Classic Empire, the champion 2-year-old male of 2016, has been sold to the Korea Racing Authority to continue his stud career in that country for the 2024 breeding season.
According to K.R.A. records, the 9-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile arrived in Korea on Dec. 18. He previously stood at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., where he entered stud in 2018, and he was a frequent shuttle stallion to Chile. His oldest foals are 4-year-olds of 2023.
Classic Empire has sired 113 winners and amassed combined progeny earnings of more than $13.5 million.
His most notable runner to date is Angel of Empire, who won this year's Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes and the G1 Arkansas Derby en route to a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby as the post time favorite. Classic Empire is also the sire of Grade 2 winner Interstatedaydream and Grade 3 winners Morello and Classy Edition.
Campaigned on the racetrack by John Oxley and trained by Mark Casse, Classic Empire won five of nine starts and earned $2,520,220.
He earned the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male on a campaign that featured wins in the G3 Bashford Manor Stakes, the G1 Breeders' Futurity, and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
At three, Classic Empire finished third in the G2 Holy Bull Stakes to begin his season, then he came back to win the G1 Arkansas Derby. After finishing fourth in the 2017 Kentucky Derby, Classic Empire entered the Preakness Stakes, where he appeared clear in the stretch, but was caught by a head by Cloud Computing.
The Preakness would be Classic Empire's final start, owing to an abscess in his right front hoof that caused to be withdrawn from Belmont Stakes consideration and ultimately cost him the rest of his 3-year-old season.
Bred in Kentucky by Steven and Brandi Nicholson, Classic Empire is out of the placed Cat Thief mare Sambuca Classica, whose other notable foals include stakes winners Anytime Magic and Uptown Twirl. His second dam is the multiple Grade 1-placed In Her Glory and his extended family features champion Revidere.
Classic Empire joins Grade 1 winner West Will Power among U.S.-based newcomers to the Korean stallion ranks for the 2024 breeding season.
Few positions in the horse racing industry are under more pressure than a foal from the first crop of a commercial sire.
From the womb, every aspect of their value and ability is measured to exhaustion in an attempt to deduce whether their sire stacks up within their own hierarchy of rookies, and how they'll project into future seasons. Buyers work themselves into a frenzy trying to secure first-croppers during their pioneering trips through each auction season, and most of those sires and their foals will never see prices as lofty again.
Potential is an incredible marketing tool, and until their foals reach racing age and remove the veil on what they can really do, the two classes of sires we'll look at this week are built almost entirely on foundations of potential.
There are plenty of semi-reliable indicators of future success at stud – race record, conformation, pedigree, early reviews and returns on first foals – but the truth is, we're all flying blind until the racetrack proves them out, and even that doesn't always determine a sire's final destination.
This can be a risky time for breeders to dive in on a stallion, but the reward can be great, too. If a stallion flops early, those follow-up breeders are stuck holding the bag on a young horse whose commercial value has deflated like a balloon. If he's a hit, though, those believers during the lean years are in the right place at the right time with coveted names in the catalog when demand becomes sky-high. Fortune favors the bold.
To view who else has made the 2023-24 All-Value Sire Team so far, click here.
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And now, without further ado…
The Freshman:A freshman sire of 2-year-olds in 2024.
First Team: Volatile
Gr. or ro. h., 2016, Violence x Melody Lady, by Unbridled's Song Standing at Three Chimneys Farm, KY, $15,000
Volatile at Three Chimneys
If a horse stands for under $20,000 in his debut year at stud and he gets a seven-figure yearling from his first crop, chances are good he'll have a spot waiting for him on the All-Value Sire Team at the end of the year. After finishing as the Second Team Sprinter on last year's team based on his weanlings alone, Volatile took it up a notch in 2023, and his placing reflects that.
Volatile became one of two rookie sires with a seven-figure offering at this year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale when Mike Rutherford went to $1.15 million for Hip 215, a filly out of Grade 1 winner Love and Pride whose third dam is 2006 Broodmare of the Year Cara Rafaela.
That was obviously a best-of-the-best-case scenario, but that filly was far from the only Volatile yearling that buyers and sale organizers coveted. His 2023 median yearling sale price of $72,000 was the highest of any North American stallion standing for $20,000 or less, and his four horses cataloged in Book 1 of this year's Keeneland September sale was the most of any first-crop stallion at the $20,000-and-below price level. Only three other rookie stallions had more entries in the elite Book 1 of the Keeneland September sale.
I've liked what I've seen from the Volatiles that I've inspected at the sales so far. Volatile is himself a little stockier and stronger than his pedigree would suggest (by the leggy Violence, out of an Unbridled's Song mare), and the best of his sons and daughters have inherited a lot of that body type.
The middle-book types got a little stretchier, but honestly, that might not be a bad thing. Volatile's family and his own race record are both sprint-heavy, so if a lighter frame can help his runners better get two turns and expand his repertoire, all the better.
It's fair to look at Volatile's race record and wonder if he can get his 2-year-olds out fast enough to have a say in the 2024 freshman sire race. He didn't begin his racing career until July of his 3-year-old season, and he didn't enter stakes company until the early summer of his 4-year-old campaign.
I'm not too concerned. His full-sister Buy Sell Hold won the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes, which is about as early on the 2-year-old stakes calendar as it gets. Dam Melody Lady was also a winner at two and she picked up a stakes victory in January of her 3-year-old season. Finally, Violence is the sire of Forte, the defending champion 2-year-old male.
Volatile is himself a solidly-built horse – not to the point of bulkiness, but he's got muscle to spare – and with that body type and sprinting style being passed on to his foals, I expect they'll be active and popular during the 2-year-old sales once they go under the stopwatch at the under-tack shows.
The pipeline is solid for Volatile, as well, with nearly 200 registered weanlings and yearlings. He also saw an increase of eight mares to his book in 2023, going up from 157 mares in 2022 to 165 this year.
The commercial market has set a high ceiling for a stallion standing for under $20,000, and while another seven-figure horse is probably to much to expect during the upcoming 2-year-old season, I expect Volatile's first juveniles to forge the path well. If they can even get close to keeping up with that pace once they hit the racetrack, Volatile's days as a horse eligible for the All-Value Sire Team might be numbered.
Wherever Vekoma goes, the industry has followed. After being visited by a whopping 222 mares in his debut book, fourth-most in North America, Vekoma was in the upper tier of first-crop sires by both median weanling and yearling sale price. His yearling median of $60,000 was third-best among qualifying stallions in this particular division, and he had a colt finish with the second-highest price of the day during session five of this year's Keeneland September sale, hammering for $775,000.
In a business quick to drop stallions quickly for the next shiny new toy, breeders and buyers have stuck around for Vekoma. His pipeline is packed, with 340 combined registered yearlings and weanlings, and his book of mares in 2023 grew to 212, just missing his first year total. Very few sires accomplish that in the doldrum years.
His median weanling price held pretty steady, as well, with his second crop finishing at $52,500 after his first class brought a median of $75,000. Every meaningful commercial sire experienced a dropoff in median from their second-crop yearlings, but Vekoma absorbed the blow better than any of his contemporaries. In fact, his weanling median for 2023 was the highest of any horse in this category.
The freshman sire race can become a war of attrition, and the horse with the most bodies to throw at it is often in the driver's seat to compile the earnings necessary to finish high on the list. Vekoma has a lot of things going for him to be a top freshman sire in 2024, and people have already lined up to take advantage if he hits. If you believe in him, this might be one of your last chances to get him at this price.
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The Prospect:A stallion whose first foals are weanlings or yearlings of 2024. He has foals on the ground (or will soon), but none yet of racing age.
First Team: Mandaloun
B. h., 2018, Into Mischief x Brooch, by Empire Maker Standing at Juddmonte Farms, KY, $20,000
Mandaloun
The market knows what it wants, and right now, that's Into Mischief or as close to him as it can get.
That point was driven home this spring when Mandaloun covered 211 mares, which was the 11th most in North America, and the most by a son of Into Mischief.
For the breeders who didn't get into that first book, Mandaloun was the leading first-year covering sire that qualified for this division with a median sale price of $65,000 from 15 mares sold. Topping that list was Mamie Van D, a Curlin mare from the family of Tapit, who hammered for $350,000.
So, what separates Mandaloun from the seemingly-required son of Into Mischief that stands at practically every major stud farm in Kentucky?
Let's start with what's similar. Looking at pictures of Mandaloun and Into Mischief side-to-side reveal two horses that look an awful lot alike. Both have athletic shoulders that stop short of the bulky muscling commonly seen from a Storm Cat-line stallion, but the topline leading into the rump is much more in line with the Storm Cat influence. I expect Mandaloun to fall even more in line with that silhouette as he continues to settle in to life at stud.
Both father and son have length in the neck and down the middle. However, that scope is also where the two start to differ.
Mandaloun has an extra dash of athleticism and scope that I think comes from the female family and broodmare sire Empire Maker. A Juddmonte homebred, Mandaloun has a lot of European influence on his page, starting with his dam Brooch, who was a multiple group stakes winner in Ireland.
The European background manifests itself most clearly, though, in Mandaloun's feet, which are solid and wide enough to suggest he could get you a decent turf horse to complement his Grade 1-winning dirt resume and the top side of his pedigree.
Mandaloun's most notable season on the racetrack obviously came at age three, and his best races were going long, but for breeders wondering if he can put a dent in the freshman sire race when that time comes, it's important to remember he went unbeaten as a 2-year-old. Though neither were stakes races, he beat some serious horses in those heats, including the likes of future Grade 1 winner Americanrevolution in his debut. Into Mischief's record as a sire of fast-starting sires speaks for itself, as well.
With such a big initial group of mares, Mandaloun is going to be given every chance to succeed with his freshman crop once those foals hit the ground. The competition for sons of Into Mischief at stud gets deeper with each passing year, but Mandaloun is well-positioned to land in the upper echelon.
B. h., 2018, Street Sense x Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini Standing at Darley, KY, $17,500
Speaker's Corner
Do you miss Bernardini? I know I do. Despite being a son of Street Sense, when I look at Speaker's Corner, I see his broodmare sire, the late Darley staple.
The shoulder on Speaker's Corner, the way he holds his head, and his topline all look consistent with Bernardini's type, by my eye. He's a much finer, racier model than Maxfield, a fellow son of Street Sense out of a Bernardini mare on the Darley roster, and I see that as a boon for Speaker's Corner, making him available to a wide variety of physical types.
Buyers seem to agree, so far. Speaker's Corner was second to Mandaloun among qualifying first-crop covering value sires by median mare sale price at $51,000. Darley doesn't tend to go crazy with stuffing their stallion's books, so an initial class of 149 mares should be plenty to launch his stud career.
I'll be interested to see where Speaker's Corner's type lands once his runners hit the track. Despite being by a two-turn sire in Street Sense, and out of a mare by the classic winner Bernardini, Speaker's Corner did his best work from seven furlongs to a mile. He has Grade 1 winners on the dirt on his page, along with winners of the French and Irish 2000 Guineas.
Speaker's Corner offers breeders a variety of options for mares to send that could end up working, and at a time when resumes are being built, having more irons in the fire is rarely a bad thing.
Come back next week for the final installment of the 2023-24 All-Value Sire Team, where we look at value stallions about to hit the prime of their careers, and regional standouts.
Thoroughbred Charities of America announced Friday that Mt. Brilliant Family Foundation has signed on, for the second consecutive year, as the presenting sponsor of the upcoming 34th Annual Stallion Season Auction to be held Wednesday, January 3 – Sunday, January 7, 2024.
“We greatly appreciate the continued support of Mt. Brilliant,” said Erin Halliwell executive director of TCA. “The Stallion Season Auction is vital to our organization as it allows us to make grants to qualified organizations across the country. Mt. Brilliant's support of the auction and TCA are a testament to their strong commitment to our mission of assisting Thoroughbreds and those who care for them.”
The TCA Stallion Season Auction is the organization's largest annual fundraiser and opens with an online auction beginning at 9 a.m. on January 3 and continues through 4 p.m. EST on Friday, January 5. The online auction will offer nearly 200 seasons to stallions standing in 14 states and Canada. View online seasons here. The majority of the seasons will sell during the online auction however several seasons including Cody's Wish, Elite Power, Life is Good, Constitution, Nyquist, Quality Road, Flightline, Forte, Good Magic, and Taiba will be sold in the Live Auction and Celebration on Sunday, January 7 at Harper Hall in Lexington, Ky. Buy tickets here. Bidders or their authorized agents may bid on the select seasons by attending the live auction in-person, or they may email ehalliwell@tca.org to register to bid online or by telephone. A silent auction will also be offered. All non-season items will be available via online bidding.
In addition to Mt. Brilliant, other TCA Stallion Season Auction sponsors include Peoples Bank, Ocala Breeders' Sales, Bourbon Lane Stable Retirement Fund, Coolmore America, Equine Medical Associates, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Top Line Sales, Equine Medical of Ocala, Julie Davies, Pick View LLC, Paul Sharp Stables, L.V. Harkness, Paulick Report, BloodHorse, Daily Racing Form, and Thoroughbred Daily News.
For further information regarding the 34th annual TCA Stallion Season Auction including please visit www.tca.org or call (859) 276-4989.
Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) was formed in 1990 to fund and facilitate the support of Thoroughbreds and the people who care for them. In 2023, TCA granted over $821,000 to 75 approved charities working within Thoroughbred retraining, rehoming and retirement; backstretch and farm worker services, research and equine-assisted therapy. During the last three decades, TCA has granted over $26 million to more than 200 charities that successfully meet the criteria set forth in its annual grant application. TCA administers the Horses First Fund, founded by LNJ Foxwoods in 2016, to assist Thoroughbreds in need of emergency aid. TCA manages Cómo, a mobile app founded by Godolphin, that connects racing industry employees to the vital services they need through a network of racetrack chaplains and Thoroughbred industry organizations. TCA is the charitable arm of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA).
Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, Fla., announced the arrival of Simplification (Not This Time out of Simply Confection, by Candy Ride), who will stand in 2024 for $6,500.
“We are pleased to bring a talented son of Not This Time into our stallion barn at Pleasant Acres Stallions,” said director of stallion services Christine Jones. “Simplification is a hometown hero for all of us in Florida and we are certain breeders will benefit from breeding to this champion Horse of the Year, Florida-bred, graded stakes winner.”
At two, Simplification broke his maiden by 16 ¾ lengths on the main track at Gulfstream Park. He began his 3-year-old campaign with a front-running four-length victory in the one-turn-mile Mucho Macho Man Stakes, then finished second in the G3 Holy Bull Stakes to future G1 Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio. He then won the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths and finished third in the G1 Florida Derby – his final prep for the Kentucky Derby, where he was fourth in a field of 20.
Simplification went on to place third in the G3 West Virginia Derby, G3 Harlan's Holiday Stakes, and he G2 WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile Stakes. A talented athlete, he retired sound with career earnings of nearly $900,000 and was in the money close to 60% of his races.
Simplification beat many exceptional rivals including G1 winners White Abarrio, Taiba, Cyberknife, Classic Causeway and Mo Donegal.
“Simplification's unique innate talent and competitive mindset made him the Florida champion that I've always wanted to train,” said Antonio Sano. “He proved to me speed, stamina, endurance, and above all, courage.”
Simplification is by Not This Time, a son of Giant's Causeway, the latter known as a provider of stamina. Standing in Kentucky for $150,000, Not This Time is eighth among leading sires by 2023 earnings and has five G1 winners, 13 graded stakes winners, and 30 black type winners from his first four crops to race.
Simplification's is out of the Candy Ride mare, Simply Confection, winner of three races with a second in the Rags to Riches Stakes. She was named 2022 FTBOA Broodmare of the Year and is also dam of Chi Chi – winner of the E. L. Gaylord Memorial Stakes. Simplification's second dam, Ballado's Halo, was stakes placed with a third in the Queen Stakes and Wishing Well Stakes. She produced Halo's Verse, dam of stakes winners Inflexibility and Halo Again. His third dam, stakes-winning Goulash, produced champion and Hall of Fame mare Ashado.
“Simplification's is an extremely balanced horse with a great shoulder and strong hind leg. He always gave his all and loved his job,” said Tristan and Valerie de Meric. “With his physical presence and pedigree there is a lot of potential for him at stud. He's an exciting addition to the Florida stallion roster and a great value!”
For more information on Pleasant Acres Stallions, visit www.pleasantacresstallions.com. Pleasant Acres Stallions, owned by Joe and Helen Barbazon, is located at 2153 S.E. HWY-41, Morriston, FL 32668.
