The Producers: A Selection of Homebreds

[Wandering Eyes]

Elite winners are always cause for celebration. With racing at the highest levels quickly ramping up for 2026, we continue to spotlight some of the special Grade I producers of the last several months. Up today, we get a glimpse into a quartet of mares who produced homebred stars.

Stormy Welcome, dam of Raging Sea

“Great families might sleep, but they don't die, and she's a great example of that,” said Mill Ridge's Price Bell last summer when musing over the unraced Stormy Welcome (Storm Cat), a now-20-year-old mare whose ninth foal, Raging Sea (Curlin), put together an exceptional race record, including wins in the 2025 GI Fasig-Tipton La Troienne Stakes and the 2024 GI Personal Ensign Stakes.

Reynolds Bell–uncle to Price–bought Stormy Welcome for $600,000 on behalf of Jon Clay of Alpha Delta Stables at the 2015 Keeneland November sale, a $1-million discount off her price as a yearling in the same ring eight years prior.

“I think in a commercial market we are often very quick to jump ship and I don't fault anybody for it because you really don't know,” said Bell. “You've got a moment in time. She sold for $600,000 as a 9-year-old. Well, if she had not produced two more years, she might have sold for $50,000. The drop in value is like a hot knife through butter, to be honest. Oftentimes you find that people will sell as a hedge if they have other fillies from the family because then they still have the benefit with the family and you can't keep them all, but I think it's also a great opportunity.”

Mill Ridge's Headley Bell with Stormy Welcome | Sarah Andrew

Stormy Welcome's own dam, winner of the 2000 GIII Dogwood Stakes, made headlines when sending a trio of Storm Cat yearlings through the Keeneland ring to net $12.6 million in a four-year span. Stormy Welcome's full-brother is the well-remembered $8-million yearling Mr. Sekiguchi.

Surely a factor in the extraordinary prices was one of the deepest families in America's stud book, as Stormy Welcome is a granddaughter of 1992 Broodmare of the Year Weekend Surprise (Secretariat), herself producer of both A.P. Indy and Summer Squall.

“It's a great testament to a family the Farishes developed going back,” said Bell, who added that Stormy Welcome “has a lot of class and quality. I think at her foundation she has that great bloodline and that great family behind her that was nurtured by the Farishes and for generations before. It's as quality an American family as it comes.”

He continued: “I think it also helps that [members of the family] are in a lot of different hands. I think it works if one human family nurtures one Thoroughbred family, but it's also good when it spreads out because it's not always the same ideas. When a horse is bought, there's different perspectives that can change a breeding trajectory. It's all the stuff of dreams. Anytime you're buying a horse, you're dreaming about what it can become in your program. Stormy Welcome herself is such quality, but it's also taken a team of people and other breeders that have helped really bring the family forward.”

Stormy Welcome grazes at Mill Ridge | Sarah Andrew

Clay offered Raging Sea for sale as a yearling at the 2021 Keeneland September sale, where she RNA'd for $300,000. Bell believes her reserve was set at around $325,000 and said Clay is a very disciplined commercial breeder who offers most of his horses for sale but races them himself if they don't bring their reserve.

“I don't know what Curlin's yearling average was the year Raging Sea was offered, but I suspect it was going to be higher than $325,000 [editor's note: Curlin's 2021 yearling average was $409,400]. She was there to sell and at a fair price. He wasn't willing to give her away. He was happy to race her.”

Bell continued: “It feels like very successful commercial breeders will also be willing to race. I think they also make sure the horse has every chance in their program. Some sale days aren't that horse's best day and if you can weather a few more months, weather further investments, I think more often than not you're well rewarded. And then it compounds throughout the entire family and that's the real reward, not to mention the joy of wining races. It is all about winning races.”

In addition to her dual Grade I scores for Clay, Raging Sea has also captured four other graded events, while her three other Grade I placings included both the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

“I remember her as slower-developing, if you will,” said Bell. “Certainly when you're by Curlin out of this family, the expectations are so high that it's very difficult to ever live up to those expectations. She was maybe just not quite as progressive as some of the other yearlings. They gave her plenty of time and it's been just a really wonderful journey, to say the least.”

Mares and foals at Mill Ridge | Sarah Andrew

Clay has an unraced 3-year-old City of Light filly named Raging Vortex out of Stormy Welcome, as well as a yearling full-sister to Raging Sea. The mare was bred back to Good Magic on a May cover last year.

Bell said Stormy Welcome has been an easy mare to have around.

“I think all her foals have a lot of class to them, which I appreciate is a difficult thing to measure and describe, but there's just a genuine quality to them. For the most part, they've all been pretty straightforward as well.”

Bell said it was especially gratifying to raise a homebred Grade I winner for Clay, as they'd had a number of others who came close, including Lewis Bay (Bernardini), a five-time graded winner whose five top-level placings included the 2016 Kentucky Oaks.

“It seems like homebred programs and breeding programs are doing better today than maybe they were a decade ago,” said Bell. “In fairness, Godolphin is certainly flying a big flag there and deservedly so because they've been investing for decades. I'm excited and thankful for that trend if it continues. It's really tricky.

“There's a great gas in selling a horse well, but there's an equal and maybe better enjoyment of seeing your idea play out on the racetrack. Because at the end of the day it's one person's theory verses another person's theory and who can get to the finish line first.”

Mother Mother, dam of Tommy Jo

With America's seven-time leading sire at their disposal, as well as a top-notch broodmare band, Spendthrift Farm is bound to come up with some good ones. How satisfying must it be for everyone at the organization when one of last year's dual Grade I winners was a homebred by their own sire?

Mother Mother at Spendthrift in October | Sarah Andrew

Tommy Jo (Into Mischief), named for the granddaughter of Spendthrift owners Eric and Tammy Gustavson, was tabbed as a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' on debut, then went on to capture the GI Spinaway Stakes and GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes. The now-3-year-old filly is currently on the sidelines and targeting a return later this year.

Spendthrift purchased Mother Mother (Pioneerof the Nile)–also a 'TDN Rising Star'–at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November sale for $1.8 million. Tommy Jo is just her second foal. A dual black-type winner and multiple Grade I placed, the 10-year-old dark bay lost her 2024 foal, was not bred for 2025, and was covered by Vekoma for this spring.

Zindaya, dam of Carl Spackler

Before his final campaign in England for Zhang Yuesheng of Yulong Investments, Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) was a homebred for Bob Edwards and his e Five Racing. The flashy chestnut with the fun name, a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', annexed three Grade I victories for Edwards: Keeneland's Maker's Mark Mile and Coolmore Turf Mile, as well as Saratoga's FanDuel Fourstardave.

Zindaya at Indian Creek last summer | Sarah Andrew

Carl Spackler is now standing his first season at Lane's End near Versailles, while his dam is about 40 miles and two counties over at Indian Creek near Paris. Zindaya (More Than Ready) spends her days in an idyllic 45-acre field and was bred to Into Mischief for 2026.

“She's awesome,” said Indian Creek assistant manager Cesar Aguilar last summer. “She's one of those mares who takes care of herself, no issues. She's very nice to have.

“Carl Spackler came here after the [2024] Breeders' Cup for about a month to layup and he was also nice to be around. While he and Zindaya are very different horses, we've noticed all her foals carry her demeanor. She's very calm and classy. We can't ask for anything more.”

Zindaya has also produced Sandtrap (Ire), a full-sister 'TDN Rising Star' to Carl Spackler who placed in the 2024 G3 Darley Prix des Reservoirs in Deauville, and a 2-year-old colt from the final crop of Uncle Mo, who sold at last year's Keeneland September sale for $200,000 to Repole Stable. Her current yearling is a colt by Justify.

Zindaya strikes a pose | Sarah Andrew

Aguilar said Edwards has a team of people, particularly bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, who works with him on matings for Zindaya and the rest of his mares. Ryan had purchased Zindaya on behalf of Edwards for $550,000 as part of the Regis dispersal at the 2015 Keeneland November sale.

Zindaya gave Edwards his first stakes win as an owner in the Intercontinental Stakes at Belmont the next summer, then added the GII Goldikova Stakes that fall at Santa Anita.

“She's class obviously,” said Aguilar, “and she was e Five's first stakes winner. She has a lot of meaning to them, a lot of sentiment.”

Tiffany Case, dam of Nitrogen

It's been quite a ride for Tiffany Case (Uncle Mo), the older half-sister to 2018 GIII Indiana Oaks winner and GI Acorn runner-up Talk Veuve to Me (Violence), who sold for $1.3 million to Stonestreet Stables in 2019 at Keeneland November. Tiffany Case would bring nearly seven figures less at the same sale, but far more down the road.

Tiffany Case at Taylor Made in October | Sarah Andrew

A daughter of a Point Given mare who was exported to Korea after selling for $1,500 in foal to Shackleford at the 2015 Keeneland November sale, Tiffany Case has herself been through a public sales ring eight times, bringing as little as $30,000 as a winning 5-year-old at Keeneland January in 2018. She added modest black-type after that sale–finishing third out of four in the 2018 West Virginia Secretary of State Stakes at Mountaineer–and reappeared the following year at Keeneland November carrying her first foal by Violence.

D. J. Stables bought her for $320,000, but not even that astute breeding entity could have anticipated she'd bring 10 times that amount in 2026 at Keeneland January when selling for $3.2 million to Whisper Hill Farm out of the Taylor Made consignment.

The Violence filly she was carrying in 2019 became Love to Shop, a four-time graded-placed winner of the 2023 Toronto Cup Stakes at Woodbine. It turns out that was just a warm up for Tiffany Case's abilities as a broodmare. Her second foal is, of course, the 2025 Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro), who has captured the GI Alabama Stakes and a slew of other graded events. The talented filly–also champion in Canada at two–is so adept on both dirt and turf that she's placed in Breeders' Cup races on both surfaces: the Distaff and the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

D. J. Stables has retained Nitrogen, as well as Tiffany Case's 2-year-old filly by Gun Runner–a July foal named Sniper–and opted not to breed the mare back for 2025. She is due in the coming weeks to Not This Time for Whisper Hill.

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