There is one freshman sire that I want think about some more.
American Freedom is a son of Pulpit and a grandson of AP Indy. His pedigree is interesting because his dam is by my favorite stamina influence Pleasant Tap. Mom was a solid two turn small stakes runner. The second dam was by Preakness winner Elocutionist.
American Freedom did not run until April of his 3-yr old season. He won the Iowa Derby (G3) wire to wire, and was second in the Travers to Arrogate, second to Exaggerator in the Haskell. He was trained by Bob Baffert.
American Freedom stands at Airdrie Stud, which has had recent success with “offbeat” sires like Cairo Prince and Upstart.
American Freedom foals sold pretty well. Overall 46 sold for an average of $35,000, and a median of $23,000. That is better than Tonalist or Carpe Diem, or many other second tier sires.
A group called Redwings attempted to “corner the market” at the FT sales by paying $160,000 for an American Freedom and then buying another for $87,000. Wesley Ward bought one at FT for $50,000. Marquee paid $110,000 for one. Michael Pender bought one for $40,000.
At Keeneland an American Freedom sold for $100,000,, and then two more for $85,000 and $60,000. All of these had very sprint oriented female sides, so there must be some folks who think these horse will be precocious at the 2-yr old training sales next year. Remember that sons of Pulpit can be precocious sprinters.
Because I am an arrogant bastard I am going to try to find some American Freedom’s with some stamina on the dam side.
- American Freedom – Runaway in Love by Runaway Groom (Travers winner), A nick
- American Freedom – Same Cross by Proud Citizen (sire of 2 Oaks winners), A nick
- American Freedom – Purple Rose by El Prado (sire of Medaglia d’Oro and Kitten’s Joy) A nick
I will stop right here and immediately promote #3 to one of my favorite bargain horses from the whole sale. Cool Hill Farm paid $24,000 for this daughter of American Freedom. Cool Hill has won 13 of 64 races mostly in West Virginia. Right now she is long shot choice for the 2022 Kentucky Oaks, or at least a nice allowance race at Charlestown.
Buying A Race Horse 