The sire of 16.4% stakes horses, value sire BLAME has proven year in and year out that he can get owners their Saturday horse no matter if they want dirt or turf, short or long.
BLAME holds another impressive percentage in his arsenal with 17.65% of those stakes horses performing at the Grade 1 level. Looking even deeper into his stats, his percentage of Grade 1 performers to runners is higher than stallions such as Distorted Humor, Kitten’s Joy, More Than Ready, Ghostzapper, and Hard Spun, among others.
A dual surface winner himself with victories on both synthetic and dirt, BLAME has passed that multi-surface ability on at the highest level with Grade 1 winners coming on multiple surfaces.
BLAME’s success as a sire in Grade 1 races started with his first crop when multiple dirt graded stakes winner March switched to the turf and was only a head away from winning the Hollywood Derby (G1) on turf. He was joined by Chide as those who showed the talent BLAME was passing on when she finished third in the Mother Goose (G1).
It was in his third crop that BLAME’s ability to sire top level winners on all surfaces at all distances was made absolutely clear.
Senga gave BLAME his first European group winner and his first classic winner all within three months in France. Her classic win in the Prix de Diane Longines (G1) over 10 ½ furlongs came against a filly many Americans will be familiar with in U.S. champion Sistercharlie.
While Senga was representing her sire in Europe, from that same crop came a horse on the opposite end of the surface and distance spectrum – seven furlong dirt Grade 1 winner Marley’s Freedom.
Marley’s Freedom won her Grade 1 on one of the biggest stages at Saratoga in the Ketel One Ballerina Stakes (G1) and was only half a length from winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1). Competing at the Grade 1 level five times in her career, she never finished worse than fourth with three top two finishes.
Making sure the middle distances were covered with a Grade 1 win from that crop was Fault.
The winner of four graded stakes, with three of those four coming consecutively to end her career, Fault was the ultimate representation of the versatility of BLAME’s runners. The mare’s first graded stakes victory came going 1 1/8 miles on turf in the Pucker Up Stakes (G3) and her second over one mile on the turf. The mare made a surface change after that one mile victory and exactly one month later her headlining win came over 1 1/8 miles on the dirt in the Santa Margarita Stakes (G1). Staying on that surface, she ended her career with a Grade 3 winner over 1 1/16 miles on the dirt.
Continuing to see Grade 1 performers throughout his crops, BLAME had another standout group from his 2017 crop with runners winning at the highest level on both dirt and turf.
An undefeated graded stakes winner from seven furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, Nadal helped give his owners Kentucky Derby (G1) dreams after winning the prestigious 2020 Arkansas Derby (G1). That colt hailed from the same crop as Abscond, who had given her sire a juvenile Grade 1 winner on the turf in the Natalma Stakes (G1) the previous September.
Run over a mile on the turf, the Natalma was one of six top three finishes for Abscond in stakes races. The filly was another who proved to be strong at multiple distances with her stakes career starting with a second in a 5 ½ furlong turf dash in the Listed Bolton Landing Stakes at Saratoga. In all, Abscond’s stakes performances came from 5 ½ furlongs to 1 1/16 miles as another example of the overall versatility BLAME gives his stock.
A top racehorse, BLAME is quickly proving to be a top value sire around the world. All but one of BLAME’s crops aged four or older have had at least one Grade 1 performer to give him 12 overall with his current 3-year-old crop including stakes winner Saiydabad, who finished a good fourth in the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club (G1) earlier this year.