STALLION
OF THE WEEK
JULY 1
by James Scully
Successful Appeal living up to his name
PUNCH APPEAL rolled to a 4 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s
$100,000 J J’sdream S. at Calder and provided her sire,
SUCCESSFUL APPEAL, with his third stakes winner to date from only
seven starters. The eight-year-old stallion’s progeny have earned
nearly twice as much as those of the second-leading freshman sire
this year.
Successful Appeal hails from the highly accomplished Valid
Appeal, who stood at Harry T. Mangurian’s Mockingbird Bird Farm
in Florida. A full brother to champion Desert Vixen, the late
Valid Appeal produced 87 stakes winners and his offspring earned
more than $46.7 million. By In Reality, Valid Appeal has also had
some success as a sire of sires with Valid Expectations (leading
freshman sire of 2001), Valid Wager and World Appeal.
Successful Appeal is out of the Fortunate Prospect mare
Successful Dancer, who is a daughter of the stakes-winning
Debonair Dancer (Staff Writer). Her siblings include multiple
Grade 3 winner Suave Prospect, who also finished second in the
1995 runnings of the Florida Derby (G1) and Blue Grass S. (G2).
Bred in Florida by Mangurian, Successful Appeal captured the
Cowdin S. (G2) at two and recorded victories in the Withers S.
(G2), Kentucky Cup Sprint S. (G2) and Amsterdam S. (G3) as a
sophomore. Trained throughout his career by John Kimmel, the dark
bay also won the A.G. Vanderbilt S. (G2) as a four-year-old. He
won graded events from six furlongs to a mile and earned $654,681
from a 22-8-2-4 line over three seasons of racing.
Successful Appeal stands at Hartley/De Renzo, Walmac South
near Ocala, Florida. His 2004 fee was $6,000. Last year, he had
16 yearlings sell for an average price of $24,481. His
two-year-olds were well received earlier this year, with 19
selling for a $63,211 average.
The first starter, DOUBLE D APPEAL, captured the Nursery S. at
Hollywood Park in May, but Successful Appeal’s first stakes
winner is LUNARPAL, who has dominated the juvenile ranks at
Churchill Downs with wins in the Kentucky Breeders’ Cup S. (G3)
and Three Chimneys Juvenile S.
The undefeated colt is the expected favorite for Monday’s
closing-day feature at Churchill, the Bashford Manor S. (G3).
Successful Appeal also had an impressive New York-bred debut
winner recently at Belmont Park named STILL GUILTY.
Successful Appeal’s offspring figure to run early and
typically should excel up to a mile, but that same definition fit
Elusive Quality, who sired this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) and
Preakness (G1) winner from his second crop. We can also expect to
see the progeny of Successful Appeal run well on the grass as he
continues to follow in the hoofsteps of Valid Appeal.
Successful Appeal is off to a tremendous start at stud.