With every passing month, the loss of champion Arrogate early in his stallion career becomes starker. It was apparent again Saturday evening, as Arcangelo won the Belmont Stakes, conferring classic sire status on Arrogate posthumously. Arcangelo is from the second of what will be just three crops by Arrogate, who died in June 2020 after developing an illness that led to neurological symptoms. The son of Unbridled’s Song had retired to Juddmonte Farm to great fanfare after ripping through a series of major Grade/Group 1 events in the 2016 Travers Stakes, 2016 Breeders’ Cup Classic, 2017 Pegasus World Cup, and 2017 Dubai World Cup. An Eclipse Award champion, he retired as North America’s leading money winner, with earnings of $17,422,600. His accomplishments have led to him being elected into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and he will be formally inducted in August. Arrogate’s first foals hit the track after his death, and his first crop included 2022 Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath, Grade 1 La Brea winner Fun to Dream, and stakes winners Alittleloveandluck and Artorius. Arrogate’s second crop was initially led by quick-blooming And Tell Me Nolies and Cave Rock, both Grade 1 winners last year as juveniles. As the crop trained on at 3, he had been represented by Grade 2 Gulfstream Oaks winner Affirmative Lady, followed by Arcangelo, who won the Grade 3 Peter Pan last month in a local prep for the Belmont. :: Get ready for summer racing with a DRF Formulator Quarterly PP plan Arcangelo was purchased for just $35,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale, but with the success of Arrogate’s offspring, and a limited supply of them in the gene pool, that looks like even more of a bargain now. Arrogate’s final foals are 2-year-olds of this season, and he has already been represented by multiple seven-figure offerings at this year’s breeze-up sales, topped by a $1.45 million colt who was the second-highest price of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale when sold to Zedan Racing. Arrogate also has been represented by a $1.05 million colt sold to Katsumi Yoshida at OBS March and a $1 million filly who topped the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale when sold to Kerri Radcliffe. Arrogate has five juveniles from his final crop in this week’s OBS June sale, and two in the season finale later this month, the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic June sale. Tapit gets another Belmont win Tapit, who remains tied for the sire record in the Belmont Stakes, is now also a winning broodmare sire for the “Test of the Champion” as his unraced daughter Modeling produced Arcangelo. Modeling, bred by Hill ‘n’ Dale and Edward McGhee, sports a pedigree that made her a $2.85 million purchase by Don Alberto Corp – which bred Arcangelo – out of the 2014 Keeneland November breeding stock sale, even without a racing record. The mare, now the dam of two winners from as many starters, is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Streaming and to stakes winners Cascading and Treasuring. Modeling’s granddam is Broodmare of the Year Better Than Honour, best known as the dam of a pair of Belmont Stakes winners in 2006 winner Jazil and 2007 winner Rags to Riches, who also won the Kentucky Oaks and earned a championship. Tapit, who stands at Gainesway, had an outstanding weekend as a broodmare sire. His Grade 1-winning daughter Pretty City Dancer is the dam of Pretty Mischievous, who followed up her Kentucky Oaks score with a win in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes on Friday at Belmont. A day later, Cody’s Wish scored his fourth consecutive Grade 1 in the Metropolitan Handicap; he is out of the Grade 1-winning Tapit mare Dance Card. Tapit’s son Tapit Trice did finish third in the Belmont Stakes, helping to improve his sire’s mark in the oldest and longest American classic. Tapit is the sire of Belmont Stakes winners Tonalist (2014), Creator (2016), Tapwrit (2017), and Essential Quality (2021). That ties him with the great Lexington for the all-time record in the race, with that horse of yesteryear’s winners being General Duke (1868), Kingfisher (1870), Harry Bassett (1871), and Duke of Magenta (1878). Tapit also is the sire of Belmont runner-ups Frosted (2015) and Tacitus (2019), and third-place finishers Lani (2016), Hofburg (2018), and now Tapit Trice. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.