Spendthrift Farm

Celebrating 40 Years of the Breeders' Cup with Living Legends Each race--particularly a Breeders' Cup win--is special to the connections of the winner, but some races stand out more than others in all who are lucky enough to witness them. Some get embedded in the mind and take up permanent residence there. Just about everyone in racing can recall in vivid detail Arazi's scintillating 1991 Juvenile or Personal Ensign's electrifying 1988 Distaff or Tiznow's gripping 2001 Classic. Each of those are among the transcendent performances in our sport that stir...

It is beginning to feel as ingrained a New Year ritual as the concert in Vienna: the raising of a toast not just to another record year for Into Mischief, but to the way his reign has become an apt symbol of our times. After all, the whole point of marking the turn of a year-it's just another leaf in the calendar, really, just one more sunrise in the indefinite (but never infinite!) sequence we are apportioned-is to take a step back and see whether we can discern a fresh...

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...

Call it the year of authentication. After sealing his giddy rise with a first sires' championship last year, Into Mischief has retained his title in 2020 with spectacular ease. Indeed, while several of his predecessors have required a single outstanding earner to elevate them above their rivals, this most remarkable of stallions would have secured the laurels even without the $7.17 million banked by a son on the point of formal anointment as Horse of the Year. As it is, we can instead treat his latest champion, Authentic, as immediate...

by Kelsey Riley & Bill Finley LEXINGTON, KY-Less than 24 hours after arriving at Spendthrift Farm, three-time Grade I winner Omaha Beach (War Front) was paraded on Tuesday afternoon for a crowd of breeders, media and fans, with farm owner B. Wayne Hughes making an appearance to welcome the latest addition to his stallion roster, who starts out this year at $45,000. The imposing bay posed for upwards of 20 minutes, his behavior more reminiscent of a seasoned stallion than a colt fresh off the racetrack. "He's a remarkably intelligent...

The University of Louisville College of Business Equine Industry Program has named Spendthrift Farm owner B. Wayne Hughes as the winner of the 2019 John W. Galbreath Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurship in the Equine Industry. "B. Wayne Hughes helped shift the breeding industry paradigm significantly in the last decade," said Sean Beirne, director of the equine program. "He has not been afraid to rethink and experiment to lead the industry in a new direction." The Galbreath Award has been given annually since 1990 to honor entrepreneurial leadership that has had...

Multiple Grade I winner Omaha Beach (War Front--Charming, by Seeking the Gold), forced to miss his expected career finale in Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, is scheduled to arrive at Spendthrift Farm late Monday to begin his stud career. The 4-year-old will briefly be available for viewing at 1 p.m. Tuesday. "Omaha Beach is doing very well and we look forward to his arrival at the farm on Monday. This is a special horse with true breed-shaping potential, and we are hopeful his impact will carry on as an...

Covfefe (Into Mischief) flashed her brilliance during her dominant debut win in 2018, but proved to be a forced to reckoned with on the female sprinter circuit in 2019, as well as the best 3-year-old filly of the year. Opening her sophomore account with a facile optional claimer score at Keeneland in April, the flashy bay set a new track record when romping by 8 1/2 lengths in Pimlico's GIII Adena Springs Miss Preakness S. May 17. Third behind Grade I winner Mia Mischief (Into Mischief) when facing her elders...

Grade I winner and Spendthrift stallion Free Drop Billy (Union Rags--Trensa, by Giant's Causeway) sired his first foal when stakes-placed Sweet Diva (Purim) produced a filly Jan. 19 at Heaven Trees Farm in Lexington, KY. "This is a good-sized filly with a lot of bone. She's going to be nice," said Adolfo Martinez, manager at Heaven Trees. The foal was bred by Bill O'Neill through Spendthrift's "Share the Upside" program.

Four-time champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) delivered a filly by War Front Wednesday night at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington. "Beholder foaled a very nice War Front filly last night on the farm," confirmed Ned Toffey, General Manager at Spendthrift. "This filly is a good-sized, well-made foal, with a great shoulder and plenty of bone. She couldn't be doing any better. The delivery was very smooth and uneventful. It was another beautiful effort by Beholder." The dark bay filly was born at approximately 8:30 p.m. and "stood up within 20 minutes" according...

Spendthrift stallion Mor Spirit (Eskendereya--I'm A Dixie Girl, by Dixie Union), winner of the GI Los Alamitos Futurity and devastating when running away with the GI Met Mile H. two seasons later, was represented by his first foal Jan. 8 when a colt was born at Fairytail Farm in Texas. The colt, bred by KMA Ranch, is the first from his dam, Firstrate Proposal (Exchange Rate). "This is a nice foal," said Fairytail Farm owner Janine Winslow. "He has a beautiful head and really good bone." Trained by Bob Baffert...

Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro--Globe Trot, by A.P. Indy) was represented by his first reported foal Friday, Jan. 10, when a filly from Moment of Speight (Ire) (Speightstown) was born at Forever Spring Farm in Kentucky. Bred in partnership by Forever Spring and River Oaks Farm, the bay is the first produce from her 5-year-old dam, a daughter of Irish SW and U.S. dual graded-stakes placed Shimmering Moment (Afleet Alex). The filly's third dam Vassar (Royal Academy) is responsible for champion and two-time GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint hero Stormy Liberal...