Mo Town

Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy), currently North America's leading second-crop sire in stakes horses, will stand for a fee of $200,000, live foal, at Ashford Stud in Kentucky in 2024, Coolmore America announced on Tuesday. The 9-year-old's fee represents a jump of $100,000 from the figure of $100,000 that he stood for in 2023. Justify's 2024 fee is the fourth-highest of the stallions announced so far for 2024, placing him behind perennial leading sires Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday) and Curlin (Smart Strike), and third-crop standout Gun Runner (Candy Ride...

The model of consistency in her young career, Key of Life (Mo Town) turned in another gutsy performance Sunday with a coast-to-coast win in the GII Beaumont S., the final race in the 2023 Road to the Kentucky Oaks. Never off the board in her seven prior starts, including a three-race win streak last Fall at both Churchill Downs and Keeneland, the $350,000 OBS April grad entered off a 3 1/4-length score in Oaklawn's Purple Martin S. where she posted a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure. Bet like a sure...

In the first graded win for young sire Mo Town (by Uncle Mo), Mo Stash (Mo Town--Making Mark Money, by Smart Strike) hung tough on the lead to win the GIII Kentucky Utilities Transylvania S. on opening day of the always-anticipated spring meet at Keeneland. Nagirroc (Lea), who finished one spot in front of the Transylvania winner in their only previous meeting, the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf over this course, was second with Webslinger (Constitution)--11th in the Juvenile Turf--third. The complexion of the race changed when Chad Brown scratched...

When Golden Pal retired to Coolmore America for the 2023 season, he became the second son of Uncle Mo to join his sire at the farm, alongside Mo Town. A 15-year-old stalwart of the Coolmore stallion roster, Uncle Mo is currently enjoying a bit of a hot streak with his group of 2023 three-year-olds. Arabian Knight is the #1 ranked horse on the TDN's Derby Top Contenders off one start-the first race on the Breeders' Cup Saturday card--indicating just how impressive that race was. The $2.3-million sales topper at OBS...

Richard Mandella's Ice Dancing (Frosted), the only filly in a scratched-down field of five with a graded-stakes placing already to her name, will seek her first win since breaking her maiden in Sunday's rescheduled Santa Ynez S. at 'The Great Race Place.' The Grade III event, which was originally scheduled for last Sunday's New Year's Eve program, carries Kentucky Oaks points to the tune of 20-8-6-4-2, which will go to the top five finishers that are not associated with Bob Baffert. A homebred for Bass Stables LLC, the newly minted...

Today we finally come to a group that has at least had some initial opportunity to show whether or not they can replicate their own racing prowess. By the same token, of course, this means that their level of support--which in many cases will already have declined through each preceding year, as racetrack exposure draws perilously closer--may now fall off a cliff. If the stampede to unproven sires is ludicrous, then so is the haste with which they are abandoned. Stallions whose stock should plainly be granted time to mature...

The Thoroughbred is certainly more versatile than we sometimes give it credit for. There is always the capacity to surprise, particularly when it comes to predicting stallion success. For instance, despite examples showing otherwise, it remains tempting to box sires as 'dirt' and 'turf' and 'American' and 'European' when actually some of them will prove capable of crossing the differing racing jurisdictions quite easily. Had all breeders and buyers remained on 'the straight and narrow', the chance to appreciate the likes of Scat Daddy, Medaglia d'Oro, More Than Ready and...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-DMR, $70K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 6:00 p.m. SULLY (Uncle Mo), a $700,000 yearling at last year's Keeneland September Sale, debuts for trainer John Shirreffs and owner CRK Stable Sunday. Second dam Grazie Mille is responsible for a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' in GISW and top-10 freshman sire Mo Town (Uncle Mo) as well as GII Chandelier S. third Justique (Justify). The bay just missed a bullet in his most recent work, going four furlongs at Santa Anita in :46 4/5 (2/71) and picks up...

Key of Life became the first black-type winner for her freshman sire (by Uncle Mo) with a decisive score in Keeneland's Myrtlewood S. Friday. Hammered down to 3-5 favoritism off consecutive scores, the $350,000 OBSAPR acquisition seized the early advantage, zipping through a :22.34 opening quarter with a rival in hot pursuit. Turning for home in front after a half in :45.91, the bay opened up with ease in the lane to win for fun. "She really has put it together over the last month or so," said winning trainer...

Uncle Mo will once again top the Coolmore America roster at $150,000 for the 2023 breeding season, the same fee at which he stood in 2022, according to a press release from Coolmore Wednesday morning. The 14-year-old stallion was the sire of 10 black-type winners in 2022, including the GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal. Justify, who had four black-type winners from his first crop in 2022, will stand for the farm's second highest-fee, at $100,000, the same as in 2022. He is currently the third-leading first-crop sire by earnings....

Tanya Gunther was thrilled to watch the latest 'TDN Rising Star' Justique (Justify) trounce the competition in her breathtaking debut, but the horsewoman admitted that a few thoughts of what could have been flashed through her head as she remembered the promising filly's early days spent at Glennwood Farm. "I didn't really want to sell her," Gunther said with an acquiescing smile. "Most of our yearlings do go to the sale, but I was a bit sad when we let her go." Bred by Tanya's father John Gunther in partnership...

In the same way which astronomical stars largely form in groups, so too did the 'TDN Rising Stars' this past Sunday. Not one, not two, but three leading ladies emerged from the nebulae of Del Mar and Saratoga, each with her own brand of brilliance. Chief among the splendor, and the last to show her shine, was Justique (Justify), whose brilliant turn of foot and effortless dismissal of rivals summoned forth comparisons to another glorious 'Rising Star' in her hayday--a John Shirreffs masterpiece, Hall of Famer Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire})....