Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association of New Jersey
by Jessica Tugwell, Hawkstone Bloodstock
Sea Wizard never got an opportunity to prove himself on the racetrack, finishing second to future multiple graded stakes winner Destin on debut before defeating a maiden special weight field at Gulfstream Park in his second and final start, but he’s been off to a very promising start as a sire. He retired to stud in 2019 for a $1,500 fee, a price point that has gone up to a still-modest $5,000 in 2024 after the success of his first two crops to race.
Ten of Sea Wizard’s 16 starters are winners, and three of those are stakes winners. From his first crop, Sea Wizard is the sire of Charles Hesse III Handicap winner Great Navigator, who is also multiple graded stakes placed in races such as last year’s Vosburgh Stakes (G2). Sea Wizard has also sired Limehouse Stakes winner Ship to Shore, who is a three-year-old from his sire’s second crop, as is Long Branch Stakes winner Sea Streak, who was most recently seen finishing 5th as the favorite in the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth. Sea Wizard has 13 two-year-olds in his upcoming crop, none of which have started, and seven yearlings in the following crop. He covered a career-high 22 mares in 2023.
His offspring have an Average Earnings Index of 1.62, a significant improvement on his mares’ 1.31 Comparable Index. According to the BloodHorse, only 32% of stallions have an AEI higher than their mares’ CI, making this an impressive feat. Among the BloodHorse’s list of 2024 leading sires by lifetime AEI, which considers all stallions with at least 150 foals of racing age, there are 23 stallions with a CI between 1.3 and 1.4, and of those, only Tonalist, with a lifetime AEI of 2.0 (helped greatly by $14.9 million earner Country Grammer) has a higher AEI/CI ratio than Sea Wizard. Though his sample size is much smaller than the stallions on this list, as of now he moves his mares up better than stallions such as Munnings (AEI of 1.47 on a CI of 1.31) and Twirling Candy (AEI of 1.46 on a CI of 1.33).
Sea Wizard is a son of Uncle Mo, who is rapidly becoming a highly sought-after sire of sires, with G1 producing sire sons such as Nyquist, Outwork, and Laoban, as well as stakes-producing sons such as Mo Town and Mo Tom. His son Caracaro is already the sire of a stakes winner from just two foals to race in his first crop, and his son Golden Pal bred the most mares of any stallion in 2023. He has other exciting sons in the sire pipeline as well, such as Yaupon, whose first weanlings sold for up to $450,000 last year, and Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal.
Sea Wizard combines the elite sire power of Uncle Mo with a fantastic female family. His dam, Sea Road, is a multiple stakes winner by Tale of the Cat, and a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Great Intentions by fellow Storm Cat son Cat Thief. Their dam, Packet, was a stakes winner on dirt and turf by Polish Navy who also produced a stakes placed runner by Red Ransom. Packet is the granddam of G1 placed runner Karlovy Vary, a daughter of Dynaformer and out of a mare by Pulpit - whose dam is a full sister to the dam of Tale of the Cat. Karlovy Vary is a multiple black type producer as the dam of multiple graded stakes winning millionaire Mean Mary (by Scat Daddy - a son of Johannesburg, whose dam is a half sister to Tale of the Cat) and graded stakes winner Bye Bye Melvin (by Uncle Mo). Stakes winners Fighting Force (Air Force Blue) and Really Good (Hard Spun) also trace to Sea Wizard’s third dam.
Delving even deeper, this is a strong branch of the powerful Lowe family 9f. Sea Wizard’s fifth dam, Bayou, is the tail-female ancestor of stallions such as Slew O’ Gold, Coastal, and Aptitude. Bayou, the champion three-year-old filly of 1957, was a daughter of Hill Prince out of Claiborne Farm’s blue hen Bourtai, who was the dam of four additional stakes winners, including Levee, a winner of races such as the Coaching Club American Oaks and Beldame Stakes who was named 1970 Broodmare of the Year.
Bayou’s branch of family 9f is also responsible for another exciting regional sire, Slumber, who is the sire of ten winners and three stakes winners in fifteen starters. Additionally, stakes-producing sires War Pass, Jack Milton, Admiral’s Cruise, Iron, Mio d’Oro, River Flyer, Power of Mind, Crowning Decision, Mr. Mabee, Ride on Curlin, Canvas, Worldly Manner, and Real Solution all trace tail-female to the Bayou branch of family 9f.
It should also be noted that, while he’s gotten winners from a variety of mares, Sea Wizard’s greatest successes as a stallion to date have come in combination with a select few families - a testament to the mares he’s been supported with. His top four earners come from just two Holly Crest Farm families: Sea Streak is a half-brother to the dam of Great Navigator, while Ship To Shore and Carats Forever, Sea Wizard’s third-highest earner, are each out of daughters of the Brocco mare Veggie. Sea Streak’s dam, High Noon Nellie, is also the dam of stakes winners by Stephen Got Even and Mr. Speaker, while Veggie is the dam or granddam of six additional black type runners.
Colonial Farms has also bred quality mares to Sea Wizard - his Sea Maiden, an earner of over $115,000, is out of a Langfuhr mare who has produced three other six-figure earners by three different sires. Colonial Farms also bred Gee Wiz, who won her first two races by a combined nine lengths prior to being vanned off in the White Clay Creek Stakes. Gee Wiz’s dam, the Crafty Friend mare Crafty Coed, is the dam of a multiple stakes placed runner and two other earners of over $200,000, all by different sires. Sea Wizard’s winner Electric Eel is out of Colonial Farms-bred stakes winner She’s Hot Wired.
I point this out not to take away from Sea Wizard’s role in his own success - as evidenced by his positive AEI/CI ratio, which demonstrates that his offspring earn more on average than the foals his mares have produced by other stallions - but to highlight the importance of getting the right kind of mares to a stallion early on in their career, which gives a stallion like Sea Wizard the best chance of proving his mettle as a sire. It will be interesting to see if Sea Wizard continues to have success with the families of Veggie and High Noon Nellie, and whether the momentum those mares have helped him build can lead to even greater heights of success for his offspring. Either way, it’s clear that breeders on the east coast should be considering Sea Wizard as an option for their mares.