Numbers Game: Much to Unpack in 52 Graded Races in May

[Wandering Eyes]

One thing is certain: there's never been a May like it. Godolphin threw down the graded gauntlet in May with such an unprecedented and historic achievement surely no one dreamed it could be possible. A Classic double in America for the operation turned into a Classic quadruple on both sides of the pond, all in the same weekend. While that feat stands tall among the month's graded races, the rest of May did its part to deliver additional drama, special moments, and superb racing. We take a look at trends and notable items from the continent's graded races for the past month.

• North America hosted 52 graded stakes in the month of May. Among the 10 Grade I races were two Classics for colts, plus the Kentucky Oaks for fillies. Another 14 races were held with a Grade II designation and 28 as Grade III.
• Just half of the 52 graded races were run on dirt, with another 22 on turf and four on Woodbine's all-weather surface.
• Unsurprisingly, with the focus firmly on the GI Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs held more graded races in May than anyone else with a count of 23. The Belmont at Aqueduct meet was next (9), followed by Pimlico (7) and Santa Anita (7), Woodbine (5), and Lone Star (1). Twenty-two graded stakes were held around North America on Derby weekend.
• Three graded races in May were run at 1 1/4 miles, including the Derby, while two were at 11 furlongs and one at 12 furlongs. All except for the Derby and the GII Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes were contested on turf.
• Middle distances remain the most frequently run distances for graded events on the continent. Sprints were carded more often than routes, with 16 graded races contested at seven furlongs or less.
• Thirteen of May's graded races were won by 3-year-olds, with another 24 won by 4-year-olds. The remaining 15 winners were ages five to eight. Nine were won by geldings.
• A total of 37 individual trainers won May's 52 graded races. Multiple graded-winning trainers for the month included Chad Brown (5), Brad Cox (4), Bob Baffert (2), Martin Drexler (2), Michael McCarthy (2), and Todd Pletcher (2).
• Saffie Joseph, Jr. won three, including the May 26 GI Gamely Stakes with Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) for his first win at Santa Anita, then turned right around and also captured the Hollywood Gold Cup with Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) in the very next race.
• Poignantly, the late Christophe Clement also won three, including the GII Man o' War Stakes May 10 with Far Bridge (English Channel), who would mark his final graded winner–the 239th of his too-brief career–before his passing near the end of the month.
• Trainer Rohan Crichton got his first graded win with Macho Music (Maclean's Music) in the May 3 GII Pat Day Mile Stakes at Churchill Downs, while trainer Kevin Rice got first graded win with Ms. Tart (Maximus Mischief), a $35,000 claim at Gulfstream in January, in the May 31 GIII Royal North Stakes at Woodbine.
• Seventeen of the 52 graded winners in May were homebreds, many with partners added in for the ownership.
• It's hard to imagine a sweeter homebred double than Godolphin's feat of winning both the Kentucky Derby and Oaks, the first time homebreds won both in the same year for an operation since Calumet did it in 1952. Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro) will both return to action this weekend in the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
• Godolphin was one of two breeders with multiple graded winners in May. The operation closed out the month with three, while Woods Edge Farm, LLC bred two (one in partnership).
• The 52 graded races for the month were won by the progeny of 41 individual stallions. Medaglia d'Oro had three, two of which were Grade I winners, and Curlin also had two Grade I winners. Twirling Candy had three graded winners, while English Channel, Liam's Map, Mitole, Omaha Beach, Siyouni (Fr), and Uncle Mo each had two.
• Six-time leading sire Into Mischief sired his record-tying third Derby winner in just six years. In addition, his son Goldencents sired last year's Derby winner, making Into Mischief responsible for four of the last six Derby winners.
• Medaglia d'Oro sired three graded winners on Derby weekend, including his record-tying third Kentucky Oaks winner.
• Three different sons of War Front sired graded winners May 3.

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• Twenty-six of the 41 May sires are active in Kentucky, while another four closed out their careers in Kentucky, but are deceased or pensioned. Two currently stand in Louisiana, with one each in Indiana and New York, as well as in Australia, France, Ireland, Japan, and Turkey.
• Active stallions who sired graded winners in May and also had multiple sire sons to sire graded winners during the month included Into Mischief with sire sons Goldencents, Maximus Mischief, and Practical Joke; War Front with Summer Front, Omaha Beach, and The Factor; and Medaglia d'Oro with Bolt d'Oro and Violence.
• A number of other currently active sires whose sons sired graded winners in May includes Candy Ride (Arg), who had two sons sire graded winners: Gun Runner and Twirling Candy.
• Both Lane's End's Honor A. P. and Ashford's Echo Town got their first graded winners May 16 at Pimlico, with Margie's Intention in the GII Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and Echo Sound in the GIII Miss Preakness Stakes, respectively. The following day, Indiana Stallion Station's Qurbaan notched his first graded winner with Charlene's Dream in the GII Gallorette Stakes, also at Pimlico.
• The least expensive U.S. buys to win graded races in May were the $15,000 for Skippylongstocking at the 2020 Keeneland September sale and the $18,000 for Classic Mo Town (Mo Town) at the 2021 OBS October yearling sale, while the most expensive were the $925,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September sale for Two Sharp (Twirling Candy) and the $825,000 for Journalism (Curlin) at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.
• Forty individual broodmare sires were represented in May's graded contests. Giant's Causeway, Into Mischief, Lemon Drop Kid, and Street Sense were damsires of three each, while Bernardini, Medaglia d'Oro, Pioneerof the Nile, and Uncle Mo all doubled up.
• The late English Channel got the exacta in the aforementioned May 10 Man o' War, with the late Kitten's Joy also serving as the broodmare sire for both runners.
• Mystik Dan (Goldencents)'s win in the May 31 GIII Blame Stakes marked the first time since Silver Charm in the late 1990s a Kentucky Derby winner returned to win another graded race at Churchill Downs.
• Preakness winner Journalism holds three of the top eight Beyer Speed Figures for 3-year-olds in 2025. The top graded Beyer for May was the 109 set by Kopion (Omaha Beach) in the May 3 GI Derby City Distaff Stakes.
• Both the Derby winner and the Preakness winner received their early instruction at Bridlewood Farm in Florida.

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