2025 Mating Plans, Presented by Spendthrift: Glennwood Farm

[Wandering Eyes]

John Gunther's Glennwood Farm bred and raised Triple Crown champion Justify, as well as Grade I stakes winners First Samurai, Mo Town, Stay Thirsty, Tamarkuz, and Vino Rosso. The farm's recent graduates also include Grade I stakes winner Leslie's Rose and Grade I stakes performer Grand Mo The First. The pair represented the operation in the 2024 Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby, respectively.

   Tanya Gunther discussed Glennwood's 2025 mating plans, as well as hopes for new stallion Stage Raider, a half-brother to Justify, who begins his stud career this year at Crestwood Farm.

The upcoming breeding season marks another potentially pivotal moment for Glennwood: homebred Stage Raider (7, Pioneerof the Nile–Stage Magic, by Ghostzapper), a stakes-winning half-brother to Triple Crown champion Justify, embarks on a stallion career at Crestwood in 2025. With pedigree credentials that include a Triple Crown-producing dam and a Triple Crown-producing sire, we believe Stage Raider presents a compelling proposition to breeders and we are excited to put our broodmare band to work to help make him as a stallion.

We have selected a number of our mares to visit him during his first year at stud. I will focus on a subset of that group in the discussion directly below and then move on to other highlights from Glennwood's 2025 mating plans.

The first mare that we selected for Stage Raider is ATOMIC BLONDE (9, Scat Daddy–Volver {Ire}, by Danehill Dancer {Ire}). She is a young stakes-winning mare by Scat Daddy and, with Stage Raider's half-brother Justify also being by Scat Daddy, this mare was an obvious choice to send to Stage Raider.

The cross possesses a number of the elements that intrigued me about the mating that produced Justify. Chief among these was the combining of full-sisters Yarn and Preach. Though positioned differently and a bit further back in the prospective pedigree, this and other components of Justify's pedigree are present in this mating as well.

UNCHAINED (IRE) (10, Dansili {GB}–Take the Ribbon, by Chester House) is another mare that we have chosen for Stage Raider's first book. Unchained's dam is Grade III stakes winner and Grade I placed Take The Ribbon, by Chester House. The dam of Chester House is the 2002 Broodmare of the Year and reine-de-course Juddmonte mare Toussaud. Chester House and Empire Maker, the grandsire of Stage Raider, are two of the four Grade I winners produced by Toussaud. Therefore, the foal resulting from the mating of Unchained to Stage Raider will be inbred 4 x 4 to this exceptional mare. One of the most talented fillies in our current racing stable is stakes winner Deep Satin. A half-sister to Unchained, Deep Satin is by American Pharoah (a grandson of Empire Maker, like Stage Raider) and so she is inbred to Toussaud. The idea here is that a similar cross and pattern of inbreeding from the same female family has resulted in a talented racehorse and we aim to replicate this pattern and successful outcome through the mating of Unchained to Stage Raider.

   STREET RUMOR (6, Street Sense–Sobinka {Ire}, by Sadler's Wells) is also scheduled to visit Stage Raider in 2025. Street Rumor is a proven stakes producer already, so we were keen to add her to Stage Raider's book. Street Rumor typically throws good-walking, attractive individuals and so we are hopeful she will impart some black-type ability and swagger to her 2026 Stage Raider baby.

Another date for Stage Raider is the mare THRILL (8, Candy Ride {Arg}–Running Wild, by Indian Charlie), who we purchased at the 2024 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale specifically for the purpose of visiting Stage Raider. The moment she walked out for a show, I felt a spark of excitement. We went to see her because of the pedigree potential with Stage Raider, but then her physical matched up, too. Hence the spark. Things seemed to be lining up both from a physical perspective and on paper. This mating will bring together multiple strains of Mr. Prospector through Fappiano (who will be inbred 5×5 in the pedigree) and three different daughters of Mr. Prospector. There is also a doubling up of Blushing Groom (6×5) via the mare Primal Force and stallion Candy Stripes.

Stage Raider is an easy stallion to breed to in the sense that he is a very well balanced, medium-sized athletic individual that will suit many mares from a physical perspective. Stage Raider is inbred 5Sx5d to Mr. Prospector and 5sx5D to In Reality with no inbreeding in the first four generations and so he is open to mares from many different sire lines, including further lines of the aforementioned influences since they are relatively far back in his pedigree. This openness facilitates our aim to give Stage Raider the best opportunity to make it as a stallion, since part of our strategy involves sending mares to him from as many of our best female families as possible.

In addition to the mating plans outlined above, Stage Raider's little black book of mares from Glennwood also includes: a half-sister to G1SW/sire Without Parole; a half-sister to GISW Materiality and Grade II stakes winner and Grade I placed My Miss Sophia; a young mare from the family of MGISW Midday; and a half-sister to the dam of GISW/sire Mo Town.

We took a similar approach with Without Parole (Frankel–Without You Babe), standing at Newsells Park Stud in England, who had a very promising start with his first runners last year. We are encouraged by the fact that a number of Without Parole's first-crop winners were bred by us and we hope that this bodes well for Stage Raider as we embark on a similar strategy to also help give him lift-off as a sire.

While we have a small group of mares based overseas, the discussion below will focus on mating plans for our broodmares based at Glennwood in Kentucky.

   GRAZIE MILLE (6, Bernardini–Molto Vita, by Carson City) is expecting a foal by Into Mischief this February and will be bred to Nyquist (Uncle Mo) in 2025. Grazie Mille is the dam of GISW/sire Mo Town, who I believe was the first Grade I winner bred on the Uncle Mo (or son of Uncle Mo) to Bernardini mare cross. Grazie is also the dam of stakes-placed Champagne Lady, also by Uncle Mo. With this combination having worked well in the past and Grazie now being a little older and wiser than she once was, a date with a leading, young stallion son of Uncle Mo was a clear choice for her. Nyquist, like his sire, has also worked well with Bernardini mares, further solidifying the selection.

Mo Town | Coolmore

   WEEKDAY (GB) (10, Dansili {GB}–Timepiece {GB}, by Zamindar) and CHURCH ON TIME (8, Honor Code–Devil By Design) will visit Oscar Performance in 2025. Weekday is in foal to Flightline and has a 2-year-old daughter of Justify that joins our racing stable this year. Church On Time's first foal is Good Conduct, a talented daughter of Without Parole who earned over $60,000 as a 2-year-old last year and is due to run back soon, so long as Old Man Winter plays nice over at Fair Grounds. The mating of Weekday with Oscar Performance inbreeds Sadler's Wells 4Sx4d. Another interesting element of the hypothetical pedigree is that it will include four counts of the marriage of Rough Shod to Nantallah via Thong in the tail female family of Sadler's Wells (x2) and Nureyev, and via Lear Fan through his broodmare sire, Lt. Stevens, who is a full-brother to Thong. Three of these counts are within the pedigree of Oscar Performance with Weekday adding one more. The mating of Church On Time with Oscar Performance similarly contains four counts of this pairing in the pedigree. The mating is also loosely similar to the mating that produced Good Conduct, since her sire Without Parole is a great grandson of Sadler's Wells, as is Oscar Performance.

   WILDWOOD ROSE (IRE) (9, Galileo {Ire}–Wildwood Flower, by Langfuhr) and ALWAYS ON MY MIND (12, Congrats–Without You Babe, by Lemon Drop Kid) will be bred to Gun Runner in 2025. Wildwood Rose, the dam of Grade I winner Leslie's Rose, has an eye-catching yearling filly by Not This Time. She has consistently thrown very athletic individuals and we are excited to see what she can produce from a mating with Gun Runner.

Always On My Mind, a half-sister to Without Parole, has a really strong Curlin colt yearling and is expecting to Good Magic this February. The cross of Always On My Mind with Gun Runner is along similar lines to the cross that produced Taiba (a son of Gun Runner out of a mare by Flatter, who is a full-brother to Congrats, the sire of Always On My Mind) as well as other Grade I horses out of A.P. Indy-line mares, such as 2024 champion 3-year-old male Sierra Leone and 2024 Eclipse Award finalist Locked (both by Gun Runner and out of Malibu Moon mares).

Leslie's Rose | Coady Media

   TAKE MY CHANCES (FR) (7, Frankel {GB}–Take The Ribbon, by Chester House) will visit Into Mischief in 2025. She has a yearling colt first foal by leading European sire Siyouni (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}) and is in foal to four-time Group 1 winner and new stallion for 2024, Paddington (GB) (Siyouni). I am very excited about the broodmare potential of Take My Chances in general and about the mating with Into Mischief in particular. Her race record shows her as a winner in two starts, which may beg the question, what am I so excited about? Being by champion Frankel and out of Take The Ribbon, a mare that holds special meaning for me personally, Take My Chances was almost pre-destined to be a filly that we would have high hopes for. Add to this the fact that Take My Chances was a very well-made, athletic individual from the outset. In short, she looked like a racehorse, which certainly stoked the embers of our hopes and dreams.

But as can often happen in this game, circumstances dictated a less elevated outcome, at least on the racetrack. She suffered an illness toward the end of her 2-year-old year, and I worried we would lose her from this world entirely, never mind just her racing career being at risk. The fact that she overcame that illness and made it to the racecourse at all is a testament to her will and character. When she broke her maiden, the race may as well have been a stakes race based on the level of emotion evoked by that victory and, when she later suffered a setback in training, it was an easy decision to keep her safe by retiring her to the broodmare band.

The mating of Take My Chances with Into Mischief has some similarities to the mating that produced Leslie's Rose. Leslie's Rose is a daughter of Into Mischief out of Wildwood Rose. Wildwood Rose is by Galileo and Take My Chances is by Frankel, a son of Galileo. I like the blend of speed and stamina in this combination of bloodlines and the ever essential will to win that I think both sire and dam have the potential to bring to this equation.

Stage Magic | Sarah Andrew

STAGE MAGIC (18, Ghostzapper–Magical Illusion, by Pulpit) and LOVE AND THUNDER (8, Siyouni {Fr}–Pretty Paper {Ire}, by Medaglia d'Oro) are both booked to Not This Time for 2025.

Stage Magic is due in February to Gun Runner and has an exceptional yearling filly by Into Mischief. Love And Thunder is due to Gun Runner and had her first foal–an athletic, precocious-looking yearling filly by Justify–last year.

I am a big fan of Not This Time. I love a stallion that can overcome the odds and surpass expectations like he has done and, while I think the best is yet to come for him, he has already stamped himself as a leading player in the stallion ranks.

Stage Magic has produced black-type winners by three different stallions: Triple Crown champion Justify (Scat Daddy); The Lieutenant (Street Sense); and new stallion recruit for 2025, Stage Raider (Pioneerof the Nile). Selecting Gun Runner in 2024 and now Not This Time for Stage Magic's 2025 mating has a lot to do with choosing rising star young stallions who we think are exceptional sires with a strong chance of competing for the top spot on the general sires list in the coming years, as well as the potential to produce champions both on the track and in the breeding shed.

Love And Thunder is a graded stakes-winning granddaughter of Take The Ribbon the dam of stakes winner Deep Satin (as mentioned earlier) and recent 'TDN Rising Star' Deep Manhattan (Justify) and she is also a half-sister to the dam of top young stallion Good Magic (Curlin). Love And Thunder's tail female family traces back to reine-de-course mare Lindos Ojos. While the duplication of Lindos Ojos may have little ultimate bearing on the outcome of this mating, it still gave the pedigree nerd in me some small satisfaction to add another line of Lindos Ojos via Rahy, the broodmare sire of Giant's Causeway, the sire of Not This Time. We wanted to give Love and Thunder the best start to her broodmare career that we could and we believe Not This Time provides another high potential chance for this mare to produce something special.

The post 2025 Mating Plans, Presented by Spendthrift: Glennwood Farm appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article