Midshipman represented by first winner

This is the time of the year when more than a few eyes are looking towards the season’s early two-year-old races especially those featuring progeny of first-year sires. One of these promising freshman sires is Darley’s Midshipman whose young horses have already made a splash at the two-year-old sales, bringing such prices as $560,000, $300,000 and $260,000.

Based on what happened On March 29th, it appears that Midshipman’s progeny just might possess that same precociousness that vaulted him to Championship honors at two. It was his two-year-old son, Sunny Yellow, who became his first starter and winner when finishing first in a four and one-half furlong maiden event at Hipodromo De Las Americas in Mexico.

Bred in Kentucky by Darley and Westwind Farm, Sunny Yellow was produced from the Woodman mare Crystal Woods, dam of Listed winner Bonnie Scott and multiple Stakes-placed Woodmont.

Midshipman was voted the Eclipse Award as a juvenile following successes in the 2008 G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and G1 Del Mar Futurity, with a second-place finish in the G1 Norfolk Stakes (gr. I). He retired with a record of five wins, one second and one third from eight career starts, with lifetime earnings of $1,584,600.

Midshipman stands for $7,500 live foal, stands and nurses.