Preservationist

Among the winners at the last Breeders' Cup, what was it that separated White Abarrio (Race Day), Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) and Nobals (Noble Mission {GB}) from the rest? Answer: they were the only ones that had changed hands at an American yearling auction, respectively for $7,500, $170,000 and $3,500. Even that lavish investor in the yearling market, Mike Repole, won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile with a homebred. Except for a couple of European turf juveniles, the rest of the show was a parade of champions raised by "end users":...

The 24-1 longest shot in a field of nine for Saturday's Martha Washington S. at a soggy Oaklawn Park, Dixiana Farms LLC's Band of Gold (Preservationist) became the first black-type winner for her young Airdrie Stud-based sire (by Arch) with an irresistible late run to best heavily favored Denim and Pearls (Into Mischief). Content to drop down onto the fence from her low draw, the $70,000 Keeneland November weanling switched off nicely behind midfield for Brian Hernandez, Jr. and remained within striking distance for the run around the turn. In...

6th-GP, $89k, Msw, 3yo, 6f, post time: 2:39 p.m. ET TURN UP THE TREES (Liam's Map) cost $100,000 as a foal at the 2021 Keeneland November Sale before St. Elias Stable paid $500,000 for the bay at Keeneland September less than a year later, the fourth-priciest of 58 of his sire's yearlings sold in 2022. A son of the Grade III-placed Clearbrook (Smart Strike), Turn Up the Trees descends from the family of stallions Sky Mesa and Bernstein. Sicilian Defense (Uncle Mo) is a maternal grandson of GSW/GISP Molto Vita...

Having dealt with the new sires as a case apart, today we start our journey through the price bands of Kentucky stallions by seeing what we can do with a four-figure budget. Even at this end of the market, the perennial dilemma remains that value means different things to different people. A breeder operating at this level tends to appreciate every cent of a commercial return, however marginal. If your belt is already at the last notch, then the understandable inclination is to leave any selfless consideration of the breed's...

Girvin (Tale of Ekati), the sire of three graded stakes winners including Grade I winner Faiza, and Upstart (Flatter), the sire of GI Toyota Blue Grass S. winner Zandon, will both stand for a stud fee of $30,000 at Airdrie Farm in Midway, Kentucky, for the 2024 season, Airdrie announced Wednesday. "We couldn't be looking more forward to the 2024 season as we continue to build momentum in our stallion barn," said Airdrie's Bret Jones. "We believe we have two very special stallions in Girvin and Upstart headlining our roster...

3rd-Belterra, $23,700, (S), Msw, 6-29, 2yo, f, 5f, :59.70, ft, 3 3/4 lengths. ARTISTIC LANEY (f, 2, Preservationist--Artistic License {SW, $196,488}, by Heart of the Storm), chilly on the board at 9-1 in her afternoon debut, tucked in behind the leading duo of Pretty Patty (Bold Warrior) and Twisted Justice (Biondetti), content to sit off them through fractions of :22.73 and :48.80. Shaken up to take the lead with a four-wide move into the stretch, she was easily the class of the field to the wire, hitting the line 3...

For the past few days, we have been hearing from top judges on whose progeny will come out of the gate flying. MIKE RYAN Top pick: Omaha Beach (War Front-Charming, by Seeking the Gold). Spendthrift Farm, 2023 fee: $30,000. My pick is Omaha Beach. There is a tremendous amount of quality and class there. He is a beautifully-bred horse. He was very fast and he got great support from the breeders and was well-supported in the sales ring. It's a close call, but he is my pick over Audible. Under-the-radar...

With the 2-year-old sales season having kicked off and the first 'baby' races of the year ready to get going in a few weeks, laser focus will be placed on the up-and-coming first-crop stallions. Rightfully so, as we all hunt in earnest for the next breakout young sire. Could there possibly be another Gun Runner in the freshman class of 2023? A total of 16 young guns in North America have 50 or more current 2-year-olds resulting from their first covers in 2020. A great many more have fewer than...

No getting away from it, the young stallions we assess today have already completed their service to many breeders. They've processed a debut crop of yearlings, often on an industrial scale, and many have obliged with the kind of averages that vindicate the familiar, self-fulfilling commercial cycle that so favors new sires: demand generating supply, and the quality incidental to that increased supply in turn increasing demand. That leaves us with another tricky podium. You can't just congratulate those who have "won" on this system, topping out the first-crop yearling...

The Brereton C. Jones/Airdrie Stud consignment will be bustling in just a few weeks at the Keeneland September Sale as an assembly of over 60 yearlings bred and raised at the landmark Midway farm prepare to go through the ring. The majority of these youngsters represent the dozen-strong stallion roster at Airdrie, which includes two sires that are represented by their first crop of yearlings this year in Grade I-winning millionaires Preservationist (Arch - Flying Dixie, by Dixieland Band) and Divisidero (Kitten's Joy - Madame du Lac, by Lemon Drop...

With the global economy tottering in the Covid headwind, last year a lot of stallion farms went out of their way to help breeders with fee cuts. As a result, as I've previously suggested, the market's remarkable rally since means that the present trading environment represents a pretty historic opportunity. And that particularly applies to the next group in our series, as the first to have absorbed those cuts. (Even last year, it felt as though the rookies had been priced with the usual and necessary opportunism.) Especially because one...

Grade I-winning millionaire Preservationist (Arch--Flying Dixie, by Dixieland Band) was represented by his first reported foal with the arrival of a filly produced by the Giant's Causeway mare Win Crafty Jan. 8 in Ocala, FL. A daughter of graded stakes winner Win Crafty Lady, Win Crafty is a half-sister to Grade I winner Harmony Lodge (Hennessy), GII Arkansas Derby Graeme Hall (Dehere) and to stakes-winning and graded stakes-producing mare Win's Fair Lady (Dehere). Win Crafty is also a full-sister to Win McCool, herself a graded stakes producer and granddam of...