Lake George Stakes (G3) · Saratoga, 2018HnR BredMGSWG1-Placed
Daddy Is a Legend
Mare, 2015 (PA) · Scat Daddy out of Randie’s Legend, by Benchmark
21
Starts
5
Wins
$666,353
Earnings
119
Top Figure
Lake George Stakes (G3) · Saratoga, 2018Daddy Is a Legend won graded stakes at two and at three and was placed in four Grade 1s between the ages of three and six. She was bred by HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing, foaled in Pennsylvania on March 6, 2015, by Scat Daddy out of the unraced Benchmark mare Randie’s Legend. She earned $666,353 from twenty-one starts.
HnR sold her at Keeneland November as a weanling, in 2015, for $140,000. She came back through the ring at Keeneland September the following year, consigned by Woods Edge Farm, and Jim and Susan Hill bought her for $160,000. She raced for the Hills for the whole of her career, and George Weaver trained her from her first start to her last.
She debuted at Saratoga on August 6, 2017, and finished fifth. Six weeks later at Belmont Park she was second to Rushing Fall, who won the Jessamine Stakes (G3) next out and went on to become a multiple Grade 1 winner. Her third start, a maiden special weight at Keeneland on October 27 over a mile and an eighth on firm turf, was the one that announced her. Sent off at 3-5, she settled second-last through a half in :49.73, advanced down the center of the course, put her head in front rounding the far turn and drew clear to win by two and three-quarter lengths. Thoroughbred Daily News made her a Rising Star that afternoon.
Twenty-nine days later she went to Del Mar for the Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3) at a mile on turf, a field of twelve, and was made the 2.70 favorite under Joe Bravo. She raced keenly along the inside and had to be taken hold of twice on the second turn when she got up on heels. Bravo tipped her out leaving the bend, brought her five wide into the stretch, and she rallied under left-handed urging to take the lead in deep stretch and win by a length. She paid $7.40 and earned $60,000. She was four starts into her career and a graded stakes winner.
She was fourth in the Appalachian Stakes (G2) at Keeneland on her return, then ran third in the Edgewood Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks day. She was bumped at the start there and raced five paths off the rail through the turns before being locked up in a long drive. Toinette, Rushing Fall, Daddy Is a Legend, Got Stormy and Altea filled the first five places within a length and three-quarters of each other. Four of those five became Grade 1 winners or Grade 1-placed at the highest level.
The blinkers came off for the Lake George Stakes (G3) at Saratoga on July 20, and she won it. Carrying 122 pounds under Manuel Franco, she settled just off the rail in mid-pack, split rivals from the half-mile pole to move into contention, and was taken back under restraint midway on the turn. Franco asked her near the quarter pole, cut the corner into upper stretch, and she went head to head with Altea before taking command inside the eighth pole and inching away to win by two. She was conceding six pounds to the runner-up. The Lake George was her second graded stakes win, in her eighth lifetime start, and she raced without blinkers for the rest of her career.
Four weeks later she was third in the Lake Placid Stakes (G2) over soft ground at a mile and an eighth, the deepest going she ever encountered, beating four home behind Rushing Fall.
Her season ended at Del Mar in the Matriarch Stakes (G1) on December 2, thirteen runners, one mile on firm turf. She went off at 27.70 to $1. Franco angled her in and chased along the inside, came out on the second turn and swung her five wide into the stretch, and she bid on the outside of the field to take the lead past midstretch. Uni, the future Breeders’ Cup Mile winner and champion, ran her down in the final strides. She was beaten half a length and earned $60,000. Her Equibase Speed Figure was 119, sixteen points clear of anything she had run before, and it stood as her career best.
She came back after 153 days and ran third in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2), beaten about a length and a half by Beau Recall and Got Stormy, both of whom won Grade 1s that season. Five weeks later she went to Belmont Park for the Just a Game Stakes (G1) carrying 115 pounds, eight fewer than Rushing Fall. It was the one race of her career she ran from the front end of the field. She sat three wide in closest aim of Rushing Fall down the backstretch, moved up to press her from the five-sixteenths pole, and dug in through the lane. Beau Recall got past her for second in the last jumps. She was third of six in a $700,000 Grade 1 and earned $70,000, the largest check of her career.
She won an allowance at Keeneland in October and went back to Del Mar for the Matriarch. Squeezed just after the start, she dropped to last of eleven and was still last at the half. Franco settled her a bit off the rail, split horses on the second turn, brought her three wide into the stretch, and she made up better than ten lengths on the leader to finish second, beaten three-quarters of a length by Got Stormy. It was her second straight runner-up finish in the same Grade 1, on the same course, at the same distance, a year apart, and her figure was 115.
After two starts in 2020 she returned in April 2021 and won an allowance at Keeneland, running a 111, her best number in two years. In June she was third in the Just a Game Stakes (G1) for the second time. In August she took on males in the Fourstardave Handicap (G1) at Saratoga and finished fifth. She made her last start at Keeneland in October, in the First Lady Stakes (G1), at six years old and four years to the month from the maiden win that made her a Rising Star on the same racecourse.
Twenty-one starts, five wins, three seconds, five thirds, $666,353. Fifteen of those twenty-one starts came in graded company, and she was on the board in thirteen. Graded stakes winner at two and at three. Grade 1-placed at three, at four and at six, in four different runnings of two of the best turf races in America, beaten less than a length in two of them. She won at Keeneland three times, at Del Mar and at Saratoga, against a division that included Rushing Fall, Uni, Got Stormy, Beau Recall and Toinette.
She retired in December 2021 to Margaux Farm in Kentucky, where Jim and Sue Hill sent her to be a broodmare. Her first foal was a Curlin colt, foaled in 2023, bred by the Hills and raised at Margaux. Woods Edge Farm prepped and consigned him to Keeneland September in 2024. He went into the ring as Hip 1 on September 9, and brought $550,000.
That colt is Gun Finger. He is in training in Japan for Susumu Fujita with Mitsumasa Nakauchida at Ritto, and he turned three this year.
Daddy Is a Legend is by Scat Daddy, the son of Johannesburg who became one of the most influential international sires of his generation and who died in 2015, the year she was foaled. Her dam, Randie’s Legend, is an unraced daughter of Benchmark and a half-sister to the multiple stakes winner Eternal Rule and the graded stakes winner Frumious. Her damsire, Benchmark, is by Alydar out of the Danzig mare Winters Love.
The analysis below is Thoroughbred Intelligence’s, reproduced as written.
Scat Daddy is by Johannesburg out of Love Style, by Mr. Prospector. Johannesburg was an international champion juvenile by Hennessy, a son of Storm Cat, giving the direct male line a strong foundation of speed, precocity, and international racing aptitude.
Hennessy’s pedigree contributes Storm Cat, Storm Bird, and Northern Dancer, while Johannesburg’s dam, Myth, adds Ogygian, Damascus, and Yarn. Yarn is by Mr. Prospector, giving the upper half of Scat Daddy’s pedigree another source of speed and commercial influence.
Scat Daddy’s dam, Love Style, is directly by Mr. Prospector. Her dam, Likeable Style, is by Nijinsky II, adding a classic and turf-oriented branch of Northern Dancer behind the concentrated speed of Mr. Prospector. This structure helped Scat Daddy become an international influence capable of producing runners on dirt and turf and across a wide distance range.
Daddy Is a Legend’s racing record represents a clear expression of the turf and mile qualities carried by this sire line. She was precocious enough to win a graded stakes at two, yet she continued to improve into a Grade 1-caliber older mare. Her ability to accelerate on turf and remain effective through 1 1/8 miles reflects the balance of speed and scope found within Scat Daddy’s pedigree.
Daddy Is a Legend is out of Randie’s Legend, a daughter of Benchmark. Benchmark is by Alydar out of Winters Love, by Danzig. This gives the immediate female side a combination of the Raise a Native line through Alydar and the Northern Dancer line through Danzig.
Alydar supplies classic American dirt influence, while Winters Love adds Danzig and the mare Cold Hearted. The interaction of Alydar and Danzig gives Randie’s Legend a foundation of strength and speed that complements Scat Daddy’s more internationally oriented turf profile.
The second dam, Eternal Legend, is by Gold Legend. Gold Legend is a son of Seattle Slew out of Gold Beauty, by Mr. Prospector. Seattle Slew contributes classic dirt quality and toughness, while Gold Beauty adds another direct source of Mr. Prospector.
The third dam, Eternal Search, is by Northern Answer, a son of Northern Dancer. Eternal Search’s dam, Bon Debarras, brings Ruritania and Chou Fleur into the lower generations of the family. This creates additional Northern Dancer reinforcement beneath the Danzig influence already present through Benchmark’s dam.
The female family therefore contains several major American racing influences, Alydar, Danzig, Seattle Slew, and Mr. Prospector, without being narrowly concentrated around a single branch. Daddy Is a Legend converted those elements into elite turf performance when combined with Scat Daddy.
Randie’s Legend later produced Kentucky-bred winner Horvath, by Munnings, reinforcing the mare’s contribution of speed and racing ability to more than one sire-line combination.
Daddy Is a Legend is linebred 3 x 5 to Mr. Prospector. The closer occurrence comes through Love Style, the dam of Scat Daddy, while the second enters through Gold Beauty in the female family. This places Mr. Prospector in both halves of the pedigree through different descendants.
Raise a Native appears 4 x 4 through Mr. Prospector on the sire side and Alydar on the dam side. This duplication brings together two distinct branches of Raise a Native: one strongly associated with speed and commercial influence, and the other with classic dirt performance.
Northern Dancer appears three times at 5 x 5 x 5 through Nijinsky II, Danzig, and Northern Answer. These occurrences enter through separate branches in both halves of the pedigree, supporting the turf aptitude and athletic quality expressed in Daddy Is a Legend’s racing career.
The wider structure also includes Storm Cat, Damascus, Seattle Slew, Danzig, Alydar, and Mr. Prospector. Scat Daddy supplies speed, juvenile development, and international turf ability, while the dam’s family contributes American classic depth and additional Northern Dancer influence.
Daddy Is a Legend’s Dosage Profile is 7-9-17-1-0, with 34 dosage points, a Dosage Index of 2.58, and a Center of Distribution of +0.65. The profile is concentrated in the Classic category, supported by substantial Brilliant and Intermediate representation. These figures align with her ability to combine tactical speed with sustained performance from one mile through nine furlongs.
Her commercial and broodmare appeal rests on three principal features: she is a daughter of Scat Daddy, she demonstrated elite turf-miling ability, and her female family carries Benchmark, Alydar, Danzig, Seattle Slew, and Mr. Prospector. As a daughter of Scat Daddy rather than one of his sons, she also carries his influence forward through the female side of future pedigrees.