Admit hails from the same royal Claiborne family as Round Table and Pulpit.
Story by B. Jason Brooks
After placing among stakes company three times this year, Claiborne Farm’s 3-year-old homebred filly Admit experienced a break through on October 24th in the 38th running of the Valley View Stakes (G2) at Keeneland, a $400,000 turf race covering a mile and a sixteenth.
With Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez in the irons for the first time, Admit broke from the inside post in a field of a dozen contenders. She settled on the rail in eighth place entering the first turn and moved to the two-path going up the backstretch, remaining midpack. The early pace was blazing, with front-running Stormy Paradise completing the first quarter-mile in 22.74 seconds and the half-mile in 46.54 seconds. Admit went four wide around the far turn before moving to the six-path in the upper stretch. She rallied strongly in the stretch to draw clear and win by a length and a half. Completing her final furlong in 11.93 seconds, she stopped the clock at 1:35.17 to set a new stakes record.
Following the win, Admit’s trainer Thomas Drury Jr. stated that she “really showed up today… I don’t know if she’s ever ran a bad race, but everything fell into place today and she was able to get over the hump.”
Admit’s road to her breakthrough included placing in three prior stakes races this year, including runner-up in the Cincinnati Trophy Stakes in February, third in the Bourbonette Oaks in March, and third in the Pucker Up Stakes (G3) in August. From 11 career starts, Admit has four wins and has finished second or third in four other starts, with earnings totaling $608,323.
The filly’s pedigree made the win especially sweet for the Hancock family and the Claiborne Farm team. In addition to coming from a deep, winning Claiborne female family (detailed below), she is sired by the farm’s homebred stallion Blame and her damsire is the farm’s influential global sire War Front.
Admit’s Female Family
Admit is a sixth-generation Claiborne homebred whose damline includes reines-de-course or “queens of the turf” mares for her second through sixth dams, tracing back to Knight’s Daughter, by Sir Cosmo, who was purchased by Arthur B. “Bull” Hancock Jr. at the 1951 Tattersalls Newmarket sale. The success of this family is also loaded with the influence of Claiborne’s elite stallions.
Bred by King George VI, Knight’s Daughter produced Claiborne homebred Hall of Famer and 1958 Horse of the Year Round Table, by French-bred Claiborne stallion Princequillo, in 1954. Round Table won 31 stakes races in his career, was a three-time champion, and went on to become a successful sire at Claiborne, with 20 percent of his foals becoming stakes winners.
Knight’s Daughter’s female line is carried on through her 1957 foal Monarchy, a full sister to Round Table, who won the Arlington Lassie Stakes. Monarchy is the dam of two stakes winners, including Claiborne homebred Title, by Claiborne stallion Bold Ruler, winner of the 1970 Silver Anniversary Dash by a head, and Claiborne-bred sire Fabled Monarch, by Claiborne’s imported French-bred stallion Le Fabuleux, winner of a division of the 1976 Lexington Handicap (G2) for owner John M. Olin. Through her daughter Cherry Valley, also by Bold Ruler, Monarchy is the third dam of 1988 English champion 2-year-old filly Tessla, by British-bred sire Glint of Gold, owned by Yasushi Rokuroda of Japan. Monarchy also foaled Admit’s fourth dam State, by Claiborne stallion Nijinsky II.
State produced three Claiborne-bred graded stakes winners, including Admit’s third dam Narrate, by Claiborne stallion Honest Pleasure, winner of the 1983 Falls City Handicap (G3); Double Feint, by Claiborne stallion Spectacular Bid, winner of the 1986 Hill Prince Handicap (G3) for owner Peter Brant; and Announce, by Claiborne homebred stallion Forty Niner, winner of the 1996 Thistledown Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G3) for owner Swifty Farms.
Narrate’s daughter Yarn, by Mr. Prospector, is the dam of two graded or group stakes-winning sires, and her descendants also include a champion and a grade 1 winner.
The first is Indian Creek-bred 2000 English and Irish champion 2-year-old colt Minardi, by Claiborne and Gamely Corp.-bred stallion Boundary. Owned by Michael Tabor and Mrs. John Magnier of Coolmore, Minardi won the Phoenix Stakes (G1) in Ireland and Middle Park Stakes (G1) and England as a juvenile.
Yarn also produced Tale of the Cat, by Storm Cat, winner of the King’s Bishop Stakes (G2) and runner-up in the Whitney Handicap (G1). Bred by Indian Creek and owned by Phantom House Farm, he entered stud in Kentucky in 1999 at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud and is the sire of more than 100 stakes winners, ten of which are grade 1 winners, including three-time champion Gio Ponti.
Also through Yarn, Narrate is the third dam of 2001 U.S. and European champion 2-year-old colt Johannesburg, by Hennessy, who won four grade or group 1 races that year for the Coolmore connections. The wins included the Phoenix Stakes (G1) in Ireland, Prix Morny (G1) in France, Middle Park Stakes (G1) in England, and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) in the U.S. Johannesburg went on to become a successful sire at Ashford Stud, with 69 stakes winners, including multiple grade 1-winning sire Scat Daddy.
Through Yarn’s branch of the family, Narrate is also the fourth dam of Darley-bred Joking, by Distorted Humor, winner of the 2016 Vosburgh Stakes (G1) as a gelding for owner and trainer Charlie Baker.
Narrate foaled Admit’s second dam Preach, by Claiborne stallion Mr. Prospector, in 1989. Trained by Hall of Famer Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey, Preach earned four wins from 15 career starts, including a grade 1 win as a juvenile. With Julie Krone in the irons, she impressed in her career debut in August 1991 at Saratoga, winning by five and a quarter lengths. She earned her first blacktype next time out, coming back on two weeks rest to place in the Spinaway Stakes (G1). McGaughey then pointed her to the Frizette Stakes (G1) at Belmont, where Julie Krone guided her through a seam on the inside as they entered the stretch and drew away to win by two and a quarter lengths. At the age of 3, she added a win in the Bourbonette Stakes and placed in the Test Stakes (G1) and Prioress Stakes (G2), and was retired after one start at the age of 4.
Preach’s Branch of the Family
Preach produced 14 foals before her death in 2020 at the age of 31. In reflecting on her success and pedigree, Shug McGaughey stated that “I always liked Preach. It was fun following that family. It was a solid Claiborne Family and even in years to come, they’ll keep jumping out there.”
Admit’s success on Friday is the latest win for Preach’s branch of her family that has been successfully carried on through her daughters, one who produced a graded stakes winner and three who produced stakes winners. Preach’s descendants have had an international impact, winning stakes races in Britain, Japan, and Peru.
Preach is most notably the dam of Claiborne homebred Pulpit, by A.P. Indy. Trained by Frank Brothers, his 3-year-old campaign in 1997 included wins in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and Blue Grass Stakes (G2) before finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby (G1), after which he retired due to an injury. As a successful stallion at Claiborne, Pulpit sired more than 40 graded stakes winners, with 11 of them grade 1 winners. The most notable of his sons is Gainesway’s three-time champion sire Tapit, whose progeny include ten champions and 106 graded stakes winners, 35 of which are grade 1 winners. (For more on Pulpit, see “Gulfstream’s Pulpit Stakes Honors Claiborne Homebred” on the Claiborne Farm blog.)
Her second A.P. Indy foal Convent produced Claiborne homebred Nunnery, by Forest Wildcat, winner of the 2007 Waya Stakes. Preach is also the third dam of Nunnery’s Claiborne-bred multiple stakes-winning son Nun the Less, by Argentinian-bred stallion Candy Ride. Sold to Lothenbach Stables at the 2013 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, he won the 2015 Mystik Lake Derby and placed in multiple graded stakes. After being acquired by Crystal Racing Enterprises and Contreras Stable, he raced until the age of 8, winning the 2018 Prairie Bayou Stakes, 2019 and 2020 editions of the Kentucky Cup Classic Stakes, and 2020 Forego Stakes.
Through her daughter Orate, her third foal by A.P. Indy, Preach is the second dam of Claiborne-bred Whitecliffsofdover, by Claiborne stallion War Front. Purchased by the Coolmore connections for $1,150,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, he placed in France’s prestigious Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-Grand Criterium (G1) in 2016 and won the European Free Handicap in England in 2017, a trial for the Two Thousand Guineas. Also through Orate, Preach is the second dam of Claiborne-bred Endless Chatter, by Claiborne stallion First Samurai, winner of the Summer Colony Stakes and placed in the Beldame Stakes (G1), both in 2014 for owner Alpha Delta Stables. Preach is also the third dam of Endless Chatter’s son Baytown Chatterbox, by Street Sense, who won the 2023 Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes for owners Baytown Partnership and Resolute Racing Alliance.
Preach’s stakes-placed daughter Tell It, by Storm Cat, is the dam of Claiborne-bred Dream Nettie, by Dixie Union, winner of the 2010 La Puente Stakes for owners William DeBurgh, Jerry Hollendorfer, and George Todaro. Through this branch, Preach is the third dam of another Calumet Farm-bred in Super Wooper, by Overanalyze, winner of the 2021 Hokusetsu Tokubetsu in Japan for owner Masaki Shiozawa.
Another Storm Cat foal out of Preach, Ranter produced Calumet Farm homebred Wild Shot, by Trappe Shot, who placed in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity Stakes (G1) and won the Pat Day Mile (G3), both in 2017. Through this branch of her family, Preach is the third dam of owner-breeder Yasushi Kubota’s Japanese-bred Secret Vow, by Discreet Cat, who won the Yamabiko Stakes in April of this year in his native Japan.
Through her daughter Choir, by Cox’s Ridge, Preach is the fourth dam of O’Sullivan Farms’ homebred Seneca Rocks, by Summer Front, winner of the 2022 West Virginia Breeders’ Classic Stakes, and fifth dam of O’Sullivan’s Goodness Gracious, by Golden Years, winner of the 2022 Shenandoah Stakes. This branch of the family also includes Peruvian-bred El Virrey, by Canadian-bred Southdale, a fourth-generation descendant of Preach who won stakes races in his native country in 2022 and 2024.
Preach produced Admit’s dam Profess, by War Front, in 2021. She was awarded a win in her fourth juvenile start after a disqualification of the first-place finisher. Carrying on her elite family in the Claiborne broodmare brand, Profess has six foals of racing age, with five to make starts and four winners.
In addition to Admit, Profess’s other stakes performer is her first foal Lady Lawyer, a full sister to Admit, who won three of her first four starts in England. After being imported to the U.S., she finished fourth in the 2020 Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes (G3) for owner Rabbah Bloodstock. The race was won by eventual multiple grade 1 winner Got Stormy and second and third place went to stakes winners Winning Envelope and Into Mystic.
Admit carrying the legendary Claiborne silks into the Keeneland winners’ circle on the last weekend of the fall meet was a thrill to see after her strong performances in prior stakes races this year. She is the latest of her royal family that goes back nearly three-quarters of a century in the U.S. to the imported King George VI-bred Knight’s Daughter that has given U.S. racing Round Table and Pulpit. Preach’s branch of this family at Claiborne Farm carries on this legacy.