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Grade 1 Winner Known Agenda Retired To Spendthrift Farm For 2022 Season

Known Agenda, the dominant winner of this year's Grade 1 Florida Derby, has been retired from racing and will take up stud duty at Spendthrift Farm in 2022.

The son of leading sire Curlin will stand for an introductory fee of $10,000 S&N and will be offered through the farm's renowned “Share The Upside” program on a limited basis. He is available for inspection by appointment.

“Any time you can add a Florida Derby winner by Curlin with his looks and pedigree, you jump at the opportunity. Known Agenda ticks an awful lot of boxes, and the Florida Derby has produced a lot of very good sires, especially in recent history,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. “We are delighted to partner again with Vinnie Viola, who bred and raced this colt out of his Grade 1-winning mare. Known Agenda is one of those rare classic-type Grade 1 winners that is by a Grade 1 winner and out of a Grade 1 winner. He reminded us quite a bit of Vino Rosso, another son of Curlin that we stand that Vinnie co-owned and campaigned with Todd Pletcher. If Known Agenda's foals look anything like what we have seen from Vino Rosso, then the sky's the limit.”

A homebred for Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stables, Known Agenda broke his maiden as a 2-year-old last fall at Aqueduct, defeating eventual G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes winner Greatest Honour. At three, he won a Gulfstream allowance race by 11 lengths before capturing the prestigious $750,000 Florida Derby going away by 2 3/4 lengths, stamping himself as a leading sophomore.

“We are excited to be standing Known Agenda, our first homebred to go to stud, at Spendthrift Farm,” said Viola. “This colt showed early promise at two and continued to move forward at three with a dominant victory in the Florida Derby. We are looking for him to continue the great tradition of Florida Derby winners going on to successful stud careers, and we plan on supporting him heavily in that mission.”

Known Agenda joined champion Essential Quality and Medina Spirit as the only Kentucky Derby contenders to run a 6 on the Ragozin Sheets heading into the Run for the Roses, where he would encounter a troubled trip breaking from the vaunted post No. 1.

An earner of $641,700, Known Agenda became the first Florida Derby winner for his sire Curlin. He is also a Grade 1 winner by a Grade 1 winner and out of a Grade 1 winner, as his dam Byrama captured the 2013 Vanity S. (G1) on the main track at Hollywood Park.

“Known Agenda reminded me a great deal of Vino Rosso. He possessed the qualities of some of the better Curlins we've had. He's a good-sized, athletic, very well-balanced horse,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “His Florida Derby win was ultra-impressive, and, obviously, that's been a great race for us when you think of the colts that have gone on to become top sires like Scat Daddy and Constitution.”

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Bloodlines Presented By Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders And Owners Association: Pacific Classic Winner Tripoli Charts New Trails For Kitten’s Joy, Tapit

A victory in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic made Tripoli the first Grade 1 winner on dirt for the important sire Kitten's Joy, one of the two top-tier sons of El Prado (by Sadler's Wells) at stud in Kentucky. The other is Darley's Medaglia d'Oro, a top-class dirt racer who sires elite racers on dirt and turf.

Kitten's Joy, an exceptional turf champion here in the States, has sired 14 G1 winners on turf, and his importance in that regard is such that he is one of the most consistently popular sires in the country for European breeders and buyers. With performers such as Hawkbill (Eclipse Stakes), Roaring Lion (Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Irish Champion Stakes), and Kameko (2,000 Guineas) abroad, there is no question that the success which Kitten's Joy has shown in America also translates directly into exceptional form overseas.

Based at Hill 'n' Dale Farms outside Paris, Ky., Kitten's Joy stands for $60,000 live foal this year, and he has high-class young sons at stud in Kentucky (G1 winners Oscar Performance at Mill Ridge; Divisidero at Airdrie; Big Blue Kitten and Real Solution at Calumet), in Japan (Hawkbill at Darley Japan), and in Europe (G1 winners Kameko at Tweenhills and Bobby's Kitten at Lanwades). Roaring Lion unfortunately died after one season at stud, and his only crop are now yearlings.

An imposing individual who combines substance and scope in his physique, Kitten's Joy gets turf performers so consistently that Tripoli made his first 11 starts on that surface, winning two. Switched to dirt three races back, the handsome chestnut has won two and finished a close second to Express Train (Union Rags) in the G2 San Diego Handicap in their prep for the Pacific Classic.

A good horse on turf, Tripoli is evidently better on dirt. With victory in the Pacific Classic, he became the seventh G1 winner for Tapit as a broodmare sire. Is the latter fact a telling point? Probably.

An unequivocal factor for both speed and for stamina, Tapit loves grass. Eats it every day.

His racers, however, are not widely tested on turf racing. Some have excelled, but with their pace and handy way of going, they tend to do quite well on dirt, and they aren't most trainers' first thoughts for “turf horses.” While their action and overall aptitude indicates that the Tapit stock should be as good on firm turf as over dirt, they don't shape like horses who would prefer racing over a bog.

Bred in Kentucky by Blue Devil Racing Stable LLC, Tripoli is the second foal of Love Train, who is one of her sire's 283 black-type horses. A winner of three races from 10 starts and $146,499, Love Train was third in the Lightning City Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and is a half-sister to stakes winner Starfish Bay (Elusive Quality), who is the dam of stakes winner Blind Ambition (Tapit).

Love Train was bred by Gainesway and sold at the 2011 Saratoga select yearling sale for $250,000. An elegant filly with quality, typical of the Tapit fillies, Love Train showed enough ability for Blue Devil Racing to bring her back to Kentucky and put her in the broodmare band. Bred to high-quality sires annually, Love Train did not excite the commercial market with her foals, except for a chestnut colt by Kitten's Joy.

A good-sized colt with much of his sire's muscularity and robust stance, Tripoli was a very good yearling, and he sold like it. Bringing $450,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale from the Lane's End Sales consignment, Tripoli sold for the fifth-highest price by a yearling of his sire that season.

Aside from the colt later named Tripoli, however, Love Train proved herself a noncommercial broodmare, and for the 2020 Keeneland November sale, she was entered and sold for $70,000 to Barry K. Schwartz. Although listed as in foal to leading sire Union Rags, the mare does not show a reported foal of 2020 and may have been empty at the time of sale.

Now that Tripoli has made good, both the sire and dam can bask in some of the reflected glory of their son's G1 success.

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Australian Star Winx To Visit Pierro For Next Mating

Four-time Australian Horse of the Year Winx will visit Coolmore Australia's Pierro for her next mating, the mare's ownership announced Wednesday.

A statement on the Winx website read:

“The Winx Ownership Group are pleased to announce that Winx will be visiting Pierro for this year's 2021 breeding season.

“Winx has been given a full year to recover from her ordeal and we are pleased to report that the mare has returned in great condition. She has been enjoying life on the farm with some friends while she is preparing to go back to the breeding barn this spring.”

The mating comes after Winx lost what would have been her first foal, a filly by I Am Invincible, in October 2020.

A winner of 37 races (25 Group 1, including four runnings of the Cox Plate) in 43 starts, Winx was victorious in her final 33 outings.Trained by Chris Waller and ridden most often by Hugh Bowman, the daughter of Street Cry retired with earnings in excess of AUS$26 million.

Pierro, a 12-year-old son of Lonhro, stands at Coolmore Australia for an advertised fee of AUS$110,000.

Arguably the best son of top Australian sire Lonhro on the track or at stud, Pierro became the sixth horse to win Australia's 2-Year-Old Triple Crown, sweeping the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes, AJC Sires Produce Stakes, and Champagne Stakes. He came back at three to win five group stakes races, including another pair of Group 1 scores.

Pierro has also sired Australian Derby winner Levendi, and additional Group 1 winners Arcadia Queen, Pierata, Shadow Hero, and Regal Power.

Coolmore Australia noted the mating announcement with the following statement on its website:

“We are so grateful to the connections of the great Winx that she will visit Pierro in 2021. As a graduate of the farm, Winx is a source of immense pride for all of us at Coolmore. It is a great honour that she will visit a stallion at the place where she was raised and grazed.”

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Liam’s Map Gelding Tops Washington Summer Yearling Sale

A handsome gray gelding by top national sire Liam's Map topped the 92, after four outs, summer sale session yearlings at the WTBOA Sale held at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Wash., on a bright and sunny Aug. 24 afternoon.

Consigned by Dr. Duane and Susan Hopp's Castlegate Farm, trainer Sandi Gann, as agent, went to $47,000 to secure the promising runner for major British Columbia horseman Glen Todd and his North American Thoroughbred Horse Company.

Gann also bid $30,000 for a full-brother to Oregon champions O B Harbor and Calypsonoted on Todd's behalf. The Harbor the Gold—Flying Memo colt was consigned by Bret and Julie Christopherson with Bar C Racing Stables serving as their agent.

Castlegate Farm also offered a colt by first-crop sire Girvin out of $472,534 Saratoga stakes winner Jules N Rome which was purchased by Paul and Lori Heist's Grasshopper Racing Stable for $40,000.

Three other colts brought a price of $40,000 or more, including the second highest offering, another colt by the late Harbor the Gold out of 2015 Washington broodmare of the year Bahati. Consigned by the partnership of Pam and Neal Christopherson's Bar C Racing Stable and Melodie Bultena and Doak Walker's Desert Rose Racing, the full brother to a trio of Washington champions was purchased by Gerald Schneider's Riverbend Farm for $45,000.

California trainer Andy Mathis purchased the top-selling filly for $42,000. Consigned by Griffin Place as agent for the family of the late Karl Krieg, the daughter of Atta Boy Roy is out of a winning sister to three-time Washington champion Lady Rosberg. In addition, the mare's half-sister produced two-time Washington champion Risque's Legacy, by Atta Boy Roy.

A trio of fillies brought the next highest bids for a yearling distaffer. El Dorado Farms consigned a daughter of Coast Guard, a half-sister to 2020 co-Washington champion 2-year-old Dutton, which was purchased by Midwest trainer Valorie Lund, who trained the other half of the 2020 juvenile championship Bodenheimer.

California trainer Ed Moger went to $30,000 to buy a filly by sprint champion Runhappy out of $417,415 stakes winner Nuffsaid Nuffsaid from the Champion Sales consignment.

Chad Christensen, Emerald Downs' leading owner in 2019 and 2020, bid at the same level to acquire a Harbor the Gold half-sister to 2021 Santa Anita stakes winner Big City Lights. She was also consigned by Bar C Racing Stables.

Preliminary results show after 13 RNAs, 79 yearlings sold for a $1,079,000 gross (up 12.52 percent), a $13,190 average (up 12.78 percent) and a $10,000 median (up 42.86 percent).

Oregon resident Connie Erickson offered the highest broodmare bid, taking home nine-year-old stakes-placed Grand Yodeler, bred to Smiling Tiger, for $3,500. Grand Yodeler's colt by Smiling Tiger topped the 2020 WTBOA Sale. The chestnut mare also hails from the Champion Sales consignment.

To view the auction's full results, click here.

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