The first of American Pharoah’s foals, a colt, was born early this morning at the Seitz family’s Brookdale Farm in Versailles, KY. The colt’s dam is Kakadu is a 4-year-old by Tizway and a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Protonico.

The timing of the birth was ideal: since all racehorses “age up” the first of the year, it’s a real advantage for a racehorse to be born as close to January 1st as possible, putting them at the older end of their racing age. A couple of months can make a big difference to a two or three year old.

This cute little colt is already reported to have quite the personality.

“A lot of foals are kind of skiddish for the first couple of weeks,” Fred Seitz said. “They don’t really want to be touched or handled, and they try to run behind their mother all the time. This one’s the opposite. You walk into his stall … and the foal just basically walks right up to you and starts sucking on your thumb.”

This little guy is going to be the first of many. According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, American Pharoah bred with more than 200 mares in 115 days. His stud fee, for a live foal, was $200,000.