Yes, the one or two that are prompt to seize their chance are instantly on their way: their second crop soars at the sales, their fees are hiked, and their next books are oversubscribed. Those that miss out on early headlines, in contrast, find themselves in danger of being discarded almost as hastily. Never mind that some of them could never have been sensibly expected to come up with precocious stock and never mind that a game-changing difference can be made by a single high achiever, wildly distorting an essential parity in underlying ratios. (As such, moreover, it can come down to sheer luck whether or not a particular sire's best prospect happens to get across that highwire of health and soundness.)

In fairness, there's a corollary to the complaint that the monster books herded by so many rookie sires are excessive. Because so long as that remains the case, then actually it's pretty reasonable to reach a few conclusions according to the fortunes of their debut crops. New sires are given so much opportunity that it really can't be very auspicious if they draw a complete blank.

A single juvenile campaign is not enough, obviously, to make judgements of that kind. In the meantime, however, I'm always happy to share the interest of the rest of the community when a stallion appears to make a valid statement with his first runners. It's perfectly coherent to believe, on the one hand, that way too many mares are sent to unproven sires and that those stallions who capitalize are nonetheless legitimately deserving of attention.

And, besides, it's also fitting to celebrate their success simply because it's so very tough, for these farms, to get any young stallion established in such an impatient, neurotic environment.

So hats off to Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) for confounding assumptions about the amount of time his stock might need. In the process, however, he has catapulted his fee to $125,000 from $50,000, and rewarded those who stuck with him after he had opened at $70,000.

The only stallion in this group to have started higher (at $75,000) had been the tragic Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), whose posthumous fortunes show how very differently things can unfold for horses with similar eligibility on paper. Himself a late developer, Arrogate has so far been represented by a pretty timid bunch: no winners before September, and zero black-type. There's no reason at all, of course, why his maturing stock shouldn't still prove worthy of his legacy. In the meantime, however, their contrasting fortunes show how precarious is the quest for value. We have to compromise between those sires that retain our faith even if, like Arrogate, they haven't produced overnight dividends and those that can at least comfort us with some viable momentum, pending any breakthrough.

Cupid (Tapit), for instance, must ride out a bump in his road after plummeting from 223 mares to 53 in his second book. Both figures were equally extreme, but maybe he can continue to eke sufficient credit from his debut crop to make a sustainable revival at what is now a basement fee. Such are the volatilities challenging these stallions. By the same token, the rewards for catching a rising tide now–when many are available at dwindling fees–will be proportionately greater. Here, as subjective as ever, is the choice of one bystander.

Bubbling under: There's a case for arguing that Practical Joke (Into Mischief) remains value even at his new fee of $35,000, up from $22,500. If the “pipeline” counts for anything, he's in business, having actually corralled his biggest book yet at Ashford last spring despite serving 608 mares through his first three seasons. And that was before his first crop put him behind only Gun Runner in the earnings table. The action duly continued at the sales, where his second crop (sold 84 of 92) hit it out of the park at an average $162,472–up from $120,243 with his first crop, a rare distinction.

Strictly on the racetrack, however, he has been matched stride for stride by Connect (Curlin). Each has 24 winners, from virtually the same number of starters (68 and 65), including five black-type performers apiece. Practical Joke has four winners at that level, compared with just two for Connect–but both of those are graded stakes scorers, including Classic prospect Rattle N Roll (GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity). Albeit Connect can't yet match Practical Joke in the sales ring, he has earned a hike to $25,000 from $15,000 at Lane's End.

No denying that Mastery (Candy Ride {Arg}) has yet to find his stride. We thought him attractively priced, starting out, at $25,000–and sure enough, he processed his first yearlings at a handsome $129,421. He has had 11 winners so far, and no black-type, but I remain confident he will come good with maturing stock. In the meantime, Claiborne's extremely generous fee cut, to just $10,000, gives breeders every incentive to keep the faith.

A word, too, for Astern (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro). His exotic profile has evidently defeated some imaginations, at the sales, but he has made a very purposeful start where it counts–as many as five black-type performers, in fact, from his dozen winners to date. If he can build on that, hopefully he will start getting due recognition on $10,000 at Darley.

Bronze: CLASSIC EMPIRE (Pioneerof The Nile—Sambuca Classica by Cat Thief), $17,500, Ashford

Perhaps this wouldn't be the most obvious of the four Coolmore sires in the top seven of the freshman's table. His fee has halved since starting out, and he mustered not even half the fourth book of Practical Joke. But he has actually made a pretty solid start out on the track and, with a pedigree that entitles his stock to keep developing, this might be an opportune moment to take a roll of the dice.

His first crop, standing fourth by earnings, has matched Practical Joke and Connect with five black-type performers (including a GII Adirondack S. runner-up), only from fewer runners. His 19 winners from 57 starters meanwhile represents a similar base ratio, leaving Classic Empire deficient only in the kind of headline acts that so often make or break a young stallion's career. But he might well have found one of those in Rocket Dawg, who started repaying his $375,000 yearling tag when impressing on debut for Brad Cox at Churchill last month. A couple of days later the $550,000 2-year-old, Classy Edition, extended her unbeaten start for Todd Pletcher with a second stakes win.

Those were just a couple of late-season straws in the wind. Having excelled both in the ring and on the track, however, they represent a sample of the kind of stock that could quickly turn round the four consecutive fee cuts suffered by their sire.

Over the years, the yearling market has acclaimed eventual duds as routinely as it has underrated sires of real potency. And if Classic Empire has so far achieved only a modest commercial yield, then his sliding fee has at least maintained sufficient traffic (321 mares across the last three seasons) to keep him in the game as he starts to draw out some exemplary old-school flavors in his pedigree.

Remember how Classic Empire unseated his rider leaving the gate in the GI Hopeful S.? The opening was gratefully seized by his future studmate Practical Joke, but it was Classic Empire who regrouped to be champ. Maybe he could yet do something similar now.

Silver: UNIFIED (Candy Ride {Arg}–Union City by Dixie Union), $10,000, Lane's End

The other steps on the podium go to a couple that could heat up a slightly tepid commercial reception for their yearlings, now that they are beginning to offer a more meaningful gauge of their ability to recycle their excellence. Unified, in contrast, has achieved an absolutely unmissable momentum at auction.

Sure, his first crop has performed with ample credit on the track. His 15 winners from 41 starters include three who scored at black-type level. These include two-for-two Behave Virginia, winner of the Debutante S. at Churchill, and three-for-three Unified Result, a $33,000 yearling who has bossed the Louisiana-bred scene.

And that was consistent with the dash Unified had shown in his own career, despite never making the track himself at two. He landed running with a 99 Beyer, clocked 1:47.14 in the GII Peter Pan, and missed the GI Carter H. by just a neck. And he has the physique and pedigree for his first sophomores to stretch that speed, too.

But the really staggering advance made by Unified since this time last year is the performance of his second crop at the yearling sales. He sold 39 out of 40 into the ring, an unbelievable ratio, for an average $66,846–dizzily multiplying a fee that has, unusually enough, remained constant throughout. Remember that stallions are typically flattered by sales statistics, in that their averages “reward” them for failing to sell their least attractive stock. (Sure, you also have to factor in the occasional ambitious reserve for better models–but the principle stands.) Remember also that almost all stallions absorb considerable erosion in yearling values between their first and second crops, yet Unified elevated his by almost exactly half from $43,390.

In the meantime, he had already turned round the slide so familiar in a young stallion's books. After shrinking from 152 mares in his debut year (basically oversubscribed, by the commendably restrained standards of this farm) to 102 and then 68, he was right back up to 144 last spring.

It's extremely unusual for a stallion at this stage of his career to be accelerating like this, without the kind of racetrack breakout we've seen from Gun Runner. All this buzz about Unified can hardly be attributed to ninth in the freshman's championship, and zero graded stakes action to date. People are plainly loving what they are seeing, in flesh and blood. If his first crop can build on a promising start, then, and his second can run anything like they must look, this fee will be one of many things left in the rear-view mirror.

Gold: GORMLEY (Malibu Moon–Race to Urga by Bernstein), $7,500, Spendthrift

Pretty unusual for a commercial farm like this actually to increase the fee of a freshman lurking only 10th in the earnings table. But there are general and specific reasons to think that Gormley represents a value play right now.

He was, of course, among 15 of 21 stallions on this roster to receive business-like cuts this time last year. If that has residually given Spendthrift a consistent presence in this series, so be it.

But let's not pretend that cutting Gormley again to $5,000 (from $7,500; opened at $10,000) was purely a Covid concession. He had processed the yearlings from a hefty debut book of 180 at a disappointing yield–a median of only $20,000 was pretty disastrous against their conception fee–and traffic had begun to erode, albeit a total 199 covers across years two and three keeps him amply in the game.

There has been a definite turn in the tide since. True, Gormley again rather struggled for traction at the yearling sales, but pinhookers should have remembered some of the punches he landed in the 2-year-old market (where his maturing stock doubled their yearling average). But his fourth book rallied to 158 mares, significantly bucking the trend. That will really help him to consolidate, should his opening crops start to outrun their yearling profile out on the track. And that is exactly what I think could happen, judging from the fact that only class leader Gun Runner and Caravaggio (Scat Daddy), who has bombarded the hectic European juvenile sprint program with no fewer than 78 starters, can beat Gormley with a fourth graded/group performer.

Gormley's trio include GII Saratoga Special romper High Oak, who disappeared (reportedly with injury) after what felt like a disappointing fourth in the GI Hopeful S. and is evidently still considered a Derby prospect. The others finished runner-up in the GIII Sanford S. (this was the $550,000 juvenile, Headline Report, the top colt by a freshman at OBS March) and GIII Pocahontas S. respectively.

In other words, his first wave was featuring prominently in the kind of races that start shaking down the leading summer juveniles. And it's not just the fact that Gormley himself added the GI Santa Anita Derby to a juvenile Grade I success that encourages one to think that his 20 winners to date, from 57 starters, will keep progressing.

Because if the turf elements in Gormley's pedigree contributed to commercial wariness, then their sheer class is going to shine through his stock with maturity and, in some cases, maybe distance too. His family is inlaid with both toughness and flair, ideal to carry speed through the kind of races we all covet most.

In fact, I'm not sure too many in this group are more eligible to sire a Classic type. Okay, Gun Runner. But you can now get 17 Gormleys for the price of one of those. Admittedly Malibu Moon left one critical gap in his legacy, thanks to a preponderance of females and geldings among his best performers. Here, in the nick of time, could yet be the heir he deserved.

The post Value Sires, Part V: First Sophomores in 2022 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“To have both Essential Quality and Maxfield coming to Jonabell is as exciting as it gets. And to have accomplished what they did as homebreds in the colors of Godolphin makes it even that much more meaningful,” said Darley Sales Manager Darren Fox. “They consistently performed at the highest level and if you add in their outstanding pedigrees and conformation, we feel very confident that their legacy will continue to grow through their future offspring.”

Out of a Grade III-placed half-sister to champion and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Folklore (Tiznow), Essential Quality has won eight of nine career starts–four at Grade I level–and was named Eclipse Champion 2-Year-Old Male of 2020. In 2021, his victories include the Belmont in which he recorded a 109 Beyer, becoming the first Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner ever to capture the Belmont. He went on to win the GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga, joining Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}) as the only champion 2-year-olds in the past 30 years to take the “Midsummer Derby.” The gray is one of the favorites for Horse of the Year and his fee will be set following the GI Breeders' Cup Classic Saturday, Nov. 6.

Maxfield has never been off the board in 10 career starts and was a dominant winner of Keeneland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity as a juvenile, like his future barnmate Essential Quality. Maxfield's six other career victories include the GII Stephen Foster S. and GII Alysheba S. at Churchill Downs. He also placed in the GI Whitney S. and GI Woodward S. this year. A son of Darley stallion Street Sense, Maxfield is out of the Bernardini mare Velvety, a half-sister to Grade I winner and successful sire Sky Mesa (Pulpit). Like Essential Quality, Maxfield's fee will be set following his final race, the GI Clark H. at Churchill Downs Friday, Nov. 26.

“In addition to the excitement of two new stallions, we are hearing from breeders a great deal of optimism especially with the strong sales results this year,” added Fox. “It goes without saying that times were tough for the industry last year but ours is a resilient bunch and hope springs eternal for the coming year. All that said, we are still maintaining moderation when setting our fees with only one of our top-tier stallions returning from last year seeing an uptick in price at this time.”

Perennial leading sire Medaglia d'Oro will stand at a fee of $100,000 for the new year. He was the number one yearling sire in North America by both average and median in 2020, and no stallion can match his 20 million-dollar yearlings since 2016. With over 80 worldwide Group or Graded winners–26 at the highest level–Medaglia d'Oro's top-tier performers in 2021 include Golden Sixty (Aus), Hong Kong Horse of the Year, who has won 17 of 18 career starts and over $10 million. Medaglia d'Oro is also the all-time leading sire of stakes winners at Saratoga and of Grade I winners at Del Mar.

Street Sense's fee will be set at $75,000 for 2022. In addition to his soon-to-be-retired son Maxfield, Street Sense's 2021 top performers also include GII San Vicente S. winner Concert Tour and GII Mother Goose S. heroine Zaajel. Since 2017, Only Into Mischief and Constitution can match his four graded stakes-winning juvenile dirt colts, a group that includes his four-time Grade I-winning son McKinzie.

Nyquist, 2020's leading first-crop sire, will stand for a fee of $55,000 in 2022. His juveniles of last year included Eclipse Champion and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Vequist and GI Summer S. winner Gretzky the Great. He is the cumulative leading second-crop sire by earnings, Grade I winners, Grade I horses, and graded stakes horses. In the sales ring, he sits third behind only Quality Road and Uncle Mo by 2-year-old average. His $2.6-million colt sold at Fasig-Tipton in March is the highest amount paid for any juvenile this year and is equal to a yearling by Into Mischief as the highest price paid for any horse at public auction in 2021.

Hard Spun's fee will remain at $35,000 for 2022. He will be represented in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile by Silver State, winner of this year's GI Metropolitan H. and GII Oaklawn H. Frosted, the record-breaking Met Mile winner, is priced at $20,000 for 2022. Ranked third behind Nyquist on the cumulative second-crop sire list, Frosted's top performers this year include Grade II winner Travel Column, who is one of five 3-year-olds to run a 90+ Beyer in 2021 for her sire, a total only Into Mischief and Curlin can top. Astern and Midshipman will go into 2022 priced at $10,000 each. Midshipman has two Breeders' Cup prospects in Grade II winner Special Reserve, headed to the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, and undefeated 2-year-old filly Averly Jane, who is pointing towards the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. He is represented by a career-high 11 stakes winners in America this year. Astern, who shuttles from Australia, has eight first-crop winners this year and his daughter Sail By will be making her next start in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf following a score in the GII Miss Grillo S. at Belmont.

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Darley Sales Manager, Darren Fox, said, “To have both Essential Quality and Maxfield coming to Jonabell is as exciting as it gets. And to have accomplished what they did as homebreds in the colors of Godolphin makes it even that much more meaningful.

“They consistently performed at the highest level and if you add in their outstanding pedigrees and conformation, we feel very confident that their legacy will continue to grow through their future offspring.”

Essential Quality is a son of Tapit out of a G3-placed half-sister to champion and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Folklore. He has won eight of nine career starts – four at Grade1 level – and was named 2-year-old Eclipse Champion of 2020 following Grade 1 victories in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Breeders' Futurity. While winning the Juvenile, he recorded the highest Beyer of any two-year-old beyond a mile last year.

In 2021, his victories include the Belmont Stakes in which he recorded a 109 Beyer, becoming the first Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner ever to capture the Belmont. He went on to win the G1 Travers at Saratoga, joining Street Sense as the only champion 2-year-olds in the past 30 years to take the “midsummer Derby.” A Grade 1 winner at 8 1/2 furlongs, 10 furlongs and 12 furlongs, Essential Quality also lists three other graded victories to his credit. He was also beaten only a length when fourth in this year's Kentucky Derby. His fee will be set following the Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday, Nov. 6.

The post Essential Quality, Maxfield To Join Darley’s Stallion Roster For 2022 Breeding Season appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Out-footed by Next Tuesday (Kantharos) from the gate, the bay quickly rushed up and cleared by several lengths from that foe. Next Tuesday tried to make a race of it into the stretch, but Mainstay was in another league as she cantered home a super-impressive 7 3/4-length winner, stopping the clock in :52.59.

“She was very classy. She handled it like a professional,” said winning rider Frankie Pennington. “The first time Butch asked me to breeze her he said `you're going to like this one.' When he says that you know the horse has a chance to be something special.”

Reid said, “She has been training lights out. She's much more of a sprinter than Vequist was so we knew she would be good early. It's been fantastic. We had thought about trying her in the Astoria Stakes at Belmont Park, but we took the more conservative route and I'm glad we did… I've got owners who will listen to me on these type of decisions and it will pay dividends in the long run.”

Astern (Medaglia d'Oro), a Group 1 winner in his native Australia, covered his first mares at Darley's Kelvinside in New South Wales before reverse shuttling for the first time at Jonabell in 2018. He has six Southern Hemisphere winners. Fillies from Astern's first North American crop have been well received this season, with $375,000 and $340,000 sellers.

Mainstay is the fourth foal out of 2014 GII Black-Eyed Susan S. runner-up Vero Amore (Mineshaft), a $15,000 bargain buy by Tom McGrath's Swilcan Stables. Vequist was beaten a nose in her Parx debut last July before Gary Barber and Wachtel Stable bought in. She proceeded to romp by 9 1/2 lengths in the GI Spinaway S. before finishing second in the GI Frizette S. and securing championship honors with a convincing score in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Eased in the GII Davona Dale S. in February, Vequist is targeting the GI Cotillion S. in September. Vero Amore produced a Daredevil filly last term and an Accelerate filly most recently.

3rd-Monmouth, $47,125, Msw, 6-4, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :52.59, sy, 7 3/4 lengths.
MAINSTAY, f, 2, Astern {Aus}
                1st Dam: Vero Amore (GSP, $252,255), by Mineshaft
                2nd Dam: Summers Edge, by The Cliff's Edge
                3rd Dam: Miss Summer Reign, by Summer Squall
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $28,500. Click for the Equibase.com chart, VIDEO, sponsored by TVG or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O-Swilcan Stable LLC & LC Racing; B-Swilcan Stables (KY); T-Robert E. Reid, Jr.

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As an owner, he takes the bad news with the good, he always puts the horse first and of course, he shows up at the barn with two dozen doughnuts in tow.

But while Joe is eagerly anticipating the debut of his 2-year-old filly this year, he's not sure if he will have the opportunity to see her reach the starting gate.

On May 21, 2020, the Wisconsin native went to the hospital for what he thought was a simple gallbladder surgery, but in the operating room, the doctors discovered that his liver was riddled with cancer.

“They weren't sure where the cancer came from, but they knew it was advanced and they knew it was stage four,” Joe explained. “This was during COVID, so I spent the night by myself in the hospital  afterwards. The next morning we met with a local oncologist and she's a wonderful person, very up-front, and I asked her if she were me, what would she do. She said, 'I would take the next six months and prepare to die.'”

In Joe's mind, that wasn't a good option. He and his wife Alyssa were newlyweds and Joe wanted more time to be a husband, so he gave up his law practice and started chemotherapy.

“It was really weird because you think, 'What am I going to do with myself for the next couple months, years or whatever time I have left?' You've got to find something to focus on or else you just sit and look at the walls and drive yourself crazy.”

With no job to keep himself otherwise distracted, Joe turned to the sport he fell in love with as a child.

“My grandmother and aunt took me to Arlington when I was five,” he recalled. “They told me to pick out either a name or a number to bet, and at the end of the day they gave me two one-dollar bills. I thought I was rich. From there I was hooked.”

Since then, Joe has been checking off items on his horse racing bucket list. First he attended the Kentucky Derby, then he got himself a claimer and eventually he joined a few partnerships.

“One thing leads to another and the next thing you know, you have 10 horses at the track and it just kind of grows out of control,” he admitted with a laugh.

One of his favorite racing moments  was when one of his syndicates had the opportunity to run at Royal Ascot.

“I had been dating Alyssa for about six months and I asked her if she would like to go to London. She was like, 'In a year?' And I said, 'No, in three weeks.' I hadn't even met her parents yet. So she thought I was crazy, but we got to Ascot and she loved it. We had the best weekend ever.”

Their filly, Thora Barber (GB) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), ran sixth in the 2016 Chesham S.

“We were the first race, so we were in the paddock as the Queen came by in her carriage,” Joe remembered. “This was Alyssa's first time at a track so I had to explain to her that not every time was going to be like this. When I went to place my bet, I forgot about the conversion from pounds to dollars and I had to run to the ATM. It was a mess, but it was a lot of fun.”

That event helped Alyssa fall in love with racing too, and the couple got married at Keeneland three years ago.

When Joe received the diagnosis last year, he was able to get into the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. There they discovered that Joe was living with pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

“You look at the stats of pancreatic cancer and it's not good,” Joe said. “But when we met with each of the doctors at the Mayo Clinic I would say, 'We're from Wisconsin and we're looking for a Mayo miracle. While meeting with the third or fourth doctor, we started talking about horses and I told him we were going to buy a horse and we were going to name it Mayo Miracle.”

He decided to venture from under the umbrella of racing partnerships to go out and find Mayo Miracle on his own. Remembering a TDN article on Cherie DeVaux, he reached out to the up-and-coming trainer.

Joe and Alyssa in the sales ring at Keeneland on their wedding day. “It's a very, very special place,” Joe said of the Lexington track. |photo courtesy Joe Trawitzki

“She had one quote I'll never forget, she said, 'I'll always be truthful with my owners,'” Joe said. “At that point, I'm trying to transition to where Alyssa can take over the racing if she wants to stay in it, so I wanted to hook her up with someone we could trust. I called Cherie and she told me that not all horses are racehorses, so she wasn't going to let me waste money to pay my bills if they couldn't run.”

So off they all went to the Keeneland September Sale. There Joe learned that DeVaux's husband was bloodstock agent David Ingordo. But even with Ingordo and DeVaux both scouring the sales grounds, they walked away empty-handed.

“The difficulty was that David's standards are so high and he usually is getting a bit higher clientele than us, but to his credit, he would not adjust his eye and he would not accept any faults,” Joe said. “He was looking for the perfect horse for us, but the problem was we couldn't afford the perfect horse. When we walked away from the sale, the look on David's face was so hurt. He was so ashamed and sorry he couldn't buy us a horse, but I told him it was part of the game, the prices were high and I had learned a lot.”

DeVaux and Ingordo put their heads together afterwards and then reached out to Joe to ask if he might be willing to form a 50-50 partnership with them.

“I was just in awe because we had just met, you know, and with where they're at in the industry, it was a real honor to partner with them,” Joe said.

So with an upgraded budget, DeVaux and Ingordo attended the Fasig-Tipton October Sale and landed on an Astern (Aus) yearling out of Short Squeeze (Lemon Drop Kid). The filly's dam was a half-sister to graded stakes winners Last Gunfighter (First Samurai) and Tiger Moth (Street Sense).

Joe at his first Keeneland September Sale. “I didn't know a lot, but I knew enough to be dangerous,” he said afterwards. | photo courtesy Joe Trawitzki

Their $65,000 purchase was sent to Mayberry Farm in Ocala for her early training and arrived at DeVaux's barn at Keeneland last month.

“She's been pretty straightforward,” DeVaux reported. “She's a cool, calm customer, she doesn't do anything wrong and she is learning her job as a racehorse pretty well. With all my 2-year-olds we give them as much time as they need, but hopefully by the middle to end of summer, she'll be getting to the races.”

When Joe explained his thoughts on a name for the filly, the idea resonated with DeVaux.

“When Joe first came to visit the filly, he was telling me how important it was for him to get his message out in naming this filly to pay respect to the Mayo Clinic and bring awareness to pancreatic cancer,” DeVaux said. “My older sister actually had pancreatic cancer 20 plus years ago and she survived, which is a very rare instance in this type of cancer.”

“Talking to Cherie, with the stories we share, it's like this horse is just meant to be the Mayo miracle,” Joe added. “When you think about it, we're looking for a Mayo miracle, we're looking for hope for me, but this horse is so much more. We hope she continues to grow, win some races, and that we have a lot of fun with her.”

As Joe nears the one-year mark since his diagnosis, as well as six months past the time frame doctors originally gave him to live, he is busy planning for Mayo Miracle's first start.

“One of our goals with Mayo Miracle is that we want her to be a party horse,” he said. “If we can get all my friends to the track to watch, maybe it brings in a few more fans to the industry. Who knows where it's going to go? Whatever this horse is for other people, that's wonderful. Hopefully she is successful. Worst- case scenario, we bought a horse and had some fun.”

Joe said that he and Alyssa are making plans to design Mayo Miracle's silks to display a purple cancer ribbon. A significant amount of her earnings will go towards both research at Mayo Clinic, as well as the Hope Fund at Mayo Clinic, a fund set aside for those who cannot afford travel costs and medical fees associated with treatment at the medical center.

Joe also credits his home hospital in Green Bay for what they've done for him, joking that his next horse will be raced in their honor and named 'Ain't Dead Yet.'

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Joe is also an avid Green Bay Packers fan. | photo courtesy Joe Trawitzki

“I guess the things you learn suffering with pancreatic cancer is that everyone is different, don't pay attention to the odds and you have to win the day,” he said. “Whatever today brings, you have to do something positive, whether that means just getting to the kitchen to eat dinner or getting to the track to watch your horse, you have to win that day.

He continued, “For the people in the support system of someone with cancer, the thing you want them to know is that if you're there in the beginning, stay with me until the end. People say, 'I've got your back' or, 'You're going to fight this,' and yeah, we're going to do it, but we need to do it together.”

Under DeVaux's watchful eye, Mayo Miracle is now starting to put in her first breezes at Keeneland.

“I really want this filly to be something special for Joe and Alyssa,” DeVaux said. “It's too early right now to tell her level of ability. This filly has a purpose as a racehorse, but she also has a purpose for spreading a message and a story. If somebody is following this and it helps them in some way, maybe they're going through the same thing Joe is going through, they can have a connection with something other than an illness.”

In a text Joe sent to DeVaux on his way home from visiting Mayo Miracle last month at Keeneland, he reflected on what the journey with this filly has meant to him already.

“It's crazy because the idea behind Mayo Miracle was just a saying to the doctors that turned into the thought of getting a party horse that friends could enjoy and it could become something to keep me positive, distract from the negative and provide hope that this cancer is survivable so I can watch this horse and buy others. I really am not sure what this horse will mean to others or how she will perform on the track, but I hope it will be fun and that I am here to see it.”

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Heading this year's roster is the champion sire-son duo of Exceed And Excel and his world champion sprinter son Bivouac.

Following a stellar 24 months both on the racetrack and in the sales ring, where Exceed And Excel was responsible for a career-best $2.1 million colt earning him the title of leading sire by average at this month's Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, Exceed And Excel headlines the roster at a fee of AUS$132,000 inc GST. His electrifying triple Group 1-winning son Bivouac will stand his first season at Kelvinside at a fee of AUS$66,000 inc GST.

Relocating to Kelvinside this season is Street Boss (AUS$55,000 inc GST), on the back of his ever-increasing demand as an elite sire of 2-year-olds. As the sire of G1 ATC Sires' Produce Stakes winner Anamoe, as well as G1 Winterbottom Stakes winner Elite Street, Street Boss is one of only four Australian stallions to sire multiple G1 winners this season.

The roster includes a new trio of shuttle stallions made up of the best European juvenile in 25 years, Pinatubo (AUS$44,000 inc GST), who joins the Kelvinside roster in New South Wales, with Northwood Park's Victorian roster receiving a major boost with the additions of the world's highest-ranked racehorse of 2020, Ghaiyyath (AUS$27,500 inc GST), and the undefeated champion 2-year-old Earthlight (AUS$22,000 inc GST).

Standing their second seasons after support from some of the smartest minds in the breeding business are three other champions: Microphone (AUS$38,500 inc GST), crowned Australia's champion 2-year-old of 2019, Too Darn Hot (AUS$44,000 inc GST), the champion 2-year-old and 3-year-old of his year, and Blue Point (AUS$44,000 inc GST), Britain's champion sprinter and the only horse ever to win three Group 1 sprints at Royal Ascot.

“It's hard to think of a farm that's retired seven champions to stud in a two-year period,” said Darley Australia's Head of Sales, Andy Makiv.

“To have these horses standing in Australia gives us the potential to embark on a golden era.”

And it isn't only the stellar additions over the past two years who provide strength and depth to the roster.

“Lonhro (AUS$66,000 inc GST) still commands enormous respect among breeders, there is also Brazen Beau (AUS$49,500 inc GST), who has just had a breakthrough with his first G1 winner, Frosted (AUS$44,000 inc GST), who has had two stakes winners and another two stakes performers from his first nine runners in Australia, and Street Boss, whose G1-winning son Anamoe might just be the best 2-year-old in the country,” Makiv said.

The post Street Boss, Frosted Shuttling To Darley Australia For 2021 Southern Hemisphere Season appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale rolls on, and the Paulick Report has the reading material you need to go along with it in the latest PR Special.

In this edition, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills speaks to the decision-makers at some of Kentucky's top stallion operations about their processes for setting stud fees – a number that can have ramifications on a stallion's entire career.

Darley's Australian shuttle stallion Astern is the focus of this issue's Stallion Spotlight, with Darren Fox discussing what makes the son of Medaglia d'Oro an attractive prospect for breeders. In the Breeders' Cup Buzz, Nevills asks participants in the upcoming Breeders' Cup to recall their most vivid memories of the 2015 renewal, the last time the event was at Keeneland.

Dr. Maria Schnobrich of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital covers why some years are worse than others for placentitis in Ask Your Veterinarian, and finally, we dive through the Fasig-Tipton October catalog to spotlight some of its young stallions in Second-Crop Sire Watch.

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

Thanks, as always, to the sponsors of the PR Special. Your continued support is crucial to the functioning of our publication.

• BloodstockAuction.com
• Spendthrift Farm
• Blue Grass Farms Charities
• Virginia Thoroughbred Association
• Lane's End
• Del Mar Ship & Win
• Kentucky Performance Products' BoneWise
• Shadwell Farm

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

The post PR Special Fasig-Tipton October: How Do They Set Those Stud Fees? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Darley in Lexington, Ky., has announced the advertised stud fees for its 2021 roster, led by top commercial sire Medaglia d'Oro at $150,000.

“These are trying times breeders are facing,” said Darley sales manager Darren Fox. “We gave great consideration to this when setting our fees to reflect the economic reality of today,” Fox continued.

“Breeders are attempting to navigate a sales environment that is both unpredictable and difficult,” Fox continued. “Subsequently, all but one of our stallions will see a decrease in stud fee from last year. We sincerely appreciate the past support from breeders, and we are looking forward to a better and brighter 2021.”

Medaglia d'Oro's fee will be set at $150,000 following another excellent year in 2020. He is currently the number one yearling sire in North America by both average and median and was represented by four million-dollar-plus offerings in 2020, the same number he was represented by in 2019. No stallion can match his 20 million-dollar yearlings since 2016.

With a total of 75 worldwide group or graded winners – 25 at the highest level – Medaglia d'Oro's propensity to consistently produce quality racehorses was further exemplified this year when his son Moretti won Saratoga's Birdstone Stakes, making him the all-time leading sire of black type winners at Saratoga with 20. His Grade 1 winner Higher Power is a contender for this year's Breeders' Cup Classic.

The post Medaglia d’Oro Leads Darley’s 2021 Stallion Roster appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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“Upon making the trip to Australia to make sure he would work physically, it took all of about three seconds of looking at Astern to say, ‘Yes, this horse will work in America,'” Fox recalled. “He has a lot of attributes that we look for and he was, in any jurisdiction, a high-level, high-performing racehorse. So it was really a no brainer.”

Astern joined his sire at Jonabell Farm’s stud barn in 2018 as a shuttle stallion, and is now seeing his first American yearlings take to the sales ring.

Having raced exclusively in Australia for trainer John O’Shea, Astern won on debut before taking the G2 Silver Slipper S. and the G3 Kindergarten S. From there, he won the G2 Run to the Rose followed by the G1 Golden Rose.

“He was an unbelievably impressive winner of that race,” Fox said of his record-breaking victory in the Golden Rose. “He’s rated as the best winner of that race in Australian racing history. And that, of course, is a key stallion-making race for them. So he was a very accomplished 2-year-old and 3-year-old, and [his 126 Timeform rating] makes him the highest-rated son of Medaglia d’Oro anywhere in the world, past or present.”

He added of Astern’s racing ability, “He had very fluid, beautiful, efficient action. His jockey, James McDonald, called him the best-moving horse he’s ever ridden and described it as like being airborne. That’s high praise from a highly-accomplished jockey down there.”

Fox said that he believes Astern has inherited the very best from both sides of his pedigree.

“You can see a lot of his sire about him,” he said. “He’s got a great hip, a better hip than Medaglia d’Oro himself. We can attribute that to his broodmare sire Exceed and Excel (Danehill), who is the leading sire of 2-year-old stakes winners in the world. He gets a lot of strength and precocity from the broodmare sire.”

Astern is out of the winning mare Essaouira, who also produced Alizee (Sepoy), a champion 3-year-old filly and three-time G1W in Australia. He also hails from the family of G1W La Baraka (Euclase), as well as Triscay (Marscay), a champion 3-year-old in Australia with five Group 1 wins to her name.

“His dam is arguably the best broodmare in Australia,” Fox said. “It’s an extremely rich, deep, high-caliber family. A large part of Astern’s appeal is the family he brings to the table.”

In his first year at stud in the U.S., Astern filled a book of 120 mares with a $15,000 stud fee. While still reverse shuttling to his home base in Australia, he bred an additional 180 mare in his next two books.

“While Astern stood for $15,000 in his first year at stud in the U.S., he stood for close to $A40,000 in Australia,” Fox noted. “So we like to think of him as an equivalent to Frosted or Nyquist coming to Australia from the U.S. and being offered to [Australian] breeders at a great value to account for the fact that they are from another jurisdiction.”

At the Australian sales, Astern’s progeny sold for up to $A725,000. Now his first yearlings will take on the American market.

“We’ve been pleased with what we have seen with the Asterns,” Fox said. “We have been impressed by their size and he is definitely stamping them. I love their length of body. They’re very correct like he is, with great bone, and they look like natural athletes. I can see a lot of Medaglia d’Oro coming through, which gives us confidence that this is a stallion who will get horses effective on both surfaces.”

Twenty-eight of his yearlings are cataloged for the Keeneland September Sale. Hip 1736, a filly out of Grade III winner Dancing Solo (Giant’s Causeway) and from the family of dual Grade I winner Voodoo Dancer (Kingmambo), sells out of the Small Batch Sales consignment.

“She’s a big filly with natural athleticism,” said Small Batch Sale’s Fletcher Mauk. “To put condition on her is really easy as she holds muscle a little better than most horses. She has the frame and the natural muscle tone. In the barn, she’s easy to be around and takes everything in stride. It’s fun to watch her exercise. She trains like she enjoys it, sets her head and steps underneath herself, and keeps a nice, steady pace.”

Also at Keeneland, Hip 2455 is out of the stakes-winning mare Alex’s Allure (Sky Classic), whose dam Ava Knowsthecode (Cryptoclearance) has produced five graded stakes winners including Grade I winners Justin Phillip (First Samurai) and Greenpointcrusader (Bernardini).

“Astern’s yearlings are spread the right way throughout the sale, and they’re there to be found,” Fox said. “He’s going to appeal to a large cross-section of buyers. These are fast-looking horses. They will be precocious, but I think they will train on at three like he did. I think they will appeal to both surfaces, given what we’re seeing from the yearlings themselves. He has crossed beautifully with the American mare, and we’re excited to see what that can bring to Astern and his progeny.”

The post Astern Yearlings Could Embody Best of a Rich Pedigree appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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