Story by B. Jason Brooks
The first Friday of Gulfstream Park’s 2024-2025 Championship Meet on November 29th features the 11th running of the Pulpit Stakes. The turf race for juveniles is named in honor of the Claiborne Farm homebred who successfully kicked off his career in 1997 with three straight wins at the Hallandale Beach, Florida track before finishing runner-up there in the grade 1 Florida Derby.
Inaugurated in 2013, the Pulpit Stakes was a one-mile race before being cut back to seven and a half furlongs in 2022. Notable Pulpit Stakes winners include 2016 victor Tapwrit, a grandson of Pulpit, who went on to win the Belmont Stakes the following year and stands with his sire Tapit at Gainesway. Another notable Pulpit Stakes winner is 2018 victor Henley’s Joy, by Kitten’s Joy, who went on to become a grade 1 winner of the Belmont Derby Invitational.
Racing Career
Foaled in 1994, Pulpit was a first-crop A.P. Indy colt and from one of Claiborne’s most accomplished female families. Forty-two days after his career debut, Pulpit’s impressive start to his career at Gulfstream Park in early 1997 led New York Times writer Joe Durso to write that Pulpit “is indeed the leading candidate to win the Kentucky Derby.”
After not racing as a juvenile due to nagging growing pains, the long-striding Frank Brothers-trained colt burst onto the racing scene with a smashing gate-to-wire debut win over seven furlongs in January. He followed it up with an equally-impressive front-running allowance victory in early February covering a mile and a sixteenth. His first two starts were won by a combined margin of more than 14 lengths.
Two weeks later, he faced his first real test in Gulfstream’s grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. He rated off a fast pace before taking the lead mid-stretch to win by a length and a half. Now clearly on the Kentucky Derby trail, trainer Frank Brothers was quoted in the New York Times as stating “I’ve never trained a colt like him before… He has a lot of brilliance to him. He’s a runner, a talented colt.”
For his fourth career start in the grade 1 Florida Derby in March, Pulpit’s jockey Shane Sellers followed a similar race plan to his Fountain of Youth victory by racing off the pace. He hit the top of the stretch a half-length from the lead but came up a neck short at the wire to settle for runner-up honors. Pulpit bounced back in April in the grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, drawing clear to win by three and a half lengths and earn multiple graded stakes-winning status.
Entering the Kentucky Derby with four wins from five starts, he led the field into the clubhouse turn and up the backstretch before being overcome entering the stretch by eventual winner Silver Charm. Pulpit held on for a respectable fourth-place finish. The super-talented colt unfortunately came away from the Derby with a career-ending knee fracture and returned home to Claiborne to join the stallion roster.
Stallion Career
Identified as a “breed shaper” by pedigree expert Alan Porter, fifth-generation Claiborne-bred Pulpit was inbred 5x4x5 to Bold Ruler and 5×5 to Princequillo, both champion sires at Claiborne. Laurie Ross’s analysis of his pedigree published online at Horse Racing Nation noted that there are an amazing 20 blue hen mares contained in the first five generations of Pulpit’s pedigree. Further, by A.P. Indy and out of a Mr. Prospector mare, he shared the same successful cross as multiple sires, including Claiborne-bred full brothers Congrats and Flatter, grade 1 winners Mineshaft and Girolamo, and Malibu Moon.
Physically, he was impressive. Pedigree writer Avalyn Hunter’s American Classic Pedigrees notes that Pulpit was a “well-balanced, heavily built bay” with “an excellent shoulder and the strong hindquarters and hind leg typical of his maternal grandsire, Mr. Prospector. He developed the dipped topline typical of the Seattle Slew male line as he matured.”
Regarding the characteristics he passed on to his sons and daughters, Thoroughbred author Frank Mitchell wrote on his blog in 2014 that “quality and class are hallmarks of the Pulpit stock. They also have speed, and Pulpit’s branch of the A.P. Indy line is notable for that important asset.”
Standing at Claiborne from 1998 until his death in 2012, Pulpit sired nearly 950 named foals. More than 40 of Pulpit’s progeny won graded stakes in the U.S. and, internationally, his progeny won stakes races in Canada, England, Germany, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. His 11 grade 1 winners include: Claiborne homebred Stroll, winner of Churchill’s Turf Classic Stakes; Lord Nelson, winner of the Triple Bend Stakes, Bing Crosby Stakes, and Santa Anita Spring Championship Stakes, all grade 1s; Corinthian, winner of the Florida Derby; Ice Box, a Florida Derby winner who was runner-up in the Kentucky Derby; Mr Speaker, winner of the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes; Power Broker, winner of the FrontRunner Stakes; Purge, winner of the Cigar Mile Handicap; Pyro, winner of the Forego Stakes; Rutherienne, winner of the Del Mar Oaks; Sky Mesa, winner of the Hopeful Stakes; and, Tapit, winner of the Wood Memorial Stakes.
A sire of sires, Pulpit has successfully carried on the male line of his sire A.P. Indy and grandsire Seattle Slew, with his progeny including Gainesway’s three-time leading sire Tapit, Three Chimneys stallion Sky Mesa, and the late Harris Farms stallion Lucky Pulpit. At the time of his death, Pulpit had at least 30 sons standing at stud globally.
As a broodmare sire, Pulpit’s daughters have produced Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal, by Uncle Mo, and grade 1 winners Nadal, by Claiborne homebred stallion Blame, Real Solution, by Kitten’s Joy, Sibelius, by Not This Time, and Tuz, by Oxbow.
Female Family
Hailing from an “immensely powerful female family,” as recently noted in BloodHorse by Eric Mitchell, Pulpit’s tail-female line traces back to imported British-bred Claiborne foundation mare Knight’s Daughter. His first five dams were identified by the late pedigree expert Ellen Parker as a reines-de-course or “queens of the turf” mares for their lasting impact as broodmares.
Pulpit was the first foal out of Preach, by Claiborne stallion Mr. Prospector, a Shug McGaughey-trained winner of the grade 1 Frizette Stakes. In addition to producing Pulpit, Preach was the granddam of grade 3 winner Wild Shot, by Trappe Shot, and grade 1-placed Claiborne-bred Endless Chatter, by Claiborne stallion First Samurai.
His granddam Narrate, by Claiborne stallion Honest Pleasure, was a grade 3 winner of the Falls City Handicap. Through her daughter Yarn, a full sister to Pulpit’s dam Preach, Narrate was the granddam of Coolmore’s English and Irish champion 2-year-old male Minardi, by Claiborne and Gamely Corp.-bred sire Boundary. Through Yarn, Narrate is also the granddam of Ashford Stud’s late, prominent international sire Tale of the Cat, by Storm Cat, and multiple graded stakes-winning WinStar Farms stallion Fed Biz, by Giant’s Causeway. Also through the Yarn branch, Narrate is the third dam of Ashford Stud’s Johannesburg, by Hennessy, the U.S. and European champion 2-year-old male, and fourth dam of grade 1 winner Joking, by Distorted Humor. Narrate’s dynamic daughters Preach and Yarn are also found in the pedigree of Triple Crown winner Justify, who is inbred 4×4 to the Claiborne-bred full sisters.
Pulpit’s great-granddam was three-time winner State, by Canadian-bred Claiborne stallion Nijinksy II. She was the dam of grade 2-winning Claiborne homebred Region, by Claiborne stallion Devil’s Bag, and Claiborne-bred grade 3 winners Double Feint, by Claiborne stallion Spectacular Bid, and Announce, by Claiborne-bred champion Forty Niner.
His fourth dam was Arlington Lassie Stakes winner Monarchy, by Irish-bred Claiborne stallion Princequillo. She was the dam of Claiborne-bred grade 2 winner Fabled Monarchy, by French-bred Claiborne stallion Le Fabuleux, and Claiborne-bred stakes winner Title, by Claiborne stallion Bold Ruler. Monarchy was the third dam of English champion 2-year-old filly Tessla, by British-bred sire Glint of Gold, and fifth dam of Irish-bred Leading Light, by his native sire Montjeu, winner of the classic group 1 St. Ledger Stakes and Ascot Gold Cup in Britain.
Pulpit’s fifth dam was imported British-bred Claiborne foundation mare Knight’s Daughter, by Irish-bred stallion Sir Cosmo. She was purchased by Arthur Hancock, Sr. for 2,500 guineas at the Tattersalls Newmarket sale in December of 1951. Bred by King George VI, she earned 1959 Broodmare of the Year honors after her Claiborne-bred Princequillo colt Round Table won Horse of the Year honors. Round Table is a Hall of Famer and recognized as one of the greatest runners in history. He returned home to Claiborne and became an excellent sire. Knight’s Daughter was also the third dam of U.S. champion 3-year-old filly Turkish Trousers, by Bagdad, grade 1 winner Craelius, by Avatar, and Claiborne-bred Hollywood Derby-winning sire Tell, by Claiborne stallion Round Table. She is also the fourth dam of grade 1 winner Balzac, by Claiborne stallion Buckpasser.
While injury prevented Pulpit’s racing career from ever reaching its full potential, the blue-blood made his mark as great a stallion at Claiborne, carrying on one of the most elite sire lines and adding to the legacy of the noble Claiborne female family of Knight’s Daughter.