2021 matings | Horse Racing Free Tips

Phoenix Thoroughbreds' multiple graded stakes winner Lady Apple has been retired to the owner's broodmare band.

A visit to be covered by Lane's End's super sire Quality Road lies in the immediate future for the daughter of Curlin, who signed off her racing career with a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic on Sunday.

A winner of six of her 19 starts, she banked over $1 million in prize money thanks largely to her four successes at Grade 3 level.

Raced in partnership with KatieRich Farm for the early part of her career, she got off the mark at the fifth time of asking with victory in a maiden special weight at Oaklawn Park. From there, the Steve Asmussen trainee didn't look back, winning her next two starts culminating in the G3 Fantasy Stakes. That success qualified her for the Kentucky Oaks where she ran a stormer to finish in third.

She returned to winning ways on her very next outing by taking the G3 Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows before again bouncing back from defeat to claim the Remington Park Oaks, another Grade 3. Arguably her best win was her last as she beat Grade 1 winners Serengeti Empress and Street Band to win the 2020 running of Houston Ladies Classic. Although that proved to be her final trip to the winners' circle she placed twice more in stakes races before her owners called time on her career on Monday.

“She has been a fantastic race mare for us and she'll be an excellent addition to our breeding operation,” said Phoenix Thoroughbreds CEO Amer Abdulaziz. “She has a top-class pedigree with a race record to match while the cross with Quality Road looks very exciting. We are seeing some excellent results from our breeding operation around the globe and adding horses such as Lady Apple can only add to that.”

By Curlin, Lady Apple is the highest-profile of 10 winners produced by her dam Miss Mary Apples. The 5-year-old is also from the same family as Kentucky Derby winner Affirmed and Grade 1 winner Senor Pete.

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Rachel's Valentina, a Grade 1 winner and the only daughter of Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra, will be bred to record-setting sire Into Mischef, the mare's owner Stonestreet Farm announced Monday on social media.

The mating would produce the 8-year-old daughter of Bernardini's fourth foal.

Her first foal, the Curlin colt Alejandro, is a newly-turned 3-year-old, and he has raced twice. Alejandro finished fourth on debut in September at Churchill Downs, then he finished second to future Smarty Jones Stakes winner Caddo River in a November maiden special weight, also at Churchill Downs. Trained by Steve Asmussen, who also conditioned Rachel Alexandra, Alejandro is working toward his 3-year-old debut at the Fair Grounds.

Rachel's Valentina followed up with a Pioneerof the Nile filly, a recent 2-year-old who remains unnamed. She delivered a Curlin filly in 2020, then she was bred to Quality Road for the 2021 foaling season, but the mating did not catch.

Racing as a homebred for Stonestreet Stables, Rachel's Valentina won two of six starts for earnings of $738,800. After breaking her maiden on debut, the filly won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes, then she finished second in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland. At three, she finished second in the G1 Ashland Stakes and competed in that year's Kentucky Oaks.

Rachel's Valentina is the second and final foal out of 2009 Horse of the Year and 2016 Hall of Fame inductee Rachel Alexandra, who was pensioned from broodmare duty after a pair of difficult foalings. Complications from the birth of Rachel's Valentina required abdominal surgery, an extended stay at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, and a long recovery period after she returned to Stonestreet Farm.

Jess's Dream, Rachel Alexandra's first foal, won his lone start, and he now stands at Ocala Stud in Florida, where his first foals are 3-year-olds of 2021. The son of Curlin was recently represented by his first stakes winner at stud, when Chess's Dream won the G3 Kitten's Joy Stakes on Jan. 30 at Gulfstream Park.

Into Mischief, a 16-year-old son of Harlan's Holiday, stands at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., for an advertised fee of $225,000.

He comes off a record-shattering season in 2020, where he set the all-time single-season progeny earnings mark, with over $22 million. It was his second consecutive year finishing atop North America's general sire list by earnings. His runners were led in 2020 by Horse of the Year Authentic, champion female sprinter Gamine, Grade 1 winner Dayoutoftheoffice, who was an Eclipse finalist for champion 2-year-old filly.

RACHEL'S VALENTINA will visit INTO MISCHIEF in 2021! She delivered a lovely filly by Curlin in 2020, has a two-year-old…

Posted by Stonestreet Farms on Monday, February 1, 2021

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