Page 64 - March_2023

“He is a beautiful horse. He is one of those that could show in halter. He is the right size—not too big or too small. Everyone that comes out here to the farm to see him, goes, ‘Wow!’”
- Mac Murray
Success in the horse business is often Farms, Eye Am King was represented by 27 Eye Am King’s first crop of two year
measured by the caliber of wins a horse has under its belt. But for Eye Am King, who made only one career start during his racing career, success has arrived in a different form. Despite suffering an injury—he bowed a tendon in his lone start at three in a maiden race at Retama Park—Eye Am King is making an impression in the breeding ranks and was the nation’s leading Freshman Sire of 2022.
Refusing to let an early setback define his future, Eye Am King is proof that a single race does not determine a horse’s true potential
as a stallion. Standing in New Mexico at MJ
winners from 71 starters in 2022. His progeny banked a total of $885,307 on the year for
the Leading Freshman Sire title, edging out Lazy E Ranch stallion KVN Corona, whose runners earned $718,005 in 2022, for the Leading Freshman Sire title.
“You always hope the first two year olds by a young stallion are going to be successful,” said MJ Farms’ Mac Murray, “but you never really know until they kick them away from the gates. You are always apprehensive about what a stallion is going to do, and we are just absolutely thrilled about what his runners were able to do last year.
olds performed exceptionally well on the racetrack last season. In a testament to Eye Am King’s bloodlines, he is by Corona Cartel and out of Eye For Corona, by Corona Cartel - his offspring racked up wins and accolades, causing breeders to take notice. Eye Am King’s top progeny include stakes winner Kings Touch, winner of the New Mexico Classic Juvenile S. and an earner of $82,071, and White Lightenin, runner-up
in the New Mexico State Fair Futurity-RG2, third in the Zia Juvenile Invitational, and his sire’s chief earner with a seasonal bankroll of $152,138.
While Kings Touch was Eye Am King’s only stakes winner in 2022, he was also represented by additional stakes-placed runners in Wood Dee Queen, third in the New Mexico State Fair Futurity-RG2, Doin Something Right, third in the New Mexico State Fair Juvenile S.; the aforementioned White Lightenin; and All Da Kings Men, third in the Desert Classic Futurity. His allowance winners in 2022 include Easy On The Eye, Doin Something Right, King Of Woodbridge, and Tres A Royalty, as well as 4-time winner and graded stakes finalists Fine Am Eye.
Eye Am King’s progeny have already picked up in 2023 where they left off last year with Wood Dee Queen finishing second in the Shue Fly Stakes-G2 as a three year old in January after a third-place finish in last year’s New Mexico State Fair Futurity-RG2 at two, and Kings
Kings Touch winning the New Mexico Classic Juvenile Stakes.
© Coady Photography
Barue Call Me Cole Flying Cowboy 123
62 SPEEDHORSE March 2023