Cal-bred News

Benchmark Breaks the Alydar Mold

ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 21, 2004) -- The list of great running sons sired by the late Alydar reads like part of the roster of the Hall of Fame:

*Kentucky Derby winners Alysheba and Strike the Gold.
*Horses of the Year Alysheba and Criminal Type.
*Champions Easy Goer and Turkoman.

As outstanding as these horses were on the track, however, none did well at stud, marking Alydar as a poor sire of sires.

That distinction might be about to change.

As a racehorse, Benchmark spent five years on the track, reaching his competitive heights at the age of 6 in 1997 when he won three Grade II stakes in Southern California. He was retired to the breeding shed in 1999 with seven victories in 16 starts and earnings of $696,707. Those racing statistics pale in comparison to Alysheba and Easy Goer.

But at 13, Benchmark has pulled lengths ahead of Alydar’s other sons as a stallion. He is, arguably, one of the hottest sires in the country.

When the Sunshine Millions is run for the second time at Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park on Saturday, three offspring of Benchmark will be competing, including Silent Sighs, the overwhelming favorite in the $250,000 Ocala Stud Oaks for 3-year-old fillies. The six-furlong Oaks at Gulfstream will kick off the eight-race Sunshine Millions card.

Benchmark, who has his first Sunshine Millions starters, also will be represented by 4-year-old Standard Setter in the $1 million Barretts/CTBA Classic at Santa Anita and by 3-year-old Don’tsellmeshort in the $250,000 NATC Dash at Santa Anita.

Only In Excess, generally considered the premier stallion in California, has more sons and daughters entered in the Sunshine Millions. Two of those—Excess Summer and Excessivepleasure—will contest the Classic.

“We’re very proud of him,” says Russell Drake, who manages Marty and Pam Wygod’s River Edge Farm in Buellton, where Benchmark is in residence. “He’ll be bred to about 100 mares this year, which is a far cry from what we thought he’d do when he went to stud.”

Benchmark stands for $4,000, which seems like a great bargain, except when you consider that his original stud fee was the lowest possible.

“We charged nothing at first,” Drake recalls. “Alydar wasn’t producing sires, so we knew that we had to try to establish Benchmark before we could charge anyone to breed to him.”

Standard Setter was the result of one of those free breedings, to the Siyah Kalem mare When and Where. The chestnut gelding goes into the Classic with five victories and four seconds in 12 starts, including a score in the $100,000 Golden Gate Derby last year.

Drake believes that Benchmark is doing atypically well at stud for a son of Alydar because he doesn’t share many of the physical characteristics of Alydar’s more famous sons.

“He’s a beautiful horse with great conformation,” Drake says. “But he’s not as big as some of those other Alydars.”

Bertrando, who for several years has been the reigning stallion at River Edge, has no offspring in the Sunshine Millions. But the influence of the 15-year-old stallion could still be felt. His daughter, Quiet Romance, is the dam of Oaks favorite Silent Sighs, winner of the California Breeders Champion Stakes for 2-year-old fillies in her last start.

In addition to Classic entrants Excess Summer and Excessivepleasure, In Excess offspring in the Sunshine Millions, all fillies and mares, are Royally Chosen in the $500,000 Ocala Breeders’ Sale Distaff at Gulfstream, Valentine Dancer in the $500,000 John Deere Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita and Icantgoforthat in the $300,000 Nextel Filly & Mare Sprint.
--Larry Bortstein