A deep and diverse crop of new stallions awaits Florida breeders for the upcoming season. Any crop that includes an Eclipse Champion is already strong, but this group also includes another multiple grade one winner (who was a foreign champion), a Kentucky Derby favorite and three other graded stakes winners. There are sons of the breed's top stallions like A. P. Indy, Storm Cat and Mr. Prospector, as well as sons of regional powerhouses like In Excess and Montbrook. The new arrivals feature early developing juvenile sprinters and top handicappers going long. In short, there is a good new stallion for just about every taste.

Drewman brings a very intriguing pedigree to Florida for the 2004 breeding season. By the deceased stallion Unbridled out of the Cozzene mare Lucky Soph, he is bred on the same sire-line cross that has yielded Preakness winner and Florida stallion Red Bullet and prominent Kentucky stallion Unbridled's Song. In fact his dam is a three quarter sister to the dam of the latter, making Drewman a close genetic relative to the sire of the likes of Buddha, Unbridled Elaine, Songandaprayer and Eurosilver. Drewman could also run. He won three races, over $120,000 and placed in the Iowa Derby at three and the Diplomat Way as four year old to the multiple stakes winner Crafty Shaw.

Darley will stand 2002 U.A.E. Derby and Super Derby winner Essence of Dubai at Hartley/De Renzo. As a juvenile, he won the G2 Norfolk stakes for Sheikh Mohammed, before being sent to Dubai to prepare for the Kentucky Derby. While there he won a pair of stakes including that score in the rich U.A.E. Derby. After running ninth to War Emblem at Churchill Downs, he came back to win the G2 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in September of 2002 and retires with earnings in excess of $2 million. Essence of Dubai is a member of Pulpit's first crop and is out of 1987 Eclipse Champion Juvenile Filly Epitome, also the dam of $1 million yearling and stakes winner Danjur. Pulpit's other major son to retire to stud is Sky Mesa, who will begin his stallion career at Three Chimneys in Kentucky for a $30,000 fee.

If racing performance and female family mean anything, the offspring of Gibson County should be stone cold runners. He won three stakes and placed in another eight over four seasons of racing, earning over $375,000. His dam, Miss Gibson County, earned $545,872 and won 11 races including the Susan's Girl division of the Florida Stallion Series as a juvenile and the Princess Rooney at Calder as a four year old. She is sister to G3 winner and half-million dollar earner Big Jewel, who placed in 58 of 103 starts, winning 24. Gibson County is a son of California's top stallion In Excess, who has sired 32 stakes winners including several other hardknocking runners-2003 Indiana Derby winner Excessivepleasure, Above Perfection (G2), Icecoldbeeratreds (G2), and Indian Charlie (G1) to name a few. The latter, In Excess's first prominent son to stud, stands in Kentucky and has sired some good ones in Jazz Lady, Indian Express, Eugene's Third Son and Windflow.

Greatness brings a pedigree worthy of his name to Adena Springs South. He is a son of the legendary Mr. Prospector, who is one of the most prolific sire of sires in the history of the stud book. In 2003 alone, at least 79 sons of Mr. P have sired stakes winners. Greatness is out of the Danzig mare Harbour Club, who won the Marion Van Berg Memorial and with any kind of racing luck would have been a multiple G1 winner. She lost both the G1 Hempstead and G1 Shuvee by slim margins. Her first foal, Holzmeister, won the Hawthorne Juvenile at two and the Harry Henson at three before embarking on his stud career in Texas. With his first crop running in 2003, he is already the sire of four winners. On the track Greatness, couldn't quite live up to his brother's exploits, but did win a maiden and allowance race at three in impressive enough fashion to initiate a minor bidding war among stallion farms for his services. As a son of Mr. Prospector out of stakes winning and producing Danzig mare, he has every right to make it.

Florida breeders will have access to another quality son of Storm Cat in 2004 in Gulf Storm. He was the second highest selling Storm Cat yearling of 1998, with the hammer falling at $1.4 million at the Keeneland July sale. He would go on to run third to eventual G1-winner Brahms in the Seattle Slew S across the road from the Keeneland sales pavilion. Not surprisingly, Gulf Storm hails from a strong female family. His dam, the Turkoman mare Miss Turkana was a multiple stakes winner in California and earned just over $500,000. She is half sister to two other stakes winners and two additional stakes horses. Storm Cat has sired five G1 winners out of daughters or granddaughters of Alydar including 1999 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Cat Thief, who stands at Overbrook Farm in Kentucky for $35,000.

Breeders looking for speed and preciousness will have a Juggernaut at their disposal in 2004. The soon to be five year-old son of Is It True was a good juvenile, winning three races including the Criterium and Foolish Pleasure at Calder. He held his form to age three, placing in three stakes and finished with $185,928 in earnings, having placed in all but four of his starts. Juggernaut is the first stakes winner for his hickory tough dam Mito's Touch. In her racing days she placed in 46 of 82 starts including a second in the Zippy Do Handicap. Is It True's other major son at stud, Yes It's True, has been extremely well received at Padua, and Juggernaut is likely to be busy next year as well.

Sword Dancer, Kelso, Forego, Slew o' Gold and Cigar all won back to back runnings of Belmont's prestigious Woodward Stakes (G1). In September of 2002 Lido Palace added his name to that Hall of Fame list by winning the fall fixture for the second straight year. A son of the Forty Niner stallion Rich Man's Gold (who ran second in the 1995 G3 Rebel at Oaklawn for country singer Reba McIntyre) Lido Palace was a two-time champion in his native Chile. He was purchased, along with Chilean Filly Triple Crown winner Printemps, by John and Jerry Amerman and turned over to Bobby Frankel. A southern hemisphere foal of 1997 he ran third in Essence of Dubai's U.A.E. Derby prior to embarking on an American campaign against older runners during the summer of 2001. He ran second in the Hawthorne Gold Cup and second to Albert the Great in the Suburban before turning the tables on that rival in the G1 Whitney and Woodward. The Forty Niner branch of the Mr. Prospector sire-line is going strong, especially in 2003 with three sons (Distorted Humor, Jules and Coronado's Quest) siring G1 winners in 2003. Another son End Sweep, is among the top fifteen stallion on the 2003 General Sires list. Lido Palace is the first major grandson of Forty Niner to be available to American breeders.

Another G1 winner who will be available to Florida breeders in 2004 is Macho Uno. The son of Holy Bull won a dramatic Breeders Cup Juvenile by a nose over Point Given to clinch the Eclipse Award as the nation's top juvenile of 2000. In his sophomore season, he won the G3 Pennsylvania Derby and added the G2 Mass Cap to his resume the following season. Macho Uno hails from a deep female family that has already produced some successful stallions. His half brother Awesome Again has sired the G1 winners Ghostzapper and Toccet from his first crop. Macho Uno's second dam is sister to the dam of champion older mare North Sider and to Shawnee Creek dam of Storm Creek, also the sire of a G1 winner and the second leading freshman sire of 2000. He is the first major son of 1994 Horse of the Year Holy Bull to retire to stud.

With the early successes of Pulpit and Malibu Moon's offspring on the track and Golden Missile and Aptitude's in sales rings, sons of AP Indy are being well supported all over the country. In 2004 Florida breeders will have access to member of that stallion's fourth crop in Winter Glitter. An earner of nearly $100,000 in his racing days, Winter Glitter sold for $190,000 at the 1998 Keeneland September Sale at a time when A. P Indy stood for only $50,000.He is out of the Group stakes placed Woodman mare Snow Forest. That mare's 1999 foal, Snow Ridge by Tabasco Cat was a brilliantly fast sprinter who was greeted by full book in his first season at Padua Farm last year.

As successful as Montbrook has been, it was only a matter of time until his sons started filling up stallion stations around the state. Pure Precision was one of his sire's good ones, winning Monmouth Parks most important juvenile events, the Tyro and the G3 Sapling with a devastating turn of foot. Overall he won half his eight starts, finished off the board only once and amassed $186,550 in earnings. Pure Precision is out of the good Kinsman mare Al's Helen a G3 winner of $220,000. She has also produced the stakes winners Blazed Star and Circus Charmer. That's an exceptional combination of sire-line, precocious race record and female family.

Repent adds to the embarrassment of riches facing Florida breeding in 2004. One of the top three year olds of his generation (a crop that included Buddha, Medaglia d'oro, War Emblem and Perfect Drift). He was a multiple graded stakes at two taking down the G3 Kentucky Cup Juvenile and G2 Kentucky Jockey Club. Those performances made him one of the early favorites for the 2002 Kentucky Derby and his spring races as a sophomore only enhanced that status. After wins in the G3 Risen Star and G2 Louisiana Derby, Repent ran into the emerging buzzsaw War Emblem in the G2 Illinois Derby. He would be injured shortly thereafter and miss the chance at revenge in the Kentucky Derby. Repent made his next start over four months later in the Travers and ran perhaps his most impressive race, giving Medaglia D'oro all he could handle without the benefit of prep. Repent is son of Preakness winner Louis Quartorze and the Cipayo mare Baby Grace. He has two stakes winning siblings, Johansson and King Ruckus who was a champion sprinter in Canada.

By Skip Trial out of a Jolie's Halo mare, Skip to the Stone brings a decidedly Florida pedigree to Lou Gurino's Lou-Roe farm. He also brings a top notch race record as well. He won the top three year-old sprinter in the country in the spring of 2001 after winning the G3 Baldwin at Santa Anita and the G3 Bay Shore at Aqueduct over such crack sprinters as City Zip and Forest Heir. Skip to the Stone's dam is a sister to a European stakes winner and her grandam is the exceptional Alydar mare The Very One, who earned over $1million in the late 1970's when that feat still meant something.

When they ran a big race over the past few years, you could usually count on Dollar Bill being among the contenders. In the fall of 2000, the son of Peaks and Valleys won the G2 Brown & Williamson Jockey Club at Churhill, which established him as one the ones to beat for the 2001 Kentucky Derby. Early in his sophomore season he won the Risen Star before encountering a world of trouble in the Louisiana Derby. On the strength of those races and a third in the G1 Blue Grass, Dollar Bill one of the "hot" horses Derby Week, Another rough run in the early stages of the race ended his chances to wear the roses though. Later on he ran third to Point Given in the Travers. As a four year old, Dollar Bill placed in several important events including the G1 Oaklawn H and G1 Stephen Foster. Dollar Bill is out of the stakes winning Saratoga Six mare Saratoga Dame and is by the Mt. Livermore (by Blushing Groom) stallion Peaks and Valleys. The Blushing Groom sire-line is alive and well with grandsons like Cherokee Run and Orientate getting strong play in Kentucky.

Kentucky's loss will be Florida gain, when Scorpion takes up shop at () Farm in 2004. The son of Seattle Slew was one of the more prominent juveniles of 2000, placing in four graded stakes in New York. As a sophomore he won the Jim Dandy, run as a Grade I for the 2001 season. The Seattle Slew sire-line couldn't be any hotter right now with A. P. Indy topping the General Sire List and Doneraile Court making his claim to Freshman Sire honors. A $490,000 yearling, Scorpion is out of the stakes-placed Chief's Crown mare Petiteness, a granddaughter of the great racemare and producer Straight Deal. Other stallions to emerge from the Straight Deal female line are Premiership and Belong to Me.

When Michael Tabor needed a rabbit for his highly regarded three year old Nokoma in the spring of 2002, he went out and purchased Smooth Jazz. Funny how things work out sometimes, as Smooth Jazz retires to stud a G2 winner, while Nokoma never won a stakes race and is nowhere to be found. Just prior to being purchased, Smooth Jazz won the six furlong Best Turn at Aqueduct. After setting the pace the pace in the Florida Derby, he was freshened up for a late summer campaign. While he did not regain his early season form, with more time he came back with a vengeance as a four year old winning the G2 Commonwealth Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. In that race he ran the hooves off some good ones like Crafty C T, Roman Dancer and Najran. There is plenty of blacktype in Smooth Jazz's pedigree and he is among the first graded stakes-winning grandsons of Storm Cat to enter stud, joining the likes Menifee, Johannesburg and Snow Ridge and Harlan's Holiday.

With the success of Two Punchs's son Smoke Glacken, Florida breeders might be advised to take a long look at Pennant Punch. He was the highest selling yearling for his sire in 1996 and earned over $100,000 in his racing days. Pennant Punch is also a half -brother to three stakes winners, including the Dixie Flag, a multiple graded SW and earner of over $550,000. His other two stakes winning siblings are or were Florida stallions: Byars and Manlove, sire of the good turf horse Proud Man.

A stakes-winning grandson of Mr. Prospector always has a license to make it at stud. When that grandson is also a multiple stakes winner of $467,766 from a strong female, those chances improve all the more and Runspastum qualifies on all counts. He was a stakes winner at three and five and hitting the board in half his starts, winning six times. Runspastum is the first foal from the Danzig mare Erandel. He brought a half million at the 1998 Keeneland July sale, the third highest of thirty nine Woodmans offered at auction that year. Erandel is a half sister to Savina, Lech and Crimson Guard all stakes winner for Henrky deKwiatkowski of Kennelot stable and later Calumet Farm fame.

Gneiss, who had been standing in West Virginia, will give Florida breeders access to a son of Diesis. The sire of at least 10 G1 winners, Diesis just might be the most under appreciated sire in North America. Among his G1 winners are Halling, Diminuendo, Keen Hunter and Rootentootenwooten. While the latter won her G1 on the dirt as two year old, most of his good ones have been on the grass, thus the prejudice from American breeders. Gneiss is was one of his sires' good ones, winning the Gr 3 Jersey S as a three year old in England. He is a half sister to New Madrid, a stakes winner on the dirt and his dam was a multiple stakes winner in Europe as well as graded stakes placed in the states.