Linchpin, a full brother to four-time Grade 1 winner and 2014 freshman sire leader Quality Road has been purchased by Elwin and Patti Gibson to stand at their Gibson Thoroughbred Farm.
A $650,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase in 2011, Linchpin is a son of leading sire and world record setter Elusive Quality, a $413,284 earning son of Grade 1 winner and important sire Gone West. Elusive Quality has so far sired 116 stakes winners. Gone West, the sire of 101 stakes winners, is in turn is one of 181 (15.4 percent) stakes winners sired by the highly influential Mr. Prospector.
Among Elusive Quality’s best runners are eight champions, including dual classic winner Smarty Jones, and $2.2-million earner Quality Road, whose impressive racing record also includes winning or placing in an additional six other graded stakes with an 8-3-1 record in 13 starts. As of November 23, Quality Road is the leading freshman sire in North America with $1,492,686 in earnings and ranks fifth on the juvenile list. The three-time track record setter has 13 winners in his first crop, led by Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) winner Hootenany, Nashua Stakes (G2) winner Blofeld, Canadian stakes runners-up Roaming and Quality Laneand Overprepared, who finished third in the $100,000 Smart Halo Stakes at Laurel Park on November 15.
Quality Road and Linchpin are out of Kobla, a full sister to champion three-year-old filly and stakes producer Ajina. Kobla is also the grandam of $372,647 earner and multiple group-placed King Ledley.
Second dam Winglet is a Grade 2-winning half-sister to stakes winners Dance Bid and Northern Plain. Winglet, by Alydar, is also the dam of Grade 3 stakes winner Rob’s Spirit and is the grandam of $209,930 stakes winner Bank of Eight.
Linchpin will enter stud in 2015 for $1,000 live foal, with a $200 booking fee and special consideration to black-type mares or is offering a second mare at half-price.
The Thorp nursery has also added Running Tap, a $274,100 stakes-placed son of 2014 North American leading sire Tapit to their stallion roster. Stakes-placed at two, when he finished runner-up to Der Meister in the $75,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes, Running Tap had begun his winning career with a 2 1/2-length victory in a maiden special weight race at Saratoga. Finishing second in that 5 1/2-furlong race was future Grade 1 winner Justin Phillip, who earned nearly $1.3-million. Del Mar Derby (G2) winner Banned, who earned mere dollars short of $600,000, also made his debut in the race.
Running Tap was also a gate-to-wire allowance winner at both Penn National and Parx Racing. His other two tallies came at Saratoga and Belmont Park. All 19 of his placements and the bulk of his earnings came at sprint distances. His final outing came in an April allowance at Emerald Downs last April.
Running Tap is one of four winners from five foals out of the winning Wild Again mare Wild Flo. Her dam, three-time stakes winner Playcaller, by Saratoga Six, produced ten winners, including Hollywood Starlet Stakes (G1) winner Diplomat Lady, Comely Stakes (G2) winner and Grade 2 stakes producer Dream Land and stakes-placed stakes producer Foxcaller.
Running Tap’s third dam was five-time stakes winner Delice, a daughter of twice leading sire What a Pleasure out of three-time stakes winner Swoonalong.
