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00:00Coolmore's Ashford Stud will add five new stallions to the roster in 2023, and today
00:07we spoke with Adrian Wallace about Grade 1 winner Jack Christopher, who is the son of
00:11Ashford's own Munnings, as well as Prinkness hero Early Voting, who is one of the first
00:15sons of brilliant young sire Gunrunner to go to stud.
00:19There's no doubt we're blessed to have horses of the caliber of Jack Christopher and Early
00:24Voting here, both from great sire lines with great families, but both horses were real
00:30true proper dirt horses, Early Voting obviously a classic type horse, and then Jack Christopher
00:36more of the sprinter, one turn miler type.
00:38So it's always very fulfilling when you have a stallion and then you end up standing one
00:43of his sons.
00:44We're very excited to be standing a son of Munnings here, it's the first son of Munnings
00:48we've been able to stand, and Jack Christopher was on our radar very, very early.
00:53He left nobody in any doubt who the best two-year-old was in Saratoga when he won his maiden by
00:58eight and a half lengths, becoming a TDN Rising Star in the process, and then went
01:02on to be ever so brilliant in the Champagne Stakes.
01:05He was a really fast, precocious two-year-old, but then he managed to carry it on at three,
01:09and that's winning the Pat Day mile.
01:11So he was very impressive that day, and then he went on to the Woody Stevens where he left
01:15nobody in any doubt on one of the biggest days in the middle of the summer, how fast
01:19he really was.
01:21The thing about Jack Christopher, he's all about speed.
01:23You look at him, the way he's built, he's very like his sire in Munnings.
01:28He's a very balanced horse, good mover, he's probably a better-looking horse than Munnings
01:31is.
01:32If he can become as good a sire as Munnings is, we'll be very, very happy.
01:35But he's from a sire's family, from the family of Street Boss as well, which obviously needs
01:40no introduction either, but he was all about speed.
01:44He was quick out of the gates, he could get to the front and dominate his races, he was
01:47very tactical in the way he raced.
01:50Chad Brown is quoted as saying he's one of the fastest horses he's ever trained, so I
01:54think that says it all.
01:57Being one of the first sons of a gunrunner to stand at stud, I think it's a huge privilege
02:02to be able to get early voting's career off to a good start.
02:05Gunrunner is widely perceived as one of the best young stallions in America, having had
02:09six grade one winners in his first crop.
02:12Now we're very excited to stand what looks like his best son.
02:16He's a horse that was a maiden winner at two, but went on more importantly to win the Preak
02:22Mistakes at three.
02:24But to do it and to beat a horse like Epicenter that day, I think really cemented him as one
02:28of the best three year olds of his crop.
02:31Prior to that in the wood, he finished second to Moe Donegal, who went on to win the third
02:36leg of the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes.
02:38So I think his form really was very strong throughout the year.
02:41I think he had speed, and I think he was able to carry that speed.
02:44I think he had a great heart, and I think there's no better reflection of that than
02:48his race in the Preak Mist.
02:49I think he ran a superb race that day.
02:52His speed took him to the front, and he kept going.
03:01I think he's got the size and the balance of Gunrunner, but I think in many ways he
03:04looks more like his damsel, Artisna.
03:06He's got the big hip and shoulder, again a very correct horse, easy on the eye, very
03:11good looking, very masculine head, and comes from a Cyrus family, he's from the family
03:16of Spidestans.
03:17So that's really a huge selling point in any horse's careers.
03:20And a horse like him will be very popular and has been very popular with breeders so
03:24far.