As ROYAL ANTHEM enters the third year of his stallion career, it’s time to take a look at the type of runner he is throwing. The Blood-Horse’s leading 3rd crop sire list for 2006 which came out on March 4th, ranked this 16.3-hand THEATRICAL stallion #18 among his peers. ROYAL ANTHEM, who stands for $10,000 weighs in above some far more expensive young stallions:
• 19) SUCCESSFUL APPEAL ($25,000LF)
• 21) STEPHEN GOT EVEN ($25,000LF)
• 26) WAR CHANT ($60,000LF)
• 44) BERNSTEIN ($25,000LF).

When measured against the 3rd crop stallions standing in just in Kentucky, ROYAL ANTHEM moves up to 11th place. Of the 70 sires ranked only 12 have sired stakes winners this year, including ROYAL ANTHEM whose 4-year-old PRINCE T. won the 2006 running of 1 1/16 mile, $150,000 Louisiana Premier Night Championship S. on dirt on February 18th.

Middle distance, dirt and turf…
Considering that ROYAL ANTHEM set a 1¼-mile course record and finished a close second to the extraordinary galloper DAYLAMI in the 1½-mile Breeders Cup Turf-G1, it is interesting that he is throwing American-style runners who are winning at distances from 5 ½ furlongs to 1 1/16 miles and who can compete on both dirt and turf at major North American tracks coast to coast. To date in 2006, his best runner, PRINCE T. has shown that he definitely prefers dirt, as does last year’s leading runner WANNAWINEMALL who was second in the 1 1/16-mile El Camino Real Derby (G3-$200,000) at Bay Meadows. ROYAL ANTHEM’s runners in England, France and Italy echo this middle-distance bias.

Stellar Siblings…
ROYAL ANTHEM is ¾ brother to SHARP CAT. This extremely gifted filly by STORM CAT won 15 of 22 starts, $2,032,575 and the Acorn S.-G1, Beldame S.-G1, Hollywood Starlet S.-G1, Ruffian H.-G1, Santa Anita Oaks-G1, Las Virgenes S.-G1, and Matron S.-G1. She was precocious and quick, winning or placing in 5 of 7 starts at 2, including 4 stakes, all graded, and winning 2 of 3 starts at sprint distances. But her forté was 2 turns; she won 13 of 19 starts at longer distances. SAAYWAN, her 2002 filly by FUSAICHI PEGASUS sold for $1.5-million as a yearling.

ROYAL ANTHEM’s Three-quarter brother STAR RECRUIT by AL NASR (Fr) earned $807,900. He had a tough campaign at 2, winning or placing in 7 of 9 starts, including a victory in the Alysheba S.-G3 and a 2nd in the $200,000 Breeders’ Futurity-G2. He showed incredible versatility winning or placing in 4 of 5 starts at sprint distances and 11 of 19 starts around 2 turns with a decided preference for dirt.

Sound and Classy Parents…
Allen Paulson owned ROYAL ANTHEM’s sire, the turf specialist THEATRICAL (Ire) who made 22 starts in the mid-eighties, earning $2.9-million when a million was still a lot of money. He was Champion Older Horse in Ireland and Champion Turf Male in the US, winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf Classic-G1; his average winning distance was 11+ furlongs but he sires high quality runners who like distances between 8.5 and 9.5 furlongs. ROYAL ANTHEM still remains one of his leading money earners.

His dam, the 1998 Broodmare of the Year IN NEON, was a model of versatility. She won or placed in 10 of her 25 starts, earning over $111,000 and winning the Budweiser Turfway Breeders Cup. A versatile runner, she dominated when sprinting on dirt, but was able to win a stakes around two turns and to place in 2 of 7 starts on the turf.

Grandparents of note…
To put it simply, THEATRICAL’s sire was brilliant. Champion 3-year-old NUREYEV made only 3 starts, all in stakes. He actually crossed the finish line first in all starts, but was disqualified in the 1-mile English Two Thousand Guineas. THEATRICAL’s dam, the modest Irish stakes-placed TREE OF KNOWLEDGE scored 1 win and 4 seconds in 7 starts.

IN NEON’s parents were made the sturdiest fiber America had to offer! Durable ACK ACK made 27 starts, winning 19 and placing in 6, earning over $636,000 and winning stakes at 3, 4 and 5. Stakes-placed SHAMARA went to extremes of soundness, making 40 starts, winning or placing in 26 of them and earning $72,880. To develop this theme a bit further, SHAMARA’s parents, DEWAN and PALSY WALSY made 60 starts between them; and her 4 grandparents racked up 290 trips to the post among them, averaging 72.5 outings apiece!

ROYAL ANTHEM pedigree notes…
ROYAL ANTHEM is essentially an outcross through his first 5 generations, possessing only a lone 4 x 5 cross to *TURN-TO.

His sire, THEATRICAL, also is also modestly inbred: 4 x 5 NEARCO and 5 x 5 HYPERION

IN NEON has 2 NEARCO’s at the 5th generation, through the ¾ brothers *ROYAL CHARGER and *NASRULLAH.

Names in the pedigrees of ROYAL ANTHEM’s leading runners…
The following have appeared in the pedigrees of ROYAL ANTHEM’s best foals and are supposed to offer only general guidelines. Some full siblings, such as GRAUSTARK’s brother HIS MAJESTY are not shown only because they have not yet appeared in a pedigree of note (through 3/4/06):

This information will be updated throughout the racing year!

Sire lines: Available in .pdf format. PLEASE CLICK HERE