Some stallions consistently pass on more stamina to their progeny than others. This is evident to any handicapper who keeps a close eye on the results of nationwide graded stakes.
Anecdotally, it's clear two-time Horse of the Year Curlin is a reliable source of elite route racers, including United States classic winners Golden Tempo, Journalism , Exaggerator, and Palace Malice. Tapit , who has sired four winners of the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes (G1), is another who can be relied upon to sire talented routers.
Which other North American stallions are sources of stamina? And, most importantly for handicappers, is betting the progeny of these stallions when they race 1 1/8 miles or farther a sound betting strategy? We'll seek to answer these questions using the annual BloodHorse leading sire lists (data provided by Equineline.com) and the handicapping tool Equibase Race Lens.
Leading sires by AWD 2021-26
The customizable BloodHorse leading sire lists allow us to rank stallions based on the average winning distance of their progeny.
In the experience of this writer, as a broad rule, an AWD of 7.5 furlongs or longer typically indicates a stallion whose progeny excel in route races. An AWD around 7 furlongs indicates a stallion who sires sprinters and milers alongside route racers, and an AWD of 6.5 furlongs or shorter indicates a stallion who primarily sires sprinters and milers.
Of course, individual sons and daughters of a particular stallion may defy their sire's overall tendency and excel over shorter or longer distances than usual.
To measure which stallions have consistently passed on stamina in recent years, we've reviewed the BloodHorse sire lists for each year from 2021 through Aug. 9, 2026, and listed all stallions whose progeny compiled an AWD of 7.5 furlongs or longer:
| 2026 | AWD | 2025 | AWD | 2024 | AWD | 2023 | AWD | 2022 | AWD | 2021 | AWD |
| Tapit | 8.06f | English Channel | 8.63f | English Channel | 8.21f | English Channel | 8.19f | Sir Prancealot | 8.53f | Red Rocks | 8.38f |
| Justify | 7.99f | Justify | 7.97f | Arrogate | 8.06f | Arrogate | 8.01f | English Channel | 7.99f | English Channel | 8.14f |
| Kitten's Joy | 7.88f | Kitten's Joy | 7.97f | War Front | 7.93f | Caravaggio | 7.90f | Caravaggio | 7.93f | Magician | 8.12f |
| Distorted Humor | 7.84f | Medaglia d'Oro | 7.91f | Justify | 7.92f | War Front | 7.85f | Include | 7.87f | Declaration of War | 8.05f |
| Curlin | 7.78f | Curlin | 7.84f | Lemon Drop Kid | 7.89f | Kitten's Joy | 7.79f | Curlin | 7.77f | Sir Prancealot | 8.00f |
| Essential Quality | 7.78f | Karakontie | 7.79f | Medaglia d'Oro | 7.82f | Medaglia d'Oro | 7.78f | War Front | 7.77f | Noble Mission | 7.94f |
| Quality Road | 7.64f | Tourist | 7.68f | Curlin | 7.76f | Curlin | 7.77f | Arrogate | 7.73f | Curlin | 7.90f |
| Lookin At Lucky | 7.64f | Quality Road | 7.66f | Tapit | 7.76f | Justify | 7.75f | Tapit | 7.68f | Kitten's Joy | 7.89f |
| American Pharoah | 7.61f | War Front | 7.66f | Karakontie | 7.74f | Lemon Drop Kid | 7.73f | Medaglia d'Oro | 7.65f | Tapit | 7.87f |
| Constitution | 7.58f | Tapit | 7.63f | Caravaggio | 7.73f | Empire Maker | 7.64f | Uncle Mo | 7.64f | Medaglia d'Oro | 7.79f |
| Gun Runner | 7.57f | Point of Entry | 7.63f | Kitten's Joy | 7.71f | Treasure Beach | 7.63f | Lemon Drop Kid | 7.62f | American Pharoah | 7.76f |
| Tonalist | 7.54f | Constitution | 7.62f | Demarchelier | 7.71f | Animal Kingdom | 7.62f | Tonalist | 7.59f | Afleet Alex | 7.70f |
| Yoshida | 7.51f | Oscar Performance | 7.62f | Tapit | 7.61f | Animal Kingdom | 7.59f | Lemon Drop Kid | 7.69f | ||
| Tonalist | 7.60f | Uncle Mo | 7.58f | Pioneerof the Nile | 7.58f | Treasure Beach | 7.69f | ||||
| Quality Road | 7.57f | Quality Road | 7.53f | Treasure Beach | 7.57f | Birdstone | 7.63f | ||||
| Uncle Mo | 7.56f | Include | 7.52f | Declaration of War | 7.54f | Empire Maker | 7.62f | ||||
| Tonalist | 7.51f | Kitten's Joy | 7.51f | Animal Kingdom | 7.62f | ||||||
| Pioneerof the Nile | 7.51f | War Front | 7.61f | ||||||||
| I'll Have Another | 7.51f | Giant's Causeway | 7.61f | ||||||||
| Point of Entry | 7.50f | Tonalist | 7.55f | ||||||||
| Seville | 7.55f | ||||||||||
| Uncle Mo | 7.50f | ||||||||||
| Elusive Quality | 7.50f |
Several stallions appear repeatedly and are obvious sources of stamina. English Channel ranked first or second every year from 2021 through 2025 before falling off the list in 2026 because he hadn't stood at stud in North America the previous four years (he died in 2021). Through Aug. 12, the lifetime AWD of English Channel's progeny stood at a remarkable 8.25 furlongs.
Curlin, unsurprisingly, has ranked in the top seven every year since 2021, with his progeny compiling AWDs from 7.76 furlongs to 7.9 furlongs. Tapit is another consistent presence on the lists, alongside Kitten's Joy, Medaglia d'Oro, Quality Road , War Front , and Tonalist .
Two young stallions climbing the rankings are Justify and Essential Quality . Justify, the 2018 Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner, debuted in eighth place in 2023, the year his first foals turned 3. He climbed to fourth place in 2024, ranked second in 2025, and remains second this year, with AWDs climbing toward 8 furlongs.
Essential Quality, a two-time champion who won the 2021 Belmont, co-ranks fifth in 2026 with an AWD of 7.78 furlongs. His oldest foals are only 3 years old.
Active Leading Sires by AWD Lifetime
Several of the stallions we've highlighted—namely, English Channel, Kitten's Joy, Medaglia d'Oro, and War Front—have been pensioned or are deceased. They'll have a diminishing number of runners at the races in the coming years, making them less relevant for handicappers seeking winning horses in route races.
With this in mind, we've reviewed the BloodHorse list of leading sires through Aug. 9 ranked by the lifetime average winning distance of their progeny. We've excluded deceased or pensioned stallions to focus only on active stallions who have stood in North America within the last four years:
| Sire | AWD |
| Justify | 7.83f |
| Curlin | 7.67f |
| Tapit | 7.63f |
| Tonalist | 7.53f |
| Essential Quality | 7.50f |
| Karakontie | 7.48f |
| Quality Road | 7.47f |
| American Pharoah | 7.47f |
| Gun Runner | 7.45f |
| Caravaggio | 7.44f |
Justify tops the rankings with an AWD of 7.83 furlongs, beating out even established stamina sources such as Curlin (7.67 furlongs), Tapit (7.63 furlongs), and Tonalist (7.53 furlongs). Meanwhile, Essential Quality ranks fifth with a solid AWD of 7.5 furlongs, suggesting he'll be an important stamina influence in the years to come.
ROI Betting Progeny of Stamina Sires in Routes vs. Sprints
We've established that stallions such as Justify, Curlin, and Tapit reliably sire long-winded route racers. But is it profitable to blindly bet their progeny in route races measuring 1 1/8 miles or longer in distance? And if not, is doing so at least a smarter strategy than betting their progeny in sprints of 7 furlongs or less?
Using Equibase Race Lens, we crunched the numbers from the last five years for 10 different stallions and uncovered interesting results:
1 1/8 miles or longer
| Sire | Starts | Win % | Place % | Show % | ROI |
| Tapit | 464 | 14% | 11% | 14% | -32% |
| Justify | 287 | 16% | 17% | 13% | -8% |
| Kitten's Joy | 499 | 9% | 13% | 13% | -36% |
| Curlin | 751 | 16% | 16% | 14% | -15% |
| Quality Road | 549 | 15% | 14% | 13% | -15% |
| Medaglia d'Oro | 422 | 12% | 12% | 11% | -39% |
| War Front | 284 | 14% | 15% | 13% | -33% |
| English Channel | 666 | 13% | 13% | 15% | -20% |
| Essential Quality | 23 | 17% | 13% | 13% | 5% |
| Tonalist | 326 | 12% | 16% | 13% | -48% |
7 furlongs or shorter
| Sire | Starts | Win % | Place % | Show % | ROI |
| Tapit | 1,362 | 14% | 12% | 15% | -34% |
| Justify | 764 | 18% | 17% | 13% | -31% |
| Kitten's Joy | 1,623 | 12% | 14% | 13% | -38% |
| Curlin | 1,651 | 16% | 14% | 14% | -22% |
| Quality Road | 2,071 | 17% | 16% | 14% | -26% |
| Medaglia d'Oro | 1,179 | 14% | 15% | 14% | -28% |
| War Front | 773 | 15% | 14% | 13% | -20% |
| English Channel | 1,228 | 10% | 11% | 11% | -29% |
| Essential Quality | 196 | 12% | 16% | 14% | -21% |
| Tonalist | 1,678 | 14% | 15% | 15% | -12% |
Results are mixed, with some of our identified stamina sires yielding better ROIs in sprints rather than routes.
However, the data reveals betting the progeny of Essential Quality, Justify, Curlin, and Quality Road in races 1 1/8 miles or longer is a decent strategy that results in relatively minimal losses (-15% or less) even when betting blindly. And in the case of Essential Quality, it's a profitable approach (+5% ROI), though the sample size is small (only 23 starts).
Conclusions
Although some of the best stamina sires of recent years are pensioned or deceased, veteran sires such as Tapit, Curlin, and Quality Road remain reliable sources of stamina. The progeny of Curlin and Quality Road make relatively good bets when they race 1 1/8 miles or farther, though you'll need to employ some other handicapping angles to find the likeliest winners and achieve profitability.
Looking ahead to the future, early evidence suggests Justify and Essential Quality are two of the most promising young sources of stamina at stud. Justify is only 11 years old, and Essential Quality is 8 years old, so we may see their runners at the races for a couple of decades to come. That's a long time for horseplayers to reap the rewards of betting their progeny in route races.
Special thanks to Equibase, which provided me with a free subscription to Race Lens in exchange for product promotion. All opinions remain my own.
