe’ rode an awesome race and we are all happy now.”
It's a success which will prove timely for the two major backers of the stallion on either side of the Pacific Ocean in Cornerstone Stud and Rancho San Miguel.
Sir Prancealot (Ire) | Standing at Cornerstone Stud
"It was good timing for two reasons," Cornerstone Stud Principal Sam Hayes said. "He's heading to California on the weekend for his inaugural season at Rancho San Miguel. Our American partners in the horse are very excited. I think he'd already had 100 bookings as it is, so he is going to be very busy in his first season over there.
"For us, we’ve got yearlings being prepped for Melbourne and for Adelaide, with clients ready to sell yearlings at other sales. It’s been sensational, she's been knocking on the door. But to see her do it in nice style on Sunday was fantastic."
Sam Hayes
Outcross credentials build
What was also significant about Lady Prancealot's victory is that she is out of a Danzig (USA)-line mare, lending further weight to Sir Prancealot's credentials as an outcross to the great Danehill (USA)-line here in Australia.
"He's been brilliant in that regard. We are hoping that will be one of the secrets to his success in Australia. He fits so well with Danehill-line mares, being that outcross. That makes him very easy to breed to," Hayes said.
"He fits so well with Danehill-line mares, being that outcross. That makes him very easy to breed to." - Sam Hayes
"The races that his horses have been winning in America have been on very hard and fast surfaces which is similar to what they will encounter in Australia, which gives us confidence that his progeny will be suited in Australia as well."
It won't be a huge first Southern Hemisphere crop of yearlings for Sir Prancealot at the sales, with 43 foals in all and Cornerstone Stud to sell around 15, including three at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale and nine of 15 overall at his home sale at Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale.
With over 40 stallions making their debuts at the yearling sales in 2020, it’s a hyper competitive market for unproven stallions, but with bigger crops to come and with runs already on the board, Hayes remains confident in the prospects of Sir Prancealot's progeny, both in the ring and on the track.
"It was a really tough year to launch a stallion that year. There were over 40 first season stallions the same year as Sir Prancealot, so we found it harder than years two or three. The competition then dropped off a bit," he said, pointing to the significant jump in covers for the stallion, who stands for $14,300 (inc GST).
"He's got the numbers to get him going and the difference for him, in terms of how he stands out, is that he's already thrown Group winners, and now a Group 1 winner, in conditions that are similar to Australia, in California especially."
Ready for the market
Nine of Sir Prancealot's first crop sold as weanlings in 2019, with a top price of $62,500 while Cornerstone Stud has sold a couple of others privately and placed others with top-line trainers such as the Hayes' family operation at Lindsay Park as well as with Tony McEvoy to prime them for early success.
Hayes is happy with what Cornerstone Stud are taking to the yearling sales in the coming months and feels that they will live up to the expectations of a market which has a wealth of first-season options.
David Hayes
"We are quite excited. We think that the Australian trainers and agents, they will really appeal to them. The good thing about them is while they can get up and run early you can see from that filly in the US, they can be strong over a mile or further as well," he said.
"They are relatively versatile. They look like they will suit Australian conditions and I guess the rubber hits the road in a couple of months when we take them to the sales."
