MGISW Life is Good and track record-setter Nashville have both gotten off to a fast tart with their first 2-year-olds this year.
Life is Good tops the first-crop sire list by both earnings and wins with five victories from four different runners. He is the only freshman sire with a black-type winner so far, courtesy of the fleet-footed filly Waggley in the Kentucky Juvenile S. One of the WinStar stallion’s maiden winners, Hey Tuff Guy, earned ‘TDN Rising Star’ honors after an ultra-impressive 7 ¾-length victory at Churchill Downs.
Life is Good was also well represented at the 2-year-old in training sales in Ocala. Twenty members of his first crop grossed $6.245-million at the OBS sales in March and April, topped by a $750,000 filly and $725,000 colt.
A ‘TDN Rising Star’ himself, Life is Good earned his first top-level victory in the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at the conclusion of his sophomore season. He returned stronger than ever at four, reeling off three more Grade I wins in the Pegasus World Cup and Saratoga’s prestigious Whitney and Woodward Stakes.
“We have been very impressed by the physicals Life is Good has thrown and it has been amazing to see that translate into success on the racetrack as we truly believed it would,” CHC’s Christie DeBernardis said. “Life is Good himself is a well-made and exceptionally fast horse and he has passed that on to his offspring. We look forward to seeing his first crop continue to excel.”
CHC is also represented by Nashville in this year’s freshman sire class. He has had just one winner so far, but, if his success at the 2-year-old sales is any indicator, that number will increase soon. Forty-seven of his juveniles sold for just over $5.9-million, led by a $550,000 filly and $525,000 colt, a big reward given his $15,000 introductory stud fee and the yearling purchase prices on those individuals.
A son of Speightstown, Nashville won his first three starts, including a track record-setting victory in Keeneland’s Perryville S.