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Who’s Your Favorite Horse?: Sue Finley
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Coolmore to Stand MG1SW King’s Legacy
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The Great Racing Read: Alayna Cullen
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Man in the Can, Sekani Win Arkansas-Bred Stakes
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Former champion hurdler Constitution Hill could be seen in action in a new £40,000 1 1/2-mile novice Flat contest at Southwell on February 20, according to trainer Nicky Henderson. A faller for the third time in four trips to the post since his race in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in November, the son of Blue Bresil will hopefully receive a confidence boost in this new endeavour ahead of a try at the Champion Hurdle later this year. Part of the Friday Night Live series, the new race meets the criteria required for Henderson's star pupil. It will be the joint most valuable novice ever run on the all-weather and will be sponsored by SBK bookmakers. Sam Cone, head of communications and public affairs at Arena Racing Company (ARC), owners of Southwell, said, “We are delighted to assist in the delivery of this opportunity and are grateful to SBK, without whom it would not be possible. “The race should certainly add an extra dimension to the Friday Night Live fixture at Southwell on February 20, to those coming along to experience the evening in person as well as those watching at home on ITV Racing and Sky Sports Racing.” Adam Baylis, marketing director of SBK said, “Supporting British racing is massively important to us at SBK, so when Nicky Henderson spoke about the need for a Flat race with these conditions for Constitution Hill, we took the idea to ARC. We're delighted to have been able to help make it happen and it's a great boost to the Friday Night Live series.” The post Constitution Hill Eyes Southwell For Flat Bow Ahead Of Champion Hurdle appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
First foals by Epsom Derby winners Auguste Rodin and City Of Troy arrived in Europe on Monday, Coolmore announced. Group 1-winning juvenile Auguste Rodin's first foal was a bay filly out of the Millenium Stud-owned Only In Dreams (Le Havre). She arrived at Haras de Pierrepont and was described as “a quality filly”. The son of Deep Impact stands for €27,500. Also a Group 1 winner at two, City Of Troy welcomed a colt later that same day. Out of listed-winning two-year-old Ritournelle (Camelot), the bay colt was born at Coolmore. City Of Troy commands €60,000 this year. Said Coolmore's Eddie Fitzpatrick, “He's a very good first foal. A quality colt with scope and strength; a great start for both the mare and the stallion.” The post Auguste Rodin And City Of Troy Sire First Reported Foals appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
If seeing top-class racehorses in the flesh is the kind of thing you're into, then the inaugural NH Stallion Open Weekend – organised by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA), in association with the British EBF – had just about everything that you could ask for, with the exception of the muscle-bound sprinters that have proliferated at Flat studs in recent years. A total of 20 stallions, mostly of the more stamina-laden variety, paraded for onlookers across the two days, with seven different farms opening their doors. It was a star-studded line-up which included four of the last nine winners of the St Leger in Capri, Kew Gardens, Logician and Eldar Eldarov; Cracksman, the dual winner of the Champion Stakes who also happens to be Frankel's highest-rated son; and Golden Horn, the Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero who enjoyed one of the most successful three-year-old campaigns in recent memory. “We're very lucky to have him,” Overbury Stud's Simon Sweeting said simply of Golden Horn, the horse who swept through 2015 much like the gale-force winds that battered the Gloucestershire farm on Sunday morning. “He's very popular and a fabulous flagbearer for the stud now.” The mention of Golden Horn's popularity refers chiefly to the fact that Sweeting will again have to turn some breeders away when it comes to fine-tuning the stallion's book of mares in 2026. On Sunday, however, it was a case of the more the merrier as over 100 people flocked through the doors in the space of a couple of hours that morning, primarily to clap eyes on the champion racehorse who enjoyed a banner year as a sire in 2025, when the Champion Hurdle heroine Golden Ace and Gold Cup winner Trawlerman featured among his standout performers. “There must have been 40-odd people for our first show of the morning and we're expecting 200-plus today,” Sweeting added. “If they all come, that would be wonderful.” The previous afternoon, David Futter could be found proudly showing off his new recruit to Yorton Farm in Cracksman who, like Golden Horn, spent his formative years as a stallion at Darley's Dalham Hall Stud, following a distinguished racing career of his own for John Gosden and owner-breeder Anthony Oppenheimer. “I'm quite overwhelmed actually by how many people have come along,” said Futter. “Make no mistake, I think he [Cracksman] was probably the main attraction, but it's funny what can happen as people see the other stallions. They were saying, 'Wow, Ito, I'd never really thought about him.' Then they see Gentlewave and they're going, 'Crikey, he's looking well for 23.'” Cracksman, whose first crop featured the unbeaten Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Ace Impact, is standing in a dual-purpose role at Yorton, with Futter confirming that he's likely to receive his fair share of Flat mares in 2026. He continued, “After siring Ace Impact, I think Cracksman covered around 170 very good mares, Flat mares, and they've only just turned two now. And then he covered another good book of around 140 mares, similar types as well. They're only yearlings now, so he could do anything over the next three or four years. “He'll then do the same as Golden Horn and his runners will start to appear over jumps. Already, he's sired a Grade 2 winner over hurdles, so he's well ahead of the curve. He's three years behind Golden Horn and the new boy starting off on the same route. If he has the same luck as him, it would be great.” 'He's got more ammunition than almost any other British sire' Another former Gosden trainee with the National Hunt world at his feet is Logician, who was arguably as impressive a winner of the St Leger as we've seen in recent years when extending his unbeaten record to five races with his victory at Doncaster in 2019. King Georges and Arcs were supposed to be on the agenda when the son of Frankel returned to the track the following year but, unfortunately, ill health as a four-year-old prevented him from fulfilling his enormous potential. For Peter Hockenhull of Shade Oak Stud, the racing world's loss was his gain, with the man behind the Shropshire farm conceding that Logician almost certainly wouldn't have retired there if he'd been managed to win one of the major prizes that had seemed destined to fall his way in 2020. “It's not often that you would go on another year with a horse that has had peritonitis and pleurisy, but they thought that much of him that they wanted to give him the opportunity,” said Hockenhull. “It was that extra year that made him affordable. Don't get me wrong, he still cost us more than any other stallion we've ever purchased, and I wouldn't have been able to do that without the shareholders – I'm eternally grateful to them.” Logician's combined number of mares in his first three seasons at Shade Oak exceeded 400, according to Hockenhull, who is optimistic that everything is in place for the former Juddmonte runner to make a success of his second career. “He's certainly got more ammunition than almost any other British sire,” Hockenhull added. “That's what it's all about, having the opportunity. It's not always fair. It's not only related to the sire's ability, but also the opposition in terms of what is new and standing in the area at that time. He was very fortunate to come at a time when he was virtually unopposed. “Having the shareholders meant that he's had more support as well. That's been of benefit to him and his career, and we're really looking forward to the runners coming through. The shareholders and myself have all tried to get some early runners. I've currently got a three-year-old over in France and we're going to see what we can do there. It's vital that a stallion gets recognised by winners on the track and, if we can get that started in some way, it will bode well for him.” 'We have to try because what's the answer if we don't?' With bright young stallions such as Golden Horn, Cracksman and Logician coming along, it would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all is rosy in the world of British National Hunt breeding, but we all know that the underlying numbers tell a different story. According to the Return of Mares, published by Weatherbys in October last year, Golden Horn (182), Frontiersman (93) – who is also based at Overbury – and Logician (89) were the only three out of the 20 stallions on display to cover more than 80 mares in 2025. It also revealed a 5% decrease in the British foal crop, across both the Flat and National Hunt spheres, not to mention a 25% fall in new registered broodmares, suggesting this downward trend is set to continue. Stuart Ross of Willow Wood Farm is just one example of a stallion master faced with trying to overcome what he describes as “an uphill struggle”. Based in Cheshire, Ross is currently standing the multiple Group 1 winners Capri and Mogul on behalf of Coolmore, with the former about to embark on his third season at Willow Wood and Mogul his second. “I think he covered 25 mares last year,” Ross said of the Grand Prix de Paris and Hong Kong Vase scorer Mogul. “Obviously, you'd like more, but it was a tough year and the number of mares covered was down for both Flat and National Hunt. It's an uphill struggle to try and promote National Hunt breeding, but we have to try because what's the answer if we don't? I'm all for absolutely anything that promotes breeding National Hunt horses in the UK.” It's for this reason that the NH Stallion Open Weekend was introduced and why new initiatives such as this one are considered so important, attempting to raise awareness with regards the work that is done on these farms every day of the year. “We need all of the help and all of the interest that we can get at the moment,” added Sweeting. “Hopefully, something will get sparked from this. It's just lovely to see so many people here. Most of the time we're plodding along on our own, ignoring the outside world. It's easy to forget that there are people who are enthusiastic and interested in what we're doing. “I think the most important thing is that we've encouraged non-breeders to come and have a look. We're not expecting to sell nominations and we're not expecting to do any trade. We just want people to come and have a look, see what's going on, and keep up the enthusiasm.” 'It might be here in the calendar to stay now' That enthusiasm is something that Futter could never be accused of lacking when it comes to trying to promote National Hunt breeding. Indeed, Futter was positively bouncing as he showed off Yorton's four-strong roster of stallions on Saturday, with visitors also having the opportunity to view some of the youngstock on the farm, before sitting down in front of the front of the fire with a beer or a glass of wine to watch the racing from Kempton. “It's a great initiative from the TBA National Hunt committee to organise this,” said Futter. “Anything that we can do as an industry to promote ourselves is fantastic, throwing open our doors and getting people involved. We've had plenty of breeders here, but it's not just been breeders. We've had owners coming here and racing fans, too. “I think the great thing about this weekend is that it's more of a social. Of course, it's great if you can book the odd mare in, but it's not about that. We've never been pushy about our stallions. People will either come and use your stallions or they won't. All we can do as stallion masters is show them off and people will make their own minds up then. “But it's great to give everyone a day out. As we look around this room now, there's lots of drinking and socialising going on, which is great to see. You're meeting like-minded people, you're getting to see the fantastic stallions we have in this country and you get to find out a bit more about what's happening – exciting things go on at all of these stud farms. I think it's been brilliant, so hopefully this will grow legs and keep going.” Only time will tell whether the NH Stallion Open Weekend will indeed keep going. This inaugural edition was staged as a trial, with the TBA National Hunt committee now set to go away and mull over the feedback that they've received. A decision on the future of the event will then be made at a later date. A nervous wait lies in store, then, for those missed out on attending in 2026, but there are certainly reasons to be optimistic, with every chance that the NH Stallion Open Weekend will soon become a mainstay of the calendar, as we've seen with the Irish Stallion Trail and La Route des Etalons in France. “Personally, I was surprised by the number of sign-ups we had, and I think the studs were as well,” said the TBA's bloodstock executive Rob Davey. “Attendances seem to have held up, despite the weather. Even this morning [Sunday] I've been getting registrations. They've been totting up and it's been a good mix of breeders, owners and racegoers, all taking an interest. “It was obviously a trial, so we'll take it back and the National Hunt committee will decide whether it's going to be continued. If I'm honest, the way it's been received, I think it might be here in the calendar to stay now.” The post NH Stallion Open Weekend Passes ‘Trial’ with Flying Colours appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Day 1 of the 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale got off to a strong start, with top lots by I Am Invincible, Snitzel, Frankel, Zoustar and Extreme Choice all drawing keen interest. It didn't take long for the session to produce a seven-figure result, with Lot 59, a striking Frankel colt, selling to Coolmore for a$2 million, as buyers including Ciaron Maher Bloodstock, Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, Glentree Thoroughbreds, and Mark Player quickly made their presence felt. At A Glance Three horses fetched seven-figure sums on Day 1, compared to four in last year's opening session, with Segenhoe Stud on top of the vendors' standings by gross after selling nine horses for a total of A$5,540,000. The average of A$284,724 was up slightly from last year's Day 1 record of A$278,549. The median, at A$200,000, remained the same as Day 1 in 2025. The gross of A$41,285,000 from 145 lots was down slightly on A$45,125,000, however last year 162 lots sold. The clearance rate at the end of the day was 78.38% – an improvement of last year's end of day clearance rate of 74.65% – and likely to grow as passed in lots are sold. The A$2 million top lot (59), a Frankel colt out of Lonhro mare Antibes, was purchased by Tom Magnier and offered by Segenhoe Stud. Ciaron Maher Bloodstock and David Redvers Bloodstock joined forces to become leading buyer on Day 1, spending A$2.9 million on five yearlings. I Am Invincible led all sires by gross with eight yearlings selling for A$5.05 million at an average of A$631,250. Lot 59 – Frankel (GB) x Antibes (Lonhro), colt – A$2,000,000 Coolmore, led by Tom Magnier, secured lot 59 for A$2 million, the first seven-figure lot of the 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, after spirited bidding. The striking bay colt, bred and offered by Segenhoe Stud, is out of stakes-placed mare Antibes (Lonhro) and hails from a family littered with black-type performers. Antibes is a half-sister to stakes winner As Time Goes By (Deep Impact {Jpn}), while her dam, multiple Group winner A Time For Julia (Redoute's Choice), has produced a line of high-class performers. The pedigree also features champion South African sprinter Laisserfaire (Danehill) and stallions Time Thief, Foreplay, and Sejardan. The colt is also from the same family as Ninja (2022, Farnan-Impulsive), who is currently odds-on favourite for the Magic Millions Guineas this Saturday. “He was one of the standouts. We've had a lot of luck with Segenhoe,” Tom Magnier said. “We've had more Frankels in the northern hemisphere than in Australia, so we know them well. All the team really liked him. He's a lovely, fluid-moving horse and ticks all the boxes. “We bought him in a syndicate with Chris Waller, so he'll go straight into his stable. Chris really liked him all week – when everybody agrees on a horse, it gives you confidence to go a little further. Fair play to Peter O'Brien and John Camilleri; they breed very good horses, and we're delighted to be part of it.” Magnier was excited for what was to come the rest of the week on the Gold Coast for Coolmore. “Home Affairs has had two this morning and three of the top six in the betting for the Golden Slipper. After a tough year losing Wootton Bassett, this is probably the best bunch of horses we've brought to the Gold Coast.” When explaining his successful approach of utilising the world's best international stallions with his quality broodmare band, Camilleri explained the long-term thought process. “It's a big commitment, to go all the way to the Northern Hemisphere. It's an expensive exercise, it's risky. I've sent a lot of mares over, but you normally only get one or two shots at the world's best stallion, and I thought I'd roll the dice. It's paid off here. “I'm only interested in having a small broodmare band and breeding elite horses. I don't want hundreds and thousands of animals. So, if I think there's something available, like a Deep Impact or a Frankel, and I've got the right mare for them, I simply don't hesitate.” “Cost becomes secondary, then.” Talking about Antibes, an unraced daughter of Lonhro, and why she was the right mare to take the punt with, Camilleri was clear in his assessment. “She had a great pedigree. She was a beautiful type. She had a lot of ability. She had an injury, so we didn't race her, but Anthony Freedman rated her and said she could run. “Her first foal has run second in the Moloney at Flemington. So I think the mare's going to do it. She's by Lonhro, she ticks a lot of boxes, so I thought she deserved a trip on a plane to Frankel.” Antibes unfortunately missed to Home Affairs last season but visited Harry Angel (Ire) this Spring. Lot 201 – Extreme Choice x Dame Giselle (I Am Invincible), colt – A$1,200,000 Rarity and pedigree combined to push the Extreme Choice colt out of former star I Am Invincible filly Dame Giselle to A$1.2 million, making him the second seven-figure lot of the opening day at the 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale. Waller Racing, in partnership with Mulcaster Bloodstock, secured the stunning bay after a competitive bidding duel, recognizing both the colt's exceptional athleticism and the scarcity of his sire's stock. “We're pretty happy with that colt, he looked sharp and he's got a beautiful family,” Guy Mulcaster said. “We looked at him two days ago with Chris and he said they all run out of that family and that was good enough for me. I thought we'd be hard enough to beat and we didn't let on too much what we were up to, so we probably got him at the right odds. He looks a beautiful horse and let's hope he's back here next year.” The colt's appeal was enhanced by Extreme Choice's limited availability due to fertility issues. “He doesn't get many in-foal, does he?” Mulcaster said. “The less there are, the harder they are to buy, so we're pretty happy to have got him and we got one with one of the best pedigrees, so fingers crossed.” The colt is the third foal of Dame Giselle, a four-time Group winner who earned over A$1.3 million, including a Group I placing in the Coolmore Classic. Closely related to Group I winner Ulanova, she has a Snitzel colt at foot and was covered by Zoustar last spring. Her first two foals, fillies by Exceed and Excel and Snitzel, sold for A$1 million and A$725,000 respectively, though neither has yet raced or trialled. Lot 75 – I Am Invincible x Avantage (Fastnet Rock), filly – A$1,050,000 Demand for the progeny of Champion New Zealand racemare Avantage (Fastnet Rock) remained strong at Magic Millions, with her third foal, a filly by champion sire I Am Invincible, selling for A$1.05 million to Glentree Thoroughbreds in partnership with Badgers Bloodstock. Consigned by Coolmore Stud, the filly continued an extraordinary run of success for the family in the sale ring. A nine-time Group 1 winner for Te Akau Racing, Avantage was a champion on the track and later commanded NZ$4.1 million when purchased by Tom Magnier via Gavelhouse Online. Her offspring have since proven highly desirable, with her first foal, a filly by Wootton Bassett bringing A$2.1 million at the 2024 Magic Millions, followed by a second filly by I Am Invincible selling for A$1.6 million in 2025. “She had everything we look for in a filly,” Luke Simpson, Stud Manager for Glentree Thoroughbreds, said. “She's a really good physical, a beautiful mover, and she's out of a multiple stakes winner and a phenomenal racehorse. She ticks a lot of boxes for our program going forward. “We're looking to get a racing career out of her and hopefully she can step up to some of mum's form and then join our broodmare band going forward. There were a couple of other fillies we had our eye on, but this was our main target, so we're delighted to secure her.” Avantage slipped to Zoustar last season, meaning there will be no yearling offered in 2027, but she visited Coolmore's City of Troy this spring. Lot 35 – I Am Invincible x Alassio (Foxwedge), colt – A$950,000 Ciaron Maher Bloodstock, in partnership with David Redvers Bloodstock, secured lot 35 for A$950,000, identifying the colt as a standout value buy early in the sale. The gorgeous bay, by champion sire I Am Invincible, is the second living foal of Group 2 and Group 3-winning mare Alassio (Foxwedge), bred and offered by Silverdale Farm. Alassio was a multiple stakes winner and comes from a strong female line. She is a half-sister to the dam of stakes placegetters Dealmaker (Dundeel) and It's a Knockout (Dundeel), while her dam Cinque (Red Ransom) was also a stakes winner. “Just nice and early in the sale, I thought he was probably a bit of value because he's early in the catalogue, compared to what the same horse tends to make halfway through Day 2,” Redvers said. “We all loved him, and he's a horse Sheikh Fahad particularly liked. We all know about the stallion, and the mare's a Group 2 winner, so he fits what we're looking for. We've got another very nice I Am Invincible with Ciaron called Invicto. Very happy to have him.” Redvers also highlighted the colt's key attributes. “He's incredibly athletic. He's got a huge amount of presence and a very good mind. Totally unflappable out there, with a real standout action and athletic build. There was a very good underbidder as well…let's hope we all weren't wrong.” Alassio missed last season but was again served by Yarraman's champion sire I Am Invincible. Lot 137 – I Am Invincible x Calaverite (Lonhro), colt – A$875,000 A tense finish greeted the sale of lot 137, with a late opposition bid arriving just as the hammer fell, before Mark Player emerged successful at A$875,000. Offered by Emirates Park, the colt is a son of champion sire I Am Invincible and a half-brother to Group 1 Caulfield Guineas winner Golden Mile (Astern), from one of the deepest female families in the catalogue. “We've certainly missed out on horses before bidding after the hammer; it fell our way today and it's just relief, I suppose,” Player said. “Rob Roulston and I work very hard to identify the horses we like, and two days ago we independently wrote down our favourite horse in the catalogue – and it was the same horse. “We pushed as far as we could to get him, we managed to, and we're just delighted.” Calaverite has proven herself a high-class producer, with seven foals to date, six of which have raced for four winners. The pedigree page is further strengthened by the presence of Champion New Zealand Two-Year-Old La Dorada (Super Seth) and ATC Derby winner Major Beel (Savabeel). “He's by a great sire, a half to a Group 1 winner, and out of a mare who has produced and done it,” Player said. “She was a fast mare, and he's got great presence. He looks like one of those rare 'Vinnies' that might run at two rather than being a 3-year-old. When you have that sort of hope, you tend to push that little bit harder.” A trainer is yet to be decided, with Player noting the decision will be made alongside his partners. “He's the sort of horse I don't think any trainer on our roster would want not to have in their stable. He'll be very popular.” Player will be hoping to replicate the success he enjoyed with dual Group 1 winner and champion sire Ole Kirk. Calaverite was sold at the 2025 Inglis Chairman's Sale for A$900,000 to Yulong's Growing Empire Syndicate. She has a colt at foot by Zoustar and was served by Alabama Express last spring. The post ‘When Everyone Agrees, It Gives You Confidence’: Coolmore Land A$2m Frankel Colt At Magics appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
And so we reach the apex of the fee pyramid we've scaled in stages all the way up from the basement. In reality, this final ascent is too extensive to be coherent: we're clearly not comparing like with like, between stallions available at $60,000 and la crème de la crème at $250,000. But since we can hardly reveal to an unsuspecting world that Into Mischief is a pretty good stallion, let's establish our parameters straightaway. Our purpose today is to seek the residual value that lurks even at this rarefied level, perhaps even to find a horse with the scope someday to be promoted into the real elite. In effect, that will confine our quest to those standing between $60,000 and $125,000. We will, however, briefly take in the view from the top. For the seven that have detached themselves from that penultimate tier nowadays include NYQUIST, who justified last year's giddy leap from $85,000 to $175,000 by including four elite scorers among his dozen graded stakes winners in 2025. His incoming juveniles were sired at just $55,000, and retailed at $346,209 (median $300,000), so there's a lesson for us all-in terms of judging a stallion prematurely-in the backwards step he took with a single graded stakes winner as a second-crop sire. The reality is that his 36 stakes winners have come at a ratio matched or bettered by his much cheaper neighbors Hard Spun, Street Sense and Midshipman. But his good ones have been very good, and 11 Grade I winners from his first six crops put Nyquist on track to keep consolidating as his mare upgrade cycles through. Heading the other way, in terms of career trajectory, is former champion TAPIT who barely made the top 30 of the 2025 general sires' list. But that is all about his diminishing footprint, his book having been carefully managed for several years already, and $185,000 must be as close to “value” as you can find at this level. No need to reprise his eye-watering aggregates, but it's worth reiterating that he retrieved his broodmare sire crown in 2025, when his daughters produced 13 graded stakes winners. His latest yearlings kept him in the top six at the sales, and the bottom line is that this is a breed-shaping influence now with an extremely finite span of activity. If you can get to him, it is a privilege beyond price. Of the top quintet, the one anomaly of 2025 was the way JUSTIFY was mysteriously undervalued by the domestic market, which evidently treated his sensational impact in Europe as somehow cause for hesitation. As a result, he retreats to $200,000 from $250,000. A year after City Of Troy emerged from his second crop to win the Derby at Epsom, two sons from his third respectively won the 2,000 Guineas and St Leger. The fact that he has already won all three British colts' Classics, across the distance spectrum, shows just what European breeders have been missing by neglecting the kind of dirt sires who set off fast but then keep going. Justify has barely got started, yet already has nine elite scorers. With 244 mares paying top dollar last year, he is going to be a breed-shaper. If you want to be narrow-minded, that's your prerogative, but gosh they'd pay anything to be using him in Europe. Of those above him, nothing to say. If you could afford $250,000 for INTO MISCHIEF or the young pretenders vying for the succession, NOT THIS TIME and GUN RUNNER, or $225,000 for the enduing gold standard represented by CURLIN, then you'd just pay it-and choose between them according to the make and shape of your mare, and what else she might need to complement her strengths. Flightline -05-11-2023-SA6_2713-PRINT-Sarah-Andrew.jpg" alt="" width="628" height="456" /> Flightline | Sarah Andrew That quartet lived up to their fees as four of the only five sires to achieve a median of $500,000 or more with their latest yearlings. The interloper was FLIGHTLINE, whose debut crop put him second in the averages with 57 sold of 65 at $737,274 and a median of $600,000, behind only Gun Runner on both indices. At this point I will reliably point out that anyone who thought he was worth $200,000 to conceive those horses should be glad to pay $125,000 now, though nobody can yet say whether even so freakish a runner (albeit notoriously over the span of just six starts) will be an equal success in his new career. The only guarantee is that the restrained management of his books will continue to serve his clients well, which can itself only help to maintain full subscription. GOOD MAGIC holds his fee at $125,000, leaving his backers to hold their nerve after a single stakes winner in 2025. That hardly tells the whole story, as he had three seconds in elite company. Cynics might treat the rise of Baeza to point out that the wondermare Puca (Big Brown) also had a considerable role in Good Magic boasting Classic winners from both his first two crops. But his retort is obvious, as he has also given us three other Grade I winners-bringing him up to four sons at stud in Kentucky already-while his incoming yearlings will be the first following the major fee hike earned by Mage. Remember he only narrowly missed the freshman title, before Mage had ever run, which earned him an initial advance from $30,000 to $50,000. That was duly the conception fee of the 102 yearlings offered last year, of which 80 retailed at $295,643 (median $200,000). CONSTITUTION seems to have found his level for now, standing at $110,000 for a fourth year after again making the top six in the general sires' table. Arguably he needed Mindframe, his third Grade I winner and his first real headliner since Tiz the Law broke out of his debut crop-unless you happen to be in Chile, where his early shuttling proved most fertile-but this is a horse that was down to $15,000 in his 2019 bubble, so he has only really been hitting his stride the last couple of years. His latest yearlings, indeed, were his first as a six-figure cover and averaged $297,056 ($215,000 median) for 71 sold of 79 offered. Overall he's up to 52 black-type winners at 6.3 percent of named foals, 25 at graded level, and duly sets Flightline a solid standard to meet as heir to their ageing sire. PRACTICAL JOKE finished just a few cents behind Constitution and looks tempting at $75,000. In 2025 his fee was doubled, for the second year running, to $100,000-which turned out to be precisely the median meanwhile achieved by his latest yearlings. Those, however, were sired at just $25,000, and posted an average of $147,872. Moreover there were no fewer than 263 mares that deemed him deserving of a six-figure fee last year, so there's a ton of action coming down the line. His best days lie ahead, which is saying plenty for the sire of five Grade I winners already. OSCAR PERFORMANCE climbs for the fourth year running, this time to $60,000 from $45,000, in what has proved a superb return to the stallion game for his farm. He had a very small crop of juveniles, sired at just $12,500 in his bubble, but he has been fully subscribed since and the pipeline is overflowing. In the meantime his maturing stock kept him in the game with nine stakes scorers, five at graded level including GI Saratoga Derby winner World Beater, from 144 starters. His first revived book, still only conceived at $20,000, averaged $104,704 ($70,000 median) for 51 sold of 65 offered. The momentum is inexorably upwards from here, and it is high time the big European programs cottoned on. The Spendthrift system has worked out metronomically in the past four freshman championships, and the last three cycles have each catapulted a young stallion to a fee that implies he may yet break into the elite. Each was given-and seized-major opportunities, and will benefit from sustained quantity while cycling through upgraded quality. It tells you much about this weird business that the senior of this trio, OMAHA BEACH, achieved a higher average ($201,689) with his first crop of yearlings in 2022, when absolutely unproven, than he did with his fourth, when his established prowess saw 63 of 81 sold at $128,701 ($90,000 median). His fee, however, has more than doubled for 2025-from $35,000 to $75,000-after Grade I wins for members of both his first two crops, in Kopion and Nevada Beach. That takes him to 25 stakes winners overall, from 295 starters, and the 16 he assembled in 2025 were exceeded only by the biggest of big guns. In terms of ratio, mind you, the next guy did even better: with a second crop in play, VEKOMA had 15 black-type winners from 188 starters to smash his way as high as 13th in the general sires' list. Never mind all the volume that sustains these young horses, this one is proving uncannily consistent. Measured by the simplest of all measures, winners to starters, he was batting off the charts: 117 into the winner's circle in 2025, representing 62 percent against around 54 percent for Gun Runner and Not This Time. Vekoma duly hit plenty of home runs for those who used him on the bubble at $15,000 in 2023: of 106 resulting yearlings, 90 changed hands in 2025 at $163,715 (median $132,500). But a giddy hike from $35,000 to $100,000, while eventually likely to have an impact on the racetrack, leaves little margin for error in the meantime to a stallion now charging a lot more than many sires with numerous Grade I winners to their credit. One of his big rivals, McKINZIE, famously has three of those already from just four graded stakes winners overall, and only nine black-type scorers of any description. This horse has a very useful propensity to hit the bull's-eye with his sharpest arrows, and of course his elevation from $35,000 to $75,000 last year should result in an eventual upgrade on the track. But he has been a buzz horse from the outset and looked after his own bubble clients nicely with 69 of 83 yearlings processed at $172,442 (median $100,000) in 2025. Returning to the Spendthrift conveyor belt, YAUPON was preceded by rave reviews for his physique and covered more mares in his debut season than any other stallion bar Gun Runner. He duly dominated the freshman table, albeit in what proved a historically underachieving intake with a single graded stakes success between them. But at least Yaupon can boast of eight black-type scorers, from 82 starters, which beats his late sire Uncle Mo's seven (from 75) when himself champion freshman back in 2015. In this day and age he must be congratulated for a second crop of yearlings that very nearly matched the returns of his first, who of course were not “burdened” by the proof that he could replicate his own speed: 99 sold of 112 at $163,3030, for a $130,000 median. Having dealt with the rookies separately, the newest name in this tier is CODY'S WISH. He is such a monster that we may have to get involved ahead of his first starters, but let's see what the going rate is then: he has been dropped from $75,000 to $60,000 despite a strong debut with his weanlings (average $277,224/median $235,000). Life Is Good | Sarah Andrew VALUE PODIUM Bronze: QUALITY ROAD Elusive Quality-Kobla (Strawberry Road {Aus}) $100,000 Lane's End His fees between 2019 and 2024, either $150,000 or $200,000, left this horse nowhere to hide-which was unfortunate, as his fertility appears to have diminished notably in the meantime. Given the management his books evidently now require, his new fee looks a very sensible compromise relative to an impressive body of work: 95 stakes winners at a formidable 8.3 percent of named foals, including 17 at the highest level (the latest two in 2025, Clicquot and Hope Road). And of course he remains a shimmering commercial stallion: the 33 yearlings he sold last year (of 39 offered) did something pretty extraordinary, achieving a considerably higher median at $450,000 than their $409,090 average. Stallions generally cover a multitude of sins with a few outliers, but Quality Road is just a superbly reliable operator at the sales. If no longer quite so reliable in the covering shed, he deserves all the patience he may require. Silver: LIFE IS GOOD Into Mischief-Beach Walk (Distorted Humor) $60,000 WinStar I know, I know: a sheer guess. And I'm always chiding people for wasting mares on guesses. But the other recurring theme of this series has been the inconsistency, at ringside, of those who claim only to support new sires in the hope of catching the next big thing while still affordable, only to slink away from the same stallions just as they approach the hour of truth. Unproven as his seed remains, Life Is Good has now taken his third consecutive fee cut since offering the same goods at $100,000 in his debut season. That investment paid off at the yearling sales, where 81 yearlings (96 offered) averaged $310,740, with a median $275,000. And with a battalion of runners out of mares deemed worthy of a six-figure cover, this tremendously dashing animal can hardly fail to make a big impact on the freshman table. Well, he can. Of course he can. But if you truly believed in him at $100,000, you need to follow through now. It was only natural, and very sporting, to try to stretch out his speed. But just remind yourself of the way he pulverised top-class horses when sticking to his strengths: from the day he announced himself by thrashing Medina Spirit by eight lengths, to his destruction of a peak-form Knicks Go in the GI Pegasus. Breeders will never tire of this cross and Into Mischief has surely never sent a faster son to stud. Gold: TWIRLING CANDY Candy Ride (Arg)-House of Danzing (Chester House) $75,000 Lane's End There's a limit to how far you could hike his fee, when he pays such a penalty at the sales for his proficiency on turf: $186,070 (median $135,000) was a perfectly respectable yield for his latest yearlings, next to their $60,000 conception fee, but made it hard to reward him adequately for a year in which he banked more prizemoney than any American stallion bar Into Mischief, Not This Time and Gun Runner. Another three Grade I winners take him up to a dozen overall, among 62 stakes winners at 5.7 percent of named foals. His ratios are in line with those of his venerable sire CANDY RIDE (Arg), himself available in the evening of his career at just $60,000-tempting enough, for the sire additionally of Gun Runner and Vekoma…. And while his turf earnings were second only to Not This Time, Twirling Candy is similarly versatile in terms of metier, with graded stakes winners in 2025 from 5.5 to 11 furlongs. That evokes his own record, as a Grade I winner both in a dirt sprint and round a second turn on turf. Remember he only reached $40,000 in 2020, having bumped along at fees between $10,000 and $15,000 for his first five years at stud. He has had to earn his stripes, and still can't get the credit he is due, but no racetrack program either side of the water should be neglecting the opportunity his slow-burning trajectory has produced. The post Kentucky Value Sires for 2026: Part 6 – The Big Guns appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
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