A multiple surface graded stakes winner himself, it was a great start to third crop sire LEA’s June with two stakes performers in 48 hours. His son Kavod kicked off the show with a close second in the Listed Tremont Stakes at Belmont Park followed by veteran performer Gibberish’s second in the Listed Lady’s Secret Stakes.
It was the second big performance for talented juvenile Kavod, who also led home a LEA exacta in his second start at Belmont Park. Proving that stakes company is where he belongs, Kavod showed his professionalism when trouble out of the gate put him six lengths behind the leader. The colt showed that there is much more to come when he closed well to miss the win by only three-quarters of a length and gives every indication he’ll do even better as the distances get longer.
With his second in the race, Kavod joined e Five Racing’s Gibberish as stakes performers for LEA out of Pulpit mares.
An all-the-way winner of last November’s Treasure Chest Stakes, Gibberish has faithfully represented Lea at the stakes level in all three of her starts this year. Hitting the board in two of her last four starts at the level, she was also just half a length from earning graded stakes blacktype in February’s Royal Delta Stakes (G3).
Those two are just two of five winners from seven starters bred on the cross and they soon look to be joined by another stakes performer in Todd Pletcher-trained Coworth Park. That 3-year-old filly was only two lengths away from winning a Gulfstream Park stakes race in February in only her first stakes race and connections decided she ran well enough to keep her in stakes company.
LEA is just following a family tradition with his love of Pulpit mares. His sire and studmate FIRST SAMURAI has also had major success on the cross with the Grade 3 winning duo of Cutting Humor and Size among four stakes performers from 10 runners.
The A.P. Indy line has proved to be a good one for LEA’s sireline for three generations. Grandsire Giant’s Causeway sired 11.63% graded stakes winners out of A.P. Indy daughters, led by the Phipps Stable’s Grade 1-winning homebred Imagining.
FIRST SAMURAI also has three stakes winners and 100% winners from eight runners out of A.P. Indy mares, including his Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Carve.
One of the biggest values in Kentucky, FIRST SAMURAI is seeing his son outperform him when looking at his third crop statistics. Lea’s 61.54% winners from runners is nearly two percent more than his sire was in June of his third year with runners. LEA is also just one stakes winner behind his respected sire with 31 less runners at the same point.
LEA isn’t just keeping pace with FIRST SAMURAI, he’s starting to pull ahead in the value sire category. His 50.85% winners in 2021 isn’t just better than any third crop sire in Kentucky – it’s better than all Kentucky sires with two or more crops, including his own sire.