2019 Freshman Sire Profile – Cracksman

Cracksman

Frankel – Rhadegunda, Pivotal

Enters Stud 2019 at Dalham Hall Stud for a fee of 25,000 Pounds

RACE RECORD

Cracksman won his only race as a two year old but would go on to bigger and better things as he aged. He was named Cartier Champion Three Year Old and was the highest ranked male horse in the category for Older Male as a four year old, losing out only to the brilliant filly Enable. As a three year old he made a winning bow at Epsom which sent him into the Epsom Derby among the favorites. His inexperienced showed as he was third behind Wings of Eagles and Cliffs of Moher. He would out-finish Wings of Eagles in his next start, the Irish Derby which he lost by a neck to Capri. Cracksman ended the year with three straight victories, each more brilliant by the last. He beat fellow three year olds in two group twos, the Great Voltigeur and the Prix Niel before taking on older males in the group one Champion Stakes at Ascot. There he destroyed the field by seven lengths leaving Poet’s Word and Highland Reel in his wake. For that effort Timeform rated Cracksman at 136, one of the highest numbers in Europe this century.

Cracksman made four starts at age four. He began his season in the group one Prix Ganay where he looked nearly invincible, taking the race by four lengths over the likes of Rhododendron and Cloth of Stars. The edge wore off the super star in his next start as he had to work very hard just to run down Salouen to win the Coronation Stakes (G1). People worried that Cracksman might not be the horse he was after a second place finish in his next start, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot where he was defeated by Poet’s Word. Cracksman made a belated final start in the Group One Champions Stakes at the end of the year and successfully defended his title. Not only that but he won by six lengths and equaled his Timeform rating from 2017 with another 136.

PEDIGREE

Cracksman is the best offspring of the great Frankel who himself is the best offspring of the mighty sire Galileo. Recently Galileo surpassed the number of Grade/Group One winning offspring by his sire Sadler’s Wells with his 74^th winner at the highest level. Frankel already has five from his first three crops. He’s sired 25 group winners so far which is a record for stallions standing in the Northern Hemisphere. Frankel was greeted at stud by some of the best mares from the best breeders in Europe, Japan and the United States. He was given the highest rating by Timeform to any racehorse in history with a 147. Frankel was seen as his sire’s successor from the beginning and as his offspring have hit the track he has not disappointed in the slightest. The superstar racehorse has given forth the promise of his youth to become a superstar stallion. Cracksman’s dam is the Pivotal mare Rhadegunda. She was a listed winner in her career and produced the group three winning Fantastic Moon by Dalakhani prior to producing Cracksman. Her dam was not spectacular but Cracksman’s third dam was the might On The House, winner of the Classic 1,0000 Guineas (G1) and the Sussex (G1) versus males as a three year old. On The House and her offspring have done well contributing stakes winners to the racing world but if you go back to her dam, Lora you will find descendants such as Cartier Horse of the Year Golden Horn and group one winners Rebecca Sharp, Kidnapped and Hauraki. The family is a very productive one and seems to cross well with a variety of sire lines including those of Mr. Prospector, Danzig and Nureyev. Cracksman himself is inbred 4×4 to Danzig.

IN THE SIM

Frankel is no stranger to success either with his live foals or with his sim ones. He is ranked eighth among living sires in the game. He has produced one champion and twenty one grade one winners. Nine of those grade one winners have Mr. Prospector or his sons Kingmambo and Seeking the Gold at DS (a tenth has Mr. Prospector’s descendant Unbridled’s Song at DS and an eleventh is out of a mare by Kingmambo’s son Lemon Drop Kid). Four other grade one winners were produced by mares by Sea the Stars including Frankel’s champion filly Devil’s Dragon. This is an interesting cross as Sea the Stars is a half brother to Galileo making the foals inbred to the great mare Urban Sea 3×3. Pivotal ranks 35^th on the DS sire list (and is fourth among living sires). Pivotal mares have accounted for twenty one grade one winners in the game. He’s scored three of them by mating his daughters to Dubawi and another two mating his daughters to Lemon Drop Kid. The most successful foal out of a Pivotal mare was Slinging Gospel by Bernardini and surprisingly the A.P. Indy line is well represented in the list of Pivotal’s best runners.

BREEDING RECOMMENDATIONS

Cracksman has a lot of options when choosing a mare or backend. Going with a Mr. Prospector-line sire as DS is certainly a recommendation. Kingmambo and his son Lemon Drop Kid both stand out as having done well with Frankel in the game and also with Pivotal. One of the major runners from Cracksman’s female family was by Machiavellian so he or his son Street Cry should also be considered. Sea the Stars is another obvious choice as you will still get the inbreeding to Urban Sea, just one generation removed. Two of the sire lines that have worked best with Frankel in real life are Danzig and Nureyev, both of whom are represented in Cracksman’s dam, although both in the fourth generation so there is the possibility of some combination using one or both of those sires. I hesitate to recommend a mare from the Seattle Slew line but if you have one that ran turf and / or produces turf there are certainly possibilities there.

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