2022 Mating Plans: Smokin C LLC (Steven Chumney)

[Wandering Eyes]

STORM RAVEN (m, 6, Bodemeister–Crystal Current, by A.P. Indy), to be bred to Justify

At the 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, I was in search of a mare that could step up my Ohio-based breeding operation. I took a week vacation and several days into the sale, found Storm Raven. Storm Raven was just what I was looking for, a 2-year-old winner from a deep dirt race family and in foal to my most sought-after covering sire, Vino Rosso.
Fast forward not quite a year later and I found myself at the Fasig Tipton Night of the Stars November Sale. Her beautiful scopey Vino Rosso Colt sold for $150,000 becoming my top sale and led Ohio as the highest-priced Ohio-bred weanling in 2021. My hobby now turned profitable and the dream of being able to breed a mare to Justify was looking like a possibility. Coolmore had looked at the Vino Rosso colt and liked the Justify/Storm Raven mating. After analyzing a few other options, the contract was signed to breed to Justify in 2022. Dreams really do come true.

CANDY LANE (m, 6, Twirling Candy–Tangueray Miss, by Cowboy Cal), to be bred to Practical Joke

It was a similar scene in 2021 to the previous year as I walked the Keeneland Sales grounds with my best friend Jon Wise, looking for another standout mare that would fit my program well in Ohio. After a couple of good sales earlier in the year, our budget had grown. Candy Lane was that standout to us. A young Twirling Candy multiple stakes placed mare from a family of solid dirt winners, in foal to Justify, I doubted the chances, but decided to make sure we were there when she sold. She ended up selling for the exact amount that I had written down for her. In all of my excitement I hadn't really considered that although our Ohio OTBO board had unanimously voted and passed a Sales Exception rule that would allow me to bring Candy Lane back to my breeding farm in Ohio and make the Justify foal an Ohio-bred, that rule had still not been processed by the Ohio legislature. After considering all of my options and consulting with several professionals, my only commercial and financially responsible option with her would be to become a Kentucky breeder and leave Candy Lane there to foal the Justify and breed her back to a sire standing in Kentucky. It was a bittersweet decision, as I was much looking forward to bringing her home to the empty stall that I had ready for my purchase. Candy Lane's pedigree lines up particularly well with Into Mischief line, we spent the rest of the November Sale looking at foals of sons of Into Mischief and decided that Practical Joke was the best choice for Candy Lane based on the physical attributes that I saw him passing onto his foals. I am so excited for these 2022 matings and hope to see them result in great foals for these 2 young mares.

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