Spendthrift Farm

Godolphin topped the individual breeders list in North America in 2023 with $20,911,250 in earnings, according to statistics from The Jockey Club Information Systems, the organization said in a release early Friday morning. After topping the list in 2021 and 2022, this past year Godolphin bred 201 starters with 175 wins, 176 seconds, and 131 thirds out of 1,007 starts. Calumet Farm was second for the third consecutive year with earnings of $16,660,472 with 510 wins out of 3,435 starts. Godolphin also led the breeders list that includes partners with...

by George Adams, Housatonic Bloodstock Wasabi has been focused on upgrading the quality of the foals that it's breeding over the last few years, and to that end will be using some higher-end stallions in 2024 than what we've bred to in the past. A stallion that we'll be patronizing heavily this year is Maclean's Music.  He's about to jump from a crop of 2023 2-year-olds numbering 41 and conceived off of a $20,000 stud fee (out of which he already has nine winners, three of whom have also picked...

The first foal for GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell Invitational S. winner Cyberknife (Gun Runner) was reported Jan. 3 when a filly was born at Irish Hill Century Farm in Stillwater, New York. Bred by Clay Scherer, the bay is the first produce of the unraced Hildee John (Gormley), a half-sister to five-time stakes winner and GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint runner-up Chalon (Dialed In). "This filly has a good rear end and a nice round shoulder, a lot like Cyberknife," said Irish Hill Century Farm's Rick...

6th-Oaklawn, $115,000, Msw, 12-31, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.52, ft, 1 3/4 lengths. TIME FOR TRUTH (c, 2, Omaha Beach--Shape Shifter, by Lookin At Lucky) debuted as a 4-1 shot here and got down to business from the bell as he fanned three-wide up the backstretch. The bay colt briefly took over the lead around the far turn until he was joined at the quarter pole by Mr Fillip (Mitole). As the pair entered the lane, they separated themselves from the rest of the field, but it was the Ron Moquett trainee...

Somehow this is a real sweet spot in the market. For a stallion farm, the $10,000 cover is a particular pitch: you're a cent away from offering a horse at four figures, but you feel that dropping him into a low-rent neighborhood might be beneath his dignity. You're offering a very accessible fee, but you're not going to let him look cheap. That makes this a surprisingly congested zone, ample for separate assessment. And since clinging to a five-figure fee somewhat represents a show of faith, some of these sires...

Otto the Conqueror (Street Sense) picked up a black-type feather for his cap with this gutsy victory in the Remington Springboard Mile S., and picked up 10 points for the Road to the Kentucky Derby. A dominating four-length winner last out over a Churchill allowance optional claiming group which included next out GII Kentucky Jockey Club winner Honor Marie (Honor Code) and SW Just Steel (Justify), he'd broken his maiden two back over that track by a neck and ran a length second on unveiling Aug. 13 at Ellis Park...

1st-Del Mar, $61,500, Msw, 11-26, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.13, ft, 3 3/4 lengths. KOPION (f, 2, Omaha Beach--Galloping Ami {Outstanding Broodmare-Can}, by Victory Gallop) did not disappoint her backers who made her the 1-5 favorite for this debut. The $270,000 Keeneland September buy trailed towards the rear of the field as a pair showed the way up the backstretch. Given her cue around the far turn, the Richard Mandella trainee ranged up and let the throttle out to graduate by 3 3/4 lengths over She's a Tempest (Connect). The...

Following Sea (Runhappy--Quick Flip, by Speightstown), the recently retired winner of the 2021 GII Vosburgh S., will begin his stud career next season at Rivard Stables in Eli, Manitoba. The 5-year-old was purchased from his breeder, Spendthrift Farm, by longtime Manitoba horseman Gary Naherniak to stand in Western Canada. Racing in the Spendthrift colors for trainer Todd Pletcher, Following Sea was second in the 2021 GI Haskell S. and GI Cigar Mile and was third in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and GI H. Allen Jerken Memorial S., in addition...

Everybody understands the deal with new stallions. Most will never again command so high a fee, nor so potent a book, and many will complete their principal service to commercial breeders long before any of their stock has actually entered a starting gate. Once they reach that point, you need only browse the freshman tables of years past to get a chastening sense of how many "exciting" newcomers will establish a lasting eligibility to keep seeding the breed. On the other hand, their window of opportunity is ruthlessly brief. If...

It didn't take long for champion Forte (Violence - Queen Caroline, by Blame) to settle in at Spendthrift Farm and after just a few weeks of breeder inspections, the 'TDN Rising Star' is already booked full for his first year at stud. "Any time you get a chance to show a champion off to your breeders, it makes the sales team's job pretty easy," said Spendthrift's Mark Toothaker. "He has been hugely popular and is completely sold out. Most every mare that he got is a blacktype mare, so he's...

4th-Churchill Downs, $121,125, Msw, 11-12, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:03.27, ft, 7 3/4 lengths. MYSTIK DAN (c, 2, Goldencents--Ma'am, by Colonel John) broke quickly in his debut Oct. 22 at Keeneland, but lost the lead down the lane to finish second. Tabbed as the 4-5 choice here, the bay colt tracked the pacesetter from second up the backstretch. Making his move to the outside around the far turn, the Ken McPeek trainee built up a head of steam and really poured it on to win by 7 3/4 lengths over Eusebius...

The Lane's End-consigned Tarabi (First Samurai) (hip 142), second to future champion Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GI Spinaway S. and third to that rival in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at two and winner of the Wilton S. at Saratoga last season, fetched a final bid of $1.05 million from Spendthrift Farm as the opening session of the Keeneland November Sale picked up a bit of steam. The chestnut, a full-sister to the talented GSP & G1SP Japanese turf sprinter Shivaji, is out of an unraced daughter...