Mitole, who stands at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, was represented by two winners on the 10-race New Year's Eve program at Oaklawn Park to solidify leading first-crop honors in North America with $2,614,328 in progeny earnings.
Maximus Mischief, another Spendthrift stallion, finished second with $2,266,229. Rankings are compiled by The Jockey Club Information Systems.
Unbeaten Carbone became Mitole's first Oaklawn-sired winner in the eighth race, a one-mile $140,000 first-level allowance. About a half-hour later, Ice Cold became Mitole's first Oaklawn stakes winner in the $200,000 Year's End for fillies, also run at one-mile.
Carbone, a homebred for Texans William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, was among four winners on the card for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
“The last week, we felt like there was no way anybody was going to catch him (Mitole),” Spendthrift stallion sales manager Mark Toothaker said Monday morning. “Steve and Bill both said, 'We've got more stuff to run and we're going to do our part to get him past the finish line.' And they certainly did.”
Carbone's victory carried added significance because the Heiligbrodts and Asmussen campaigned Mitole, who collected an Eclipse Award in 2019 as the nation's champion male sprinter. Mitole, then 4, made his first two starts in 2019 at Oaklawn, winning an allowance race and the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) before capping the year, and his racing career, with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita.
Carbone (2 for 2) and Indiana-bred standout Ice Cold, a two-time stakes winner, helped Mitole become a standout again – in his second career.
“Unbelievably proud of that,” Asmussen said after winning Sunday's final race. “I think it pretty much cinches him being the leading first-year sire. Unbelievably proud of Mitole for that, as good as he was to the Heiligbrodts and me.”
Ice Cold, who is trained by Kenny McPeek, is one of two stakes winners for Mitole. McPeek also trains the other, V V's Dream, who won the one-mile Pocahontas (G3) for fillies Sept. 16 at Churchill Downs. V V's Dream ($433,105) is Mitole's leading earner.
Carbone, after early tutoring at the Asmussen family's El Primero Training Center in Laredo, Texas, dazzled in his debut, scoring by eight lengths Nov. 19 at Churchill Downs. He covered six furlongs in a sharp 1:09.84.
Sunday, in his his two-turn debut, Carbone recorded another front-running victory, drawing off by four lengths under Ricardo Santana Jr. Carbone's winning time over a fast track was 1:38.63.
“All you can hope for, you know what I mean?” Asmussen said. “Big, beautiful horse. A Mitole homebred for the Heiligbrodts. Started at mom and dad's in Laredo. Went (1:09 4/5) in his first race at Churchill and then looks like that in a two-turn race. Of course, you think crazy things, but he's a very good horse.”
Among first-crop sires, Mitole, a 9-year-old son of Eskendereya, also led North America in number of winners (34), had the individual money leader in V V's Dream and tied for first in graded stakes victories (one).
Purchased for $140,000 at the 2017 OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training, Mitole won 10 of 14 lifetime starts and earned $3,104,910 in his racing career. Spendthrift now owns Mitole, but the Heiligbrodts kept breeding rights and further supported him at public auction.
“Bill Heiligbrodt's kind of like Babe Ruth,” Toothaker said. “He called his shot before he ever did the deal. He goes, 'I've had a lot of luck on making these freshman sires and I've made them with horses not near as good as Mitole.' So, he was very much from the beginning believing that this horse could go on and do it.”
Mitole will stand for an advertisd fee of $15,000 in 2024.
The post Spendthrift’s Mitole Cements First-Crop Sire Honors With Two Oaklawn Winners New Year’s Eve appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
