The curtain closed on one of the most remarkable stallion careers of any era when More Than Ready (USA) was put down at WinStar Farm in Kentucky on Friday.
A breed-shaper in every sense, he succumbed to the cumulative effects of old age at 25.
More Than Ready (Southern Halo) holds more records than any other sire in thoroughbred history as a veteran of 19 consecutive shuttle seasons between Kentucky and Vinery Stud in Australia.
More Than Ready’s passing was announced just prior to Vinery’s first Open Day on Saturday morning. “I don’t know where to start because there are just so many accolades and achievements,” Vinery Bloodstock Manager Adam White said. “More Than Ready was a unique character and the impact he had on people is what I will remember most.
“We were very lucky and so privileged to have had him here for 19 seasons. He was an amazing horse and his legacy is going to live on in pedigrees in both hemispheres.”
As of Friday evening, More Than Ready had sired a world-record 2,118 individual winners at an amazing career strike-rate of 73%. He passed 2,100 individual winners when the Sir Peter Vela-bred mare Ipso Facto broke her maiden at Cambridge on June 29.
More Than Ready is just one of six stallions to have sired in excess of 200 individual Stakes winners and among them have been 26 Group 1 winners. They’re evenly split between Australia (14) and North America (12) which illustrates his cross-hemisphere consistency.
Overall, he has sired 216 Stakes winners with his Australian-bred contingent headed by Group 1 winning mares More Joyous (21 wins, Champion Australian Middle Distance Horse) and Samaready (Champion Australian Female Sprinter).
His Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes winning sons Sebring and Phelan Ready were instrumental in More Than Ready being crowned Champion Australian 2YO Sire in 2007-08 and again in 2008-09. He was also Champion USA 2YO Sire in 2010 and remains the only stallion to double up in that category.
More Joyous retired with earnings of $4.57 million and her owner John Singleton supported More Than Ready from the outset. “Life’s easy, really,” Singo said after one of her many Group 1 victories. “You buy a More Than Ready…and they send you the cheques.”
In North America, More Than Ready holds the record for Breeders’ Cup wins (7). Topping that list is two-time BC Sprint hero Roy H. followed by Rushing Fall, Uni (GB), Pluck, More Than Real and Regally Ready.
He’s also the only sire to have a North American Eclipse Award Champion four years in a row – Roy H. (2017-18), Uni (2019) and Rushing Fall (2020).
More Than Ready was a top-class racehorse in his own right before retiring to stud. He won the Saratoga Sanford Stakes (Gr.2, 1200m) at two and the King’s Bishop Stakes (Gr.1, 1400m) by 9 lengths back at the Spa at three. Trained by Todd Pletcher for owner James Scatuorchio, he recorded 7 wins from 17 starts for earnings of $1,026,229. Pletcher also prepared his 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Pluck.
“I remember when More Than Ready first retired. I was so excited about getting his foals,” Pletcher recalled. “He was really the first quality colt that we retired as a stallion prospect. He had such phenomenal success and got things rolling from a number of perspectives.”
Vinery Stud General Manager Peter Orton also remembered when More Than Ready first shuttled to the Hunter Valley. “He had such a lovely balanced pedigree, with the right physique to mix with the Star Kingdom and Danehill lines. I said back then that I just hope this horse does well enough because he’s going to be so valuable for our bloodlines going forward.”
That’s been borne out by More Than Ready’s Australasian-based sire sons Sebring (76 Stakes-winners) Ready’s Image (10), Perfectly Ready (7) and Better Than Ready (6).
As a broodmare sire, More Than Ready has been represented by 88 Stakes winners including 15 Group 1 winners. His leaders in that division this year have been millionaire filly Coolangatta in Australia and Group 1 Just a Game Stakes winner Regal Glory in the USA.
Vinery Stud’s General Manager Peter Orton spoke for everyone who had anything to do with the stallion for the ages. “More Than Ready, or Morton as we knew him was not only pivotal to the success of Vinery, but also an extremely important influence on our breeding industry here in Australia. He gave so many people unmeasurable pleasure and joy not only on the racetrack, but also in the sale ring through his stock and he will be sorely missed by our team. He was an amazing horse, a true champion, a beautiful horse to deal with.”
