Champion Tyson to new Pennsylvania breeding operation
Tapit’s champion son Tyson has been purchased by Darryl and Jill Myers to stand his first season at the couple’s Stone Jug Ranch, a new Thoroughbred operation in Dillsburg, Pa.
“We’ve talked about [standing stallions] in the past,” said the Myers’ bloodstock advisor Ed Price. “But things got serious a week or two ago when we saw this horse.”
Tyson retires as Canada’s Sovereign Award champion older horse of 2023 after a season in which he hit the board in four consecutive graded stakes. He battled for the lead throughout Woodbine’s 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Seagram Cup Stakes on the all-weather track before pulling away to a 3-length victory. His first stakes win came in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 3 Dominion Day, also over Woodbine’s main track, in which he overcame an adventurous trip before drawing off to win by 1 1/2 lengths. His time of 1:48.32 was .08 of a second off the track record.
A winner of his debut at 3 at Gulfstream Park and a daylight winner in allowance company next out at Woodbine, Tyson won four of his 10 starts. His three placings were all graded stakes: he ran second, beaten a half length, in this year’s Grade 2 Eclipse, and was third twice in 2023, in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, and last year’s Eclipse in his stakes debut. Tyson retires with earnings of $378,548.
Price notes a combination of things make Tyson a great prospect. “He’s by a very successful sire of sires, Tapit. It’s one of the strongest modern-day female families, with Rags to Riches, Arcangelo. [His third dam, Broodmare of the Year] Better Than Honour was the most expensive broodmare ever sold, at $14 million. Plus the fact that he had a lot of racing ability. . . he won four of his first five starts, was a Grade 2 and Grade 3 winner, and was third, beaten around 3 lengths, in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
“And his foals will be eligible to race in the PA-Sired/PA-Bred Series,” Price points out.
One of 10 Tapit champions (from 175 stakes winners), Tyson is the first foal for Honouring, a Smart Strike winning full-sister to Grade 1 winner Streaming and stakes winner Treasuring. Another half-sister, Modeling (by Tapit), is the dam of Belmont Stakes-G1 and Eclipse Award winner Arcangelo. Honouring’s next two foals, both by Tapit, were six-figure sales yearlings at Keeneland.
“Tyson will become one of the six new stallions to date for the 2025 Pennsylvania breeding season,” said Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association Executive Secretary Brian Sanfratello. “Thanks goes out to the Myers for their dedication to PA breeding with the opening of their new stallion farm. Tyson should fit in very well and I wish Darryl and Jill good luck in their new endeavor.”
Tyson is expected to arrive at the newly established facility in a few weeks. A stud fee and terms have yet to be announced.
