Third time to the post was a charm as Animal Kingdom’s previously placed daughter Sweet Like Char joined the winning ranks with a hard-fought win in maiden special weight company at Delaware Park on October 18th. The solid effort brought to five the number of winners for her first-crop sire.
Sweet Like Char broke well from the gate and then settled in nicely in the fourth spot as the field ran by the first quarter mile. When approaching the far turn, new jockey Jomar Torres began asking the two-year-old filly for more and she responded gamely rounding the turn and into the stretch. She was approached by one other nearing the wire but held her own for the win.
Bred by Godolphin in Kentucky, Sweet Like Char is out of the G3 winning Forest Wildcat mare Forest Heiress, a full sister to G1 winner Wildcat Heir. Sweet Like Char has a G2-placed half-brother in Crossbow (by Bernardini) and another Stakes-placed half-brother in Forest Prince. This is also the immediate family of G1 Preakness Stakes winner Louis Quatorze.
Animal Kingdom is the sire of four other winners from his first-crop, including three Stakes winners. No other North American freshman sire has more in that category. Tops among these is the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf-bound Untamed Domain, winner of Woodbine’s G2 Summer Stakes on September 17th. Churchill Downs Debutante Stakes winner Sunny Skies and Del Mar Graduation Stakes winner Continental Divide are his other two added-money winners.
