Epicenter
During his career at Ashford Stud, Giant’s Causeway topped the Blood-Horse’s General Sires list three times in the space of four years and rarely finished outside the top four. In the process he was represented by more than 30 northern hemisphere Gr.1 winners and roughly 100 Graded/Group winners. Many of his sons have gone on to sire Gr.1 winners, with Shamardal founding a flourishing dynasty in Europe. Now Giant’s Causeway has another son – the top-class 2YO Not This Time – who promises to do the same in North America. Of his first five crops of racing age, only his 2024 2yos were sired at a fee higher than $15,000, yet Not This Time is already responsible for the highly impressive total of 37 black-type winners, including six winners at Gr.1 level (four on dirt and two on turf). He has been North America’s leading second-, third- and fourth-crop sire and is again dominating his year group in 2024, even though his opposition includes Nyquist. He managed to become a top-ten stallion at the tender age of eight and repeated that achievement in 2023. He was also a top-ten turf sire in 2023 and 2024, so it wasn’t surprising that he was responsible for a Gr.2 2YO winner at Royal Ascot in 2024.
Not This Time’s rise to the top has been spearheaded by his top-class son Epicenter. Injured in the last of his 11 starts, this very consistent colt had previously built a record of six wins and three seconds, his only unplaced effort coming on his debut. An impressive winner of the Gun Runner Stakes at two, Epicenter earned the Eclipse Award for Champion 3-year-old male with his victories in the Gr.2 Risen Star S., Gr.2 Louisiana Derby, Gr.2 Jim Dandy S. and Gr.1 Travers S. He was also a fine second in the Gr.1 Kentucky Derby and Gr.1 Preakness S.
Epicenter is by Not This Time out of a Candy Ride mare and so is Simplification, winner of the Gr.2 Fountain of Youth S. and fourth in the Gr.1 Kentucky Derby. They are among Not This Time’s six winners from seven runners out of daughters of Candy Ride. This is significant, because the sensational young stallion Gun Runner is bred to the reverse pattern, by Candy Ride out of a Giant’s Causeway mare.
Not This Time already has BTWs out of daughters of A.P. INDY, PULPIT (the Gr.1 winner Sibelius), MINESHAFT, FRIENDS LAKE and TAPIT.
The dual Gr.2 winner Arzak is one of Not This Time’s six winners out of TAPIT mares.
Significantly, Gun Runner is another who is enjoying success with mares by PULPIT and TAPIT. Gun Runner’s eight black-type winners out of TAPIT mares include Gr.1 winner Society, Gr.2 winners Red Route One and Wicked Halo and Gr.3 winners Disarm and Il Miracolo. Gun Runner’s Gr.1-winning son Gunite has a 2nd dam by PULPIT. Gun Runner’s first starter out of a mare by A.P. INDY’s son FLATTER is the multiple Gr.1 winner Taiba.
Epicenter is also well worth trying with mares by MALIBU MOON, another stallion who combined A.P. Indy and Mr Prospector blood. Gun Runner’s foals out of MALIBU MOON mares include Gr.1 winners Sierra Leone and Locked. Mares by BERNARDINI should also work well with Epicenter.
Not This Time has Gr.1 winners out of mares by AWESOME AGAIN’s sons GHOSTZAPPER and WILKO, as well as a multiple Gr.2 winner out of an AWESOME AGAIN mare. This suggests mares with DEPUTY MINISTER blood.
Mares by SPEIGHTSTOWN and MUNNINGS should be ideal for Epicenter, as Not This Time’s Gr.1 winner Just One Time has a dam by SPEIGHTSTOWN. He also has Gr.2 or Gr.3 winners out of mares by EMPIRE MAKER, SPEIGHTSTOWN, SMART STRIKE, CAPE TOWN and UNBRIDLED’S SONG. He is also showing promise with daughters of CURLIN and CITY ZIP. SONGANDAPRAYER, BROKEN VOW and PIONEEROF THE NILE are other UNBRIDLED line stallions with talented winners by Not This Time, as do Street Cry’s sons STREET SENSE and STREET HERO.
EL PRADO’s sons MEDAGLIA D’ORO and PADDY O’PRADO also rank among the dam sires of Not This Time’s BTWs.
Not This Time has Gr.2 and Gr.3 winners with 2nd dams by SAINT BALLADO, and also has a Gr.1 winner by a son of SAINT BALLADO.