Twirling Candy Closing In on Top Turf Sire Honors

We’ve reached the point in the year where movement in North America’s General Sires List comes pretty close to a standstill. 

The updates become less frequent and the ones that do happen have less impact on the rankings than a month ago. That doesn’t mean nothing is happening. It’s just…take a look at this week’s rankings. Four stallions swapped places with the one previously ranked ahead of them. The previously ranked Nos. 5, 7, 12, and 21 each moved up one spot, knocking the incumbent sire down a peg. 

Such is the cruel, unfair world of The List. 

We looked at first-crop and second-crop sires earlier in the year. Once we have a few more weeks and maybe pounds (thank you, Thanksgiving) under our belts, we will see how things ultimately turn out. 

One of those sires who moved down one spot is Twirling Candy  . He now stands No. 7 overall. The gap between Nos. 6 and 7? A little less than $88,400. I’d call that a nose. Maybe a hair.

No matter where he finishes, this will be a special year for Twirling Candy. The Lane’s End stallion doesn’t get enough respect put on his name, and stands atop the turf sires. He will very likely hold off Justify   for that distinction. That the latter’s top earner (City of Troy ) has banked nearly twice as much on the grass as Twirling Candy’s top turf runner (Walkathon ) makes his place atop this list all the more impressive. It speaks to the depth of talent he’s put on track.

By Candy Ride  , who won all six of his career starts—on both surfaces—Twirling Candy has been lurking, first on the outside of the Top 10 turf sires, and then the Top 5. Now? He’s holding an almost $740,000 edge with less than seven weeks left until the numbers reset. 

Walkathon hasn’t won better than a grade 3, but the 5-year-old Whitham Thoroughbreds homebred has two of those this year (Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Stakes (G3T) and Endeavour Stakes (G3T)). Walkathon sold for $1.5 million last week to Japan’s Grand Stud at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Another millionaire daughter, Ag Bullet , is a year younger and fared well in graded company this year. She won the Ladies Turf Sprint Stakes (G2T) and the Monrovia Stakes (G3T), while hitting the board in a pair of grade 1s: the First Lady Stakes (G1T) and Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), giving a lot of optimism for her as an older sprinter in the years to come. 

Two-year-old filly Kilwin  has raced twice this year, most recently fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), where she ran just off the pace before fading down the stretch. Others who performed well in graded stakes include Iscreamuscream , winner of the Del Mar Oaks (G1T) and San Clemente Stakes (G2T) before finishing fourth in the Rodeo Drive Stakes (G2T); Cugino , who was second in the Transylvania Stakes (G3T) and Hill Prince Stakes (G3T); and Herchee , third in the Bryan Station Stakes (G3T).