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Freshman Sires Feature: Tunnel of No Light
Original article written by Cheri Stewart posted 5 months 2 weeks agoWe are going to continue our coverage of the Y65 freshman sires with Tunnel of No Light. Tunnel of No Light is a 6-year-old Thoroughbred stud by Slayer of Enemies and out of the Stab Thru the Hart mare, Dreams of Tomorrow. He was bred and is owned by Jack Meyer and is currently standing for $25,000. As an all-weather sprinter, he won 10 of his 30 starts, placed 11 times, and showed twice, earning $1,729,000 total in his five-year career. His victories include the Grade 2 All Weather Prince, Grade 1 Pegasus Summit, Grade 3 Now Look Stakes, and Grade 1 Artificial Sprint. Let's take a look at his bloodlines ...
Tunnel of No Light's sire, Slayer of Enemies, is actually still standing at stud himself for $15,000 (I actually have a foal by him myself that I'm very excited about!) He is also owned and bred by Jack Meyer, and his progeny have earned a very tidy $13.6 million at the time of this writing. With 268 runners, and 205 winners (17 of which are stakes winners), that's a pretty darn good winners/runners percentage of 76.5%. He's also produced 4 stakes producers. His stats of 26 starts, 16 wins, 9 places, and 1 show are pretty great, as is his Simmy Awards including Y57-All Weather Champion Sprinter and Y56-All Weather Champion Sprinter. His victories include the Grade 1 Formidable Fager Sprint (three times), Grade 2 Gryffin Stakes (twice), Grade 1 Artificial Sprint (twice), Grade 1 All Weather Prince, and the Y56 Steward's Cup Synthetic Sprint over Ghostly Forensics (who, ironically, also seems to be a good cross as a dam sire...). Slayer of Enemies' sire, Hooray, was the Y61-Horse Hall of Fame, Y47-All Weather Champion Sprinter, Y46-All Weather Champion Older Male, Y46-All Weather Champion Sprinter, and Y45-All Weather Champion Sprinter. His Dam, Lookingfortheend, was actually pretty dismal as a racehorse, starting only 3 times and only finishing on the board once. But, HER sire, At the Gallows End, was inducted into the Y52-Horse Hall of Fame and was the Y42-All Weather Champion Sprinter and winner of that year's Steward's Cup Synthetic Sprint as well. Proof that sometimes the best runners can come from less successful racers if they've got some good blood in them!
Tunnel of No Light's dam, Dreams of Tomorrow, was not a stakes winner herself. She was a middle-of-the-line racer who had a so-so dam and a stellar male line in her pedigree though. Is anyone else seeing a pattern here? Maybe there's something to this... Her sire, Stab Thru the Hart, was the Y52 winner of the Steward's Cup Synthetic Sprint (and his progeny earnings are well over $35.5 million), and her dam sire, Ghost in the Radio, won the Y43 Steward's Cup Synthetic Dash and was the Y43 All-Weather Champion Two-Year-Old Male.
Tunnel of No Light looks like he's going to be one to watch for sure! I'm going to be paying more attention to broodmare sires as I keep looking at these horses too. I look forward to seeing the gallop stats on this year's crop of foals, and watching them race as 2-year-olds in the future!