- A leading Second-Crop Sire of 2020: Zabardast, runner-up in the $250,000 UAE 2000 Guineas [G3], Harris Bay, runner-up in the Rego Park S., BELLA AURORA, placed in the Beyond the Wire S., TDN Rising Star Scolding, etc.
- Named an "ASCENDER" of his crop in BloodHorse MarketWatch (Jan. 25, 2020)
- Top 10 First-Crop Sire of 2019: BELLA AURORA, winner of the $100,000 Gin Talking S., VAN DAELEN, winner of a G2 in Panama, Harris Bay, placed in the $250,000 Sleepy Hollow S., Sweet Kisses, placed in the $75,000 Letellier Memorial S., Nayibeth, named a TDN Rising Star after her Keeneland MdSpWt victory, etc.
- 2019 sales: first 2YOs of $650,000, $475,000, etc. Second-crop yearlings up to $250,000
- At 2: Won $500,000 Breeders' Futurity [G1]at Keeneland by 6 1⁄4 lengths in his second career start; runner-up in $2,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile [G1]
- At 3: dominated the $1,000,000 Blue Grass S. [G1] by 3 lengths, earning a 4 1⁄2 Ragozin; won $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby [G2] by 5 lengths in 3-year-old debut, earning a 98 Beyer
- Won his 2-year-old debut in a Saratoga MdSpWt as a TDN Rising Star, overcoming the rail post to win going away—5 1⁄2 furlongs in 1:03 4⁄5
- Joined leading European sire SHAMARDAL as the only G1 winners at both 2 and 3 by sire of sires Giant's Causeway and his sire's ONLY one on dirt
- $1,600,000 Sale Topper—the all-time highest-priced 2-year-old by GIANT’S CAUSEWAY
- Earned $1,519,800—Giant’s Causeway’s only American colt to earn over $1.5 million on dirt
"Carpe Diem (6.90 AWD) would appear most likely of the remaining top 10 [first-crop sires] to benefit from increasing accessibility to longer races. The high AWDs... suggest that [his] progeny have won some relatively short races more because of sheet ability than preferences for the shorter differences typically available to 2-year-olds."
-BloodHorse MarketWatch, Jan. 25, 2020
"The impressive thing about Carpe Diem, to me, is his ability to run 5 ½ furlongs in a tough 2-year-old maiden race at Saratoga and then stretch out to win Grade 1 races around two turns."
-Todd Pletcher
"He has enough class and raw talent to beat anyone. He is a horse you just love looking at...all racehorse."
-Steve Haskin
"Carpe Diem gives me a sense that there is so much more to him that we haven’t seen yet. I’ve felt from the moment Carpe Diem went wire to wire in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race last summer at Saratoga that he had to be unusually good, because what son of Giant’s Causeway would do that? All along I’ve felt Carpe Diem would only get better with distance and maturity, and I still feel that way. He’s winning races like the Blue Grass and Tampa Bay Derby decisively, and I don’t think he’s even begun to scratch the surface of his ability."
-Mike Watchmaker