BY AVALYN HUNTER
First-season Florida stallion Verifying – a multiple Grade 1-placed, Grade 3-winner – offers a total package of pedigree, conformation and performance.
Verifying’s pedigree represents Kentucky’s finest bloodlines grafted onto solid Florida breeding. A half-brother to 2019 champion older female Midnight Bisou (by Midnight Lute) and multiple stakes-winner Stage Left (by Congrats), he is out of 2010 Florida Oaks (G3)-winner Diva Delite.
Diva Delite was bred at Cloverleaf Farms II near Reddick, Fla. Her sire, Repent, won the 2001 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), 2002 Louisiana Derby (G2) and ran a bang-up second to Medaglia d’Oro in the Travers Stakes (G1) before starting his stud career at Cloverleaf. By 2009, he was in Kentucky, but he left some good stock behind him in the Sunshine State.
Diva Delite’s dam, stakes-placed Tour Hostess, was a Florida-sired daughter of Tour d’Or, a Secretariat grandson who stood at Noel Hickey’s Irish Acres Farm. A half-sister to multiple stakes winner Bay Street Gal (by Marco Bay), Tour Hostess represents a female line that has been in Florida since her great-granddam Cargreen came to the state during the 1960’s.
Verifying’s $775,000 price tag at the 2021 Keeneland September sale hints at blue-ribbon conformation to complement that deep pedigree.
He flashed ability as a juvenile when second to Blazing Sevens in the 2022 Champagne Stakes (G1) and stamped himself as a legitimate Kentucky Derby hopeful after running second by a neck to Tapit Trice in the 2023 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) with Blazing Sevens third. Following a subpar run in the Derby, he bounced back to run second in the Matt Winn Stakes (G3) before gutting out a game victory over Gotham Stakes (G3)-winner Raise Cain in the Indiana Derby (G3). He picked up another Grade 1 placing with a second to One in Vermillion in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes.
Verifying retired from racing with seven wins or placings from 11 starts and earnings of $852,706. He stands at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, Fla. for $10,000.
“This talented son of Triple Crown winner Justify has been very well received since the breeding shed opened at Pleasant Acres Stallions,” said director of stallion services Christine Jones. “There is only one other son of Justify at stud currently in the United States (Arabian Lion) and his fee is $30,000. Verifying’s pedigree is one of the finest available and at $10,000 he will certainly be a positive influence for Florida breeders with his future crops.”