Kentucky Value Sires For 2026: Part 5–Approaching the Snow-Line

Wandering Eyes · 2026-01-08T18:27:56Z

The air is getting thinner now, as we explore those stallions standing between $30,000 and $59,999, but this penultimate instalment of our series does open access to genuine elite quality. Several in this range have a proven ability to sire horses who go on, in turn, to take a lucrative place at stud; and a number, within that group, have reached a stage in their careers where their fees have been cut temptingly within reach.

Take MACLEAN'S MUSIC. Doubling his fee to $50,000 for 2022–after two sons contested the finish of the GI Woody Stephens the previous summer–looked reasonable enough when the resulting yearlings averaged $135,739 (median $100,000) in 2024. Things did not play out so well for his clients in the next cycle, however, with his latest crop sliding back to $97,264 and a particularly unhelpful median, throwing in keep and prep costs, of $65,000. But Maclean's Music has now taken his second cut since, to just $30,000, and that brings him right back into the realm of value as sire of four popular young sons at stud in Kentucky. Conserving a male line for Distorted Humor makes him eligible for somewhat historic stature, hardly reflected in a fee like this, and he has maintained numbers well with another 130 mares last spring. The reality is that GII Pat Day Mile winner Macho Music remains his solitary graded stakes scorer over the past two years, but hopefully his upgraded mares will be stopping that rot pretty soon.

MUNNINGS has also put himself under a bit of pressure, owing his one graded stakes success in 2025 to a 6-year-old in a Grade III sprint at Aqueduct. But plenty of people will forgive a flat spot in one that spent the preceding five years as a fixture in the top 10 of the general sires' list. It did feel as though his reputation had been a little over-egged when exalted as a six-figure cover in 2023, but a third consecutive cut brings him steeply down to $45,000–a number that stacks up most agreeably against a $159,470 average ($120,000 median) for the 56 yearlings he has just sold, of 79 offered, from that crop conceived at $100,000. Sure, he has a lot of volume behind his 88 stakes winners, but they represent a rock-solid 6.5% percent clip of named foals and include Jack Christopher among half a dozen Grade I winners.

Munnings | Coolmore

VIOLENCE is another with heirs at stud, but could have done with more than three stakes winners in 2025, at a time when his book needs careful management. Those did at least include a 10-length winner of the GIII Sanford Stakes and one of the best juvenile prospects in the west, in Boyd, and he's still supplying the same genes that have so far produced 43 black-type scorers (5% of named foals) including five at Grade I level. Moreover the Medaglia d'Oro glamor of his stock remained evident at the sales, where 21 of 30 yearlings averaged $169,000 (albeit not even half that sum, by median). Having briefly touched $60,000 only a couple of years ago, he represents excellent value at half that fee, whether your agenda is oriented to the sales or the racetrack. It makes ample allowance for such fertility issues as have impeded the rise of Violence, and ensures that the breeder who adapts patiently to his needs can profit from a limited supply of goods that should remain reliably in demand. When he's good, Violence can be very good indeed, and few sires at this kind of money have so high a ceiling.

His champion son FORTE renews a challenge we have repeatedly set during this series. If he was genuinely worth $50,000 as a blank page in 2024, he's presumably worth $35,000 as sire of 24 weanlings sold (of 28 offered) at an average $166,875 (median $157,500). ELITE POWER has made an identical slide despite faring better yet on his sales debut, processing 17 of 20 weanlings as $182,352/$170,000. But since they will presumably depreciate again this time next year, you can pounce just as they are about to show their wares on the racetrack. On the same basis, we'll certainly be leaving last year's rookies to stew in their commercial juice for the time being.

Forte-at-Spendthrift-09-26-2024-5SA_4005

Forte | Sarah Andrew

The dividends available from sticking with a bubble sire can be sampled in MAXFIELD, who was trimmed to $35,000 for his third season, in 2024, but will stand at $50,000 this spring after his first juveniles put him behind only Yaupon on the freshman table. Though an emphatic Grade I winner at two himself, he won his other elite prize in the November of his third campaign, so his stock should continue to thrive. Just as well, mind, as this class is guilty of historic underachievement and Maxfield mustered a solitary stakes winner from his 60 starters. Whether he has done enough to merit a higher fee than his own sire is a question reserved for our Value Podium!

In the preceding intake, TIZ THE LAW has by now put together a rather more substantial resume–crowned by his first Grade I winner only a few days ago–but we must raise an eyebrow that he should have been the busiest stallion in the land with 274 mares last spring. His latest yearlings cashed in on his strong start, 34 sold of 41 at $134,321 (median $90,000), but a fee returned to $40,000 (from $30,000) may give some pause to those who know that catalogues must soon be fairly inundated. In the meantime, as we keep saying, true believers will have got to him at $20,000 on the bubble and will have a coveted commodity to take to the upcoming yearling sales. Be all that as it may, there's no denying that seven graded stakes winners from 165 starters to date is a really auspicious foundation.

Two Grade I winners for CITY OF LIGHT in 2025 consolidated rather than refreshed a reputation that has at times depended heavily on one of them, Fierceness, to sustain a fee that has now stabilized at $35,000 (having been cut from $60,000 for 2024). But his other elite scorer has at least shown that his stock will continue to flourish much as he did himself. Having become City of Light's second Grade I breakthrough late in his sophomore career, turf star Formidable Man was better than ever at four and saw off all but one of the Europeans at the Breeders' Cup. While there may yet be plenty of slow burners out there, for now City of Light must settle for less extravagant market expectations than when rewarded with a fee hike simply for selling his first yearlings so well. His latest crop retailed at $129,704/median $80,000.

With our customary apologies to those overlooked in what is necessarily a highly subjective survey, we now turn to three stallions, at very different stages of his career, who should appeal strongly if happening to meet other, more fundamental criteria for your mare.

VALUE PODIUM
Bronze: LIAM'S MAP
Unbridled's Song–Miss Macy Sue (Trippi)
$50,000, Lane's End

Here's a stallion in his absolute prime, now 15 and celebrating Grade I winners in 2025 from each of his last three crops onto the track, taking him up to seven overall. His security of tenure at this level is reflected by a hike from $40,000, but even that looks worth embracing when you consider how consistently he rewards his clients at the sales.

The gray's latest crop of yearlings not only averaged $178,515 for 63 sold (of 84 offered) but also maintained a much narrower gap to the median, at $150,000, than many others we have reviewed in this category.

Remarkably, the purchasers of Napoleon Solo had to give just $40,000 to an outstanding nursery for the runaway GI Champagne Stakes winner; whereas GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes scorer Burnham Square had been retained by his breeders; and 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Deterministic, winner of consecutive Grade Is on the turf at Saratoga, was a $625,000 yearling. And that spread shows what you get with Liam's Map: a racehorse sire, whether for trainers or breed-to-race programs, but also a sire that can achieve dividends at the sales.

With his son Beau Liam making a flying start, moreover, and juvenile star Brant suggesting that his daughters may also contribute to his legacy, Liam's Map is achieving a stature that makes look quite a center of gravity for the entire market.

Of course, you also get half the genetic package being expensively purveyed by Not This Time! If overall his 31 stakes winners have come at a rather pedestrian 4.1% of named foals, his reliability at the sales means that Liam's Map–fully subscribed as usual last spring–is going to keep looking after an awful lot of breeders.

Silver: GIRVIN
Tale of Ekati–Catch the Moon (Malibu Moon)
$30,000, Airdrie

Bit of a no-brainer, this one.

Having introduced himself with a series of startling talents, bred for no money in Florida, Girvin earned a passage to Kentucky in 2023. His first Bluegrass-breds will duly enter the starting gate only this year, and with unusual volume by the restrained standards of his exemplary farm: he covered 181 mares for 139 live foals, up from 53 in his final Ocala crop. Even those were sired at no more than $20,000, and paid their way impressively at the yearling sales: 82 sold of 93 offered at $120,719. If the mixed quality of his mares told in a median of $60,000, some supporters were celebrating home runs of $700,000, $535,000 and $500,000.

Girvin

-Airdrie-PRINT-EquiSport.jpg" alt="" width="1155" height="840" /> Girvin | Equi-Photo

Meanwhile Dorth Vader is still thriving, last summer becoming the second Grade I winner from Girvin's debut crop; and likewise Damon's Mound, who won his latest graded stakes at the age of five. His final Florida crop, meanwhile, has put onto the Classic trail Dazzling Dame, who last week won the Busanda Stakes–already her third black-type prize–by a dozen lengths.

Even as things stand, Girvin has 15 stakes winners from no more than 197 lifetime starters conceived at $7,500 and $6,000. A mild increase, from $25,000 to $30,000, acknowledges that this horse potentially stands on the brink of a giant leap forward. It feels like an imperative moment to jump into the slipstream.

Gold: STREET SENSE
Street Cry (Ire)–Bedazzle (Dixieland Band)
$40,000, Darley

Like a few others in this category, this is a stallion of proven prowess now seriously undervalued by a fee that must respond to somewhat porous commercial performance of late. Certainly a median of $80,000 for his latest yearlings was not a helpful dividend to those who had paid a $75,000 conception fee, albeit the shinier ones took his average to double that: $164,565 for 38 sold of 44 offered. But Street Sense has now taken a third consecutive cut to what would appear an absurdly generous level–if it weren't for the fact that his neighbor Hard Spun is offering pretty much the same resume at half as much again!

Street Sense has actually accumulated his 96 stakes winners at an even better ratio of 6.8% of named foals, with his ninth Grade I scorer La Cara confirming a continued ability to get performers of elite caliber.

In turning 22, along with Hard Spun, Street Sense must face the self-fulfilling prejudice against ageing sires. Medaglia d'Oro certainly had a good laugh at that, during his final season before retirement. But there's no question that anyone who can reach Street Sense's diminishing fee will be grateful to tap into a legacy that can produce the kind of dividends generally way beyond this kind of budget. Remember, we're talking about the sire of McKinzie, Maxfield, Speaker's Corner and First Mission. With time, moreover, it appears increasingly evident that he has inherited something of his father's exceptional influence as a broodmare sire: daughters of Street Sense produced 23 stakes winners in 2025, 11 at graded level including Mindframe (Constitution) and Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro). In other words, you certainly wouldn't mind retaining a filly.

More commercial rivals may have to go about things in a different way. But one way or another, this farm's strategy for keeping older stallions in the game results in some tremendously sporting fees. We saw that with Medaglia d'Oro, some of whose former partners will doubtless now be dividing their favors between Street Sense and Hard Spun. Don't be surprised if they both enjoy an Indian summer of their own.