Unified
by Avalyn Hunter
From its inception, the Stock Exchange has had the goal of bringing Louisiana breeders access to top sire lines through Grade 1-performing horses. New Louisiana stallion Unified supports this aim. Relocating from Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky to the Louisiana Center for Equine Reproduction at Aztec Equine for 2024, the son of leading sire Candy Ride will stand the upcoming season for $3,500 live foal.
David Tillson, who manages Unified as well as LACER’s other stallions, states he is looking for “speed-oriented sons of prominent sires” with conformation suitable to the mare base in the Southwestern region. Unified fits this profile well. While he did not race at 2, he broke his maiden at 3 at Gulfstream Park’s winter/spring meeting, zipping 6 furlongs in 1:08.95. That was good enough for a 99 Beyer, said to have been the fastest number awarded to any maiden winner of the 2013 foal crop. Equibase concurred with the quality of Unified’s race, awarding his performance a 102 rating.
Moving directly to stakes competition off that effort, Unified next appeared in the Bay Shore Stakes (G3) as the 6-5 favorite in the seven-furlong race at Aqueduct. He did not disappoint, controlling the pace from the outset and widening in the stretch to post a 3-length victory over multiple stakes winner King Kranz; 2015 Iroquois Stakes (G3) winner Cocked and Loaded was third. From there, Unified went to the Peter Pan Stakes (G2) at Belmont. Proving he was not just a one-dimensional front runner, he sat off the early pace before opening up on the turn. Carrying a three-length lead into the stretch, he had enough left to post a victory in the nine-furlong event by three-quarters of a length. His Equibase speed figure of 110 on the fast track equaled the figure he had posted on a muddy, sealed surface in the Bay Shore.
Unified was upset and unplaced as the odds-on favorite in his next outing, the Pegasus Stakes (G3) at Monmouth, and he apparently exited the race with a physical problem as he was not seen again for eight months. He came out for his 4-year-old debut in a tough spot, facing 2016 Malibu Stakes (G1) winner Mind Your Biscuits in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes (G3), and won that throwdown by a neck in 1:15.30 for the six and one-half furlongs, posting a career-high 118 Equibase figure. Mind Your Biscuits franked the form by winning the 2017 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in his next outing, and Unified missed becoming a grade 1 winner by a neck in his next race, the Carter Handicap (G1), when he just failed to catch the tough old sprinter Green Gratto after being bumped repeatedly during the stretch drive. That was the colt’s last top performance, as in his next race he gave way suddenly after racing second early in the Belmont Spring Championship Stakes (G2), finished last, and was retired.
Unified’s sire Candy Ride was a very fast horse himself. The Argentine champion miler of 2002, he set a world record of 1:31.01 for 1600 meters (approximately one mile) on turf in the Gran Premio San Isidro before bring exported to the United States, where he was undefeated in three starts including a track-record performance in the 2003 Pacific Classic Stakes. Running the 10 furlongs in 1:59.11, he easily defeated grade 1 winners Medaglia d’Oro, Fleetstreet Dancer, and Milwaukee Brew. That proved to be his swan song as injury sent him into retirement, but he has since been a top stallion in the United States, finishing among the top five American sires five times. His son Twirling Candy is represented by eight stakes winners of 2023 as of October 10, including Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1) winner Exaulted and grade 2 winners Gear Jockey, Evvie Jets, and Dream Shake, and another son, Senor Candy, is currently eighth on the Argentine general sire list.
Although Candy Ride has had marked success with mares from the Storm Cat male line, Unified is himself free of that line. He is one of four winners (including stakes-placed Honkeytonk Man, by Bluegrass Cat) produced from stakes-placed Union City, a daughter of multiple grade 1 winner Dixie Union (by Dixieland Band). Union City is a full sister to 2010 Demoiselle Stakes (G2) winner Dixie City, dam of multiple Korean stakes winner and 2019 Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) third Blue Chipper, by Tiznow) and second dam of 2022 Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2) winner Bubble Rock (by More Than Ready). Union City is also a half sister to multiple listed stakes winner Win the War (by War Front) and to Reemya, dam of multiple Turkish listed stakes winner Hasafet (by Youmzain). Union City’s dam City Sister (by Carson City) is a grade 2-placed half sister to 2002 Withers Stakes (G3) winner Fast Decision (by Gulch), and she in turn is out of Demi Souer, a Storm Bird half sister to 1993 American champion 3-year-old male and successful sire Dehere.
An extremely handsome, smoothly-made horse of intermediate type, Unified has the potential to combine well physically with a variety of mare types. As might be expected from a son of Candy Ride who is himself free of Storm Cat in his pedigree, he is doing well with mares whose pedigrees contain the two-time American champion sire, having gotten stakes winners Unified Alliance and Roger McQueen and stakes-placed Michpashah and Drop Dead Sexy—all earners of over $100,000—from such crosses. He is also doing well with mares tracing back to his male-line ancestor, Fappiano, and to mares bringing in strains of Mr. Prospector (Fappiano’s sire) from sources not found in his own pedigree. In addition, he appears to do well with mares returning In Reality and has one of his best runners thus far, Unified Report, from a mare by longtime Louisiana sire Closing Argument a member of the In Reality sire line.
