Our #Pedigeek “Term of the Week” is:

FIRST CROP

The pressure to build a stallion’s reputation starts with that first book of mares to which he is bred, and the foals they produce the following year will go on to represent the stallion as his first crop. These offspring will start the statistic ball rolling in relation to win percentage when they begin to debut as 2-year-olds.

Currently, with 10 winners from 26 starters, including graded-stakes winners Pappacap and Wicked Halo, 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner tops the first-crop sire list. Fourth on the rankings is 2016 Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Classic Empire, that year’s Eclipse Award winner as champion 2-year-old male.

Classic Empire, as of this writing, has had 26 first crop foals debut. Eight of them are winners, among them First Empire who won the Soaring Free Stakes at Woodbine to become Classic Empire’s first stakes winner. In fourth that day was another Classic Empire scion, Twenty Four Mamba, who was coming in off a second-place performance in the Victoria Stakes. Classic Empire also is the sire of Interstatedaydream, who followed up her debut score at Belmont Park with a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Another daughter, Queens Up, won at first asking and then finished second in the Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes, both at Arlington International Racecourse.

So, as you can gather, the Classic Empire babies are showing some ability from a modest sample size. These 26 starters have had an amassed 48 total starts, with 8 wins (17%) and 12 placings (25%). Hoping to keep the stats up is Classy Edition, who debuts this Sunday in Race 7 at Saratoga for trainer Todd Pletcher.

This filly sold for $550,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale in Maryland. Her mother, Newbie, is a daughter of Bernardini, whose reputation as a broodmare sire we’ve already gone over. In short, he passes on star quality through his daughters. Of three foals to race so far, this mare has produced two first-out winners in New Girl in Town, who went on to become a multiple stakes-placed runner, and Newly Minted. Newly Minted did not debut until she was 3 years old, but she won the first three starts of her career by open lengths, including the New York Stallion Stakes by 7 1/2 lengths and the Bouwerie Stakes by 2 ½ lengths. Later, Newly Minted also won the Fleet Indian Sakes by a whopping nine lengths.

So, let’s see if Newly Minted’s half-sister Classy Edition can win against a field of other New York-bred babies and bolster the first crop reputation for her champion sire, Classic Empire.

Sunday, Sept. 5

Saratoga Race Course, Race 7, maiden special weight race, New York-bred fillies, 2-year-olds, 5.5 furlongs, 3:53 p.m. ET

#2 Classy Edition

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.