By DRF.com
California-bred Indian Charlie stood his entire stud career outside of his home state, and it was a relatively brief career at that. The stallion died at age 16, following a battle with cancer. But Indian Charlie left a sizeable influence on the breed that is continuing to grow nationwide, including stretching back to the state of his birth.
The stallion has become a prominent sire of sires, and several of his younger grandsons are among the California stallion ranks. He also has become a successful broodmare sire, with representatives including likely 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline.
Indian Charlie, by In Excess, was bred in California by Hal Earnhardt, who also had campaigned his dam, graded stakes winner Soviet Sojurn. Racing for Earnhardt and John Gaines, Indian Charlie won his first four starts, all in California, including a 2 1/4-length victory over stablemate Real Quiet in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.
Real Quiet turned the tables in the 1998 Kentucky Derby, with Indian Charlie third as the favorite. An injury later that summer ended Indian Charlie’s career.
Indian Charlie entered stud at Vinery in Kentucky before moving to Airdrie Stud in 2002. The stallion overcame multiple physical challenges to be a successful sire. In 2000, he underwent surgery for wobbler’s syndrome, in which swelling or impingement of the spinal cord causes poor coordination. He recovered to continue a successful stud career until his death in late 2011 from complications of hemangiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer.
Indian Charlie sired 94 career stakes winners, led by Eclipse Award champions Fleet Indian, Indian Blessing, and Uncle Mo. But his influence in the second generation of pedigrees has perhaps been even greater, as he has been seen on both the top and bottom of the pages of major runners through 2022.
Indian Charlie is represented by 25 sons at stud worldwide, led by Uncle Mo in Kentucky. That champion made a smashing start to his career, setting what was then a record for North American freshman earnings with his first crop in 2015, led by Nyquist, who emulated his sire with an unbeaten juvenile championship campaign.
Sons of Uncle Mo quickly came into demand as sires as they dominated the 2020 freshman list, with Nyquist leading by earnings followed by Laoban in second and Outwork in fourth. Those three stallions are second, eighth, and ninth, respectively, on the 2022 third-crop sires list.
Uncle Mo sired his second American classic winner in 2022, with Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal joining 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. Mo Donegal has retired to stud in Kentucky for 2023, and Uncle Mo will be represented by 25 sons at stud worldwide on the season. That includes several young stallions in California, as he brings Indian Charlie’s influence back to his home state.
Grade 1-winning millionaire Mo Forza entered stud at Rancho San Miguel last year. Also debuting at stud in 2022 was Moquest, an unraced full brother to Nyquist, at EAS Equine Alliance.
Among new stallions retiring to California for 2023 is Mo the Beholder, an unraced son of Uncle Mo from the immediate family of Grade 1 winner and leading sire Into Mischief, Hall of Famer Beholder, and Breeders’ Cup winner Mendelssohn. He debuts at BG Thoroughbred Farm. Another son of the stallion, Mo and Go, retires to Daehling Ranch.
As a broodmare sire, Indian Charlie is represented by 106 stakes winners out of his daughters, including reigning California-bred horse of the year Lieutenant Dan, Eclipse Award champion Mitole, and classic-placed Grade 1 winner Hot Rod Charlie. But looming over them all is Flightline, who retired unbeaten following the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Keeneland. Several have noted that the brilliant bay, by Tapit, strongly resembles his broodmare sire.
“I think he favors Indian Charlie a lot,” said bloodstock agent David Ingordo, who works as a bloodstock adviser to Lane’s End, where Flightline will stand, and who was instrumental in putting together the partnership that campaigned the horse. Indian Charlie “was a dominant horse, he was a brilliant horse. . . . I think that’s where some of the brilliance came from, because Indian Charlie was a brilliant horse. I think he favors that, and I think that’ll be a good part of him for people looking commercially.”
Indian Charlie’s daughter Indian Miss, the dam of Mitole and Hot Rod Charlie, is the reigning Kentucky Broodmare of the Year, considered the highest honor for a U.S. broodmare.
“Indian Miss is one of the most remarkable mares that I have ever had the pleasure to work with,” Katie Taylor of Taylor Made Farm, which boards Indian Miss for owner Larry Best, said in accepting that award. “Not because of an imposing stature, flawless conformation, or royal race record. Indian Miss is remarkable because she is the embodiment of the ideal broodmare. She is quiet and kind, devoted to her foals, and a consistent producer. . . . She outproduces herself time and again.”
Stay Thirsty keeps producing
Terry Lovingier’s Lovacres Ranch was named California’s breeder of the year at the most recent edition of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s national awards, a ceremony held in September in Kentucky recognizing accomplishments across the country in 2021.
With Lovacres continuing to make noteworthy contributions to the state in 2022, including building a powerhouse stallion roster with several leaders in their respective categories, the farm could be poised for continued accolades as the calendar rolls over.
Leading the seven-stallion roster at Lovacres is classic-placed multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, who was purchased from Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky to move west beginning with the 2018 season.
From his first crop of California-sired runners, the Bernardini horse produced Finneus, a Grade 1-placed stakes winner who was named the California-bred champion juvenile of 2021 and who helped to propel Stay Thirsty to the top of California’s general sire list among stallions with runners conceived in-state.
“He’s a great-bodied horse,” Lovingier said of Stay Thirsty in the TOBA awards program. “He’s got a big shoulder, big gaskin, and big hind end. I just thought he’d work really well in California. He’s got enough turn of foot, and he can carry his speed.”
Finneus, who was bred and is co-owned by Lovingier, was multiple stakes-placed in 2022 and again helped his sire finish as a leading sire in California. Stay Thirsty finished second to I’ll Have Another on the state’s general earnings list, regardless of progeny conception area. However, I’ll Have Another stood in Japan, which has sizeable purses, until the 2019 season, and his top runner in 2022 is the Japanese-bred millionaire Win Marvel.
Stay Thirsty leads California stallions by North American earnings. Moreover, Stay Thirsty has nine winners from 42 California-sired juveniles in 2022 through Dec. 18 to lead that category. I’ll Have Another has just one winner from nine juvenile runners in his first California-sired crop.
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Stay Thirsty’s chief earner in 2022 was Mind Control, conceived while his sire was still standing in Kentucky. The multimillionaire concluded his career by winning the Cigar Mile – his eighth graded stakes win, and third career Grade 1. Mind Control will stand stud at Rockridge Farm in New York in 2023. Meanwhile, Finneus will someday join his sire at Lovacres, continuing to build his legacy.
Smokem starts out quick
While Stay Thirsty is the reigning king at Lovacres Ranch, the farm also has a rising star coming up the ranks in Smokem, far and away California’s leading freshman sire of 2022.
California-bred Smokem, a 7-year-old son of Union Rags, leads his home state’s freshman sires by both winners, with 6 from 14 starters through Dec. 18, and by earnings by a wide margin. His progeny have banked $371,736, compared with $200,343 for the late Mrazek, who is second on the earnings list.
Smokem’s earnings placed him a creditable third on California’s overall leading 2-year-old sires list, behind Stay Thirsty and Mr. Big.
In national rankings, Smokem, with a relatively limited number of runners, is 26th among freshman sires and is among the nation’s leading freshmen standing outside of Kentucky.
Smokem was bred by Lovingier, who raced him in partnership with Bada Beng Racing and Victor Flores. He won his debut at Del Mar in July 2017 before finishing second in the Graduation Stakes, I’m Smokin Stakes, Barretts Juvenile, and Golden State Juvenile. He was beaten less than a length in three of those outings, including a nose in the Golden State Juvenile.
Smokem’s top earner is It’s Saul Right, who was bred at Lovacres and sold by that outfit as a yearling. The filly, a statebred $50,000 maiden-claiming winner at Del Mar, sports a record of 7-1-3-1 and has earnings of $62,200.
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