Legitify

A striking chestnut with a white blaze and a massive frame who stands 16.3 hands-tall, Justify is a son of the late Scat Daddy, a four-time leading sire in North America and a sire of 15 champions. Justify’s exploits on the racetrack are legendary and now the young sire, who is represented by his first crop of runners in 2022, is carving out a niche for himself as a phenomenal sire with four individual stakes winners worldwide through 9/15/22.

When American Pharoah ended the Triple Crown drought by winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes in 2015, many racing fans wondered if they would have to wait another 37 years before it would happen again. Lightning struck twice not long after, when Justify, another electrifying colt trained by Bob Baffert, burst on the scene in February of 2018. Just 111 days later, Justify would become the 13th horse and most recent to sweep the Triple Crown by defeating nine rivals in the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes.

In capturing the Triple Crown, Justify became the second undefeated horse (the other was Seattle Slew in 1977) to win the series and the first to do so without ever having raced at age 2.

Prior to winning the Triple Crown, Justify was victorious in a Maiden Special Weight and an allowance race at Santa Anita, in advance of his three-length romp in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, which served as his prep for the Kentucky Derby. In capturing the Kentucky Derby, he became the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Run for the Roses without having raced as a juvenile.

Justify, who was recognized as the 2018 champion 3-year-old male and Horse of the Year, was retired several weeks after winning the Triple Crown due to an ankle injury and began stud duties at Ashford Stud in Kentucky in 2019. He stood for a fee of $100,000 in 2022, after standing for $150,000 during his first two years at stud and then for $125,000 in 2021.

As of the middle of September of 2022, Justify was ranked North America’s No. 1 sire in black-type wins and No. 3 in earnings. His sons and daughters were very fast out of the gate and quick to generate headlines with dominant maiden-breaking scores in many of their debuts. Three of his runners are already graded stakes winners — Aspen Grove (winner in Ireland), Just Cindy, and Statuette — and another, Justa Warrior, is a listed stakes winner. The aforementioned Just Cindy won the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes on opening day at Saratoga Race Course which is often a precursor to continued success due to the depth of quality in the juvenile races at this boutique meet.

This colt comes from a female family loaded with winners and boosts a pedigree that has some real international flair. Dam Sarrocchi is an Irish-bred daughter of the late Galileo, a phenomenal champion racehorse in Europe whose excellence extended to the breeding shed where he was a leading sire on 12 occasions. At the time of his death in 2021 at the age of 23, Galileo held the distinction of siring a world record 92 Group/Grade 1 winners. Among his many fabulous progeny is the unbeaten Frankel, who is carrying his father’s banner in the breeding shed quite ably.

This colt is the second foal produced by Sarrocchi, who also has an unraced 2-year-old. Sarrocchi herself was a black-type winner in Ireland. This colt’s female line is further enhanced by the presence of second dam Thai Haku, a listed stakes winner in France and the United States, as well as Grade 3-placed in the US with her third in the Noble Damsel Stakes at Belmont Park. Thai Haku also has made an impact in the breeding shed, producing four winners from six progeny to race. Dipping further back in Sarrocchi’s family there are a multitude of black-type runners including Alrahma, the runner-up in the prestigious Group 1 Prix Morny which is run at the renowned Deauville race meet in France.