Breeders’ Cup Turf Juvenile Winner for Scat Daddy

The legacy of the late, great Scat Daddy was seen again at the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Del Mar where Aidan O’Brien won the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Turf Juvenile with Mendelssohn (2c Scat Daddy x Leslie’s Lady, by Tricky Creek).

A $3million Keeneland September purchase, Mendelssohn won by a length with Ryan Moore in the saddle, his second win from five starts.

“We always talk a lot of him,” O’Brien said.

“His first run he was very green. His second run Ryan [Moore] rode him, and he was very green again. We were a little bit worried to how green he was. Then he went to Doncaster, and the same thing, very green. So when he came back, we decided to put a pair of blinkers on him to see if he could get rid of that greenness, and we did.”

Mendelssohn comes with a big pedigree as a sibling to Grade I winners Beholder and Into Mischief being from stakes-winner Leslie’s Lady.

“He's a late foal, so physically he's very big and strong, and every week he's getting better,” O’Brien said.

“We knew that he was kind of a really American dirt pedigree horse. But we felt we didn't want to stop the progression, that's why we left him on the grass rather than putting dirt in on top when he wasn't ready for it. We had it in our head that if everything went well today, he could be a horse we could train for the [GI] Kentucky Derby. Especially now when we have the Kentucky Derby trials at home.”

Coolmore will stand two Grade I winning sons of Scat Daddy in 2018 in No Nay Never and Caravaggio.