Munnings Makes Late Push for Another Top-10 Finish

The 2024 calendar is running out of days, leaving precious little time for sires to gain ground in the North American general sires' list. Just like some healthcare benefits, use it or lose it. After nearly no movement two weeks ago, there has been some late jockeying since then. Nine of the 10 sires moving up or down in the top 25 shifted one place. The lone exception is Munnings. Moving up three spots, the son of Speightstown finds himself in the top 10, ranked No. 9. This late push gives him a chance to run his streak of top-10 finishes by progeny earnings to five. Statistically, 2024 is looking like a standard Munnings year. During his top-10 run that began in 2020, the overall earnings by Munnings' offspring have been between $13.2 million and $13.6 million every year except 2020 ($9.34 million). This year, his children matched 2020 for an average winning distance of 6.64 furlongs. And with more than two weeks to go in the year, Munnings has had five more runners than last year and five more winners. But his recent upward move in the rankings is thanks to a pair of winners in races the past two weekends featuring $250,000 purses. Poster, a 2-year-old colt, won the Remsen Stakes (G2) by a nose Dec. 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack. That triumph, his first in graded company, improved the chestnut's record to a perfect 3-for-3. Meanwhile, on Dec. 14, Howard Wolowitz, a 3-year-old colt, bounced back from a disappointing ninth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) by winning the Holiday Cheer Stakes at Turfway Park. Wolowitz is noteworthy because he is Munnings' top earner this year, banking $1,349,960 off of a 3-0-0 record from six starts. He also won the Franklin-Simpson Stakes (G1T). Beginning his stud career in 2011, Munnings didn't need too much time to make his presence felt as a sire. I'm a Chatterbox, out of the Lost Soldier mare Chit Chatter, earned more than $1.2 million in her first campaign. From Munnings' second crop, she went on to earn more than $2.3 million with a record of 8-4-3 from 19 starts. She posted five graded wins—the 2015 Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G3), 2015 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), 2015 Cotillion Stakes (G1), 2016 Delaware Handicap (G1), and the 2016 Spinster Stakes (G1). She also finished on the board in seven other graded contests and ran in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) twice. After a few years without similar success, Munnings reached the top 10 in 2020, ranking sixth, which has been his best ranking to date. His top runner that year was Warrior's Charge, who earned $571,000. The following year, Munnyfor Ro earned $548,561 as his leading offspring. Overall, Munnings' children banked nearly $3 million more than the year before but he was No. 7 by progeny earnings. Jack Christopher, after capping his 2-year-old campaign with a win in the Champagne Stakes (G1), earned more than $800,000, thanks in part to wins in the Pat Day Mile (G2), the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1), and the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1). His other race that year was a third in the Haskell Stakes (G1). While overall progeny earnings stayed near $13M, the depth of his brood carried the day for Munnings. Led by Zozos ($590,000), Munnings finished seventh overall last year. Munnings will stand at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky., in 2025 for a fee of $65,000.