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First-Crop Yearling Sires: Vino Rosso

The 2022 class of first-crop yearling sires features a diverse batch of Kentucky-based young stallions including a pair of Breeders' Cup champions, two sons of reigning top sire Into Mischief, five graded stakes winners at two and five Grade I winners on turf. Throughout the course of the yearling sales season, we will feature a series of freshman sires as their first crop points toward the sales ring. Check out the first few editions of our series here.

When no less a judge than Kenny McPeek purchases three colts by the same first-crop yearling sire, people take note. Known for his flair for picking out future stars from the sales ring, McPeek took home a trio of youngsters by Breeders' Cup champion Vino Rosso (Curlin – Mythical Bride, by Street Cry) at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale.

Spendthrift Farm's Mark Toothaker said it was the best stamp they could have asked for to get the young sire's yearling sales season off to a flying start.

“I had a chance to talk to Kenny afterwards and he just told me that they were his kind of horses,” Toothaker relayed. “Anytime you have horses in his barn, you've got a shot because as we've seen lately, he wins races everywhere.”

The three Vino Rosso colts were the highest-priced yearlings among McPeek's eight July Sale purchases, selling for $250,000, $200,000 and $180,000. Overall, the stallion's progeny averaged $135,000 from 11 lots at the one-day sale.

Vino Rosso himself was a $410,000 yearling purchase for Mike Repole and St. Elias in 2016. Now that the young stallion has a few crops on the ground, Toothaker said that his progeny are reflecting their sire's eye-catching physical.

“When we were starting to go out and see all the foals, we saw that he was really stamping them,” he explained. “They're not too coarse and not too heavy. They're more of a refined-looking horse and they're good movers. They've got a really solid hip on them and they seem to be horses that are very correct.”

Toothaker said that he believes the ball is just starting to get rolling for Vino Rosso, explaining that pinhookers who may have been hesitant to get behind the first-crop yearling sire are now joining the bandwagon.

“Talking to my 2-year-old buddies, they've been burned on some sons of Curlin that just weren't fast at the 2-year-old sales. After the [July] sale once they had a chance to watch them move and see who was buying them, I think there's a whole other take now on 'Vino' from the 2-year-old guys. It's a little bit like Bolt d'Oro last year where there was a little bit of hesitancy. Are these going to be fast enough? Then once they saw how they sold at the sales, everybody had to have one.”

Undefeated in two starts as a juvenile for Todd Pletcher, Vino Rosso went on to win the GII Wood Memorial S. as a sophomore. At four, he claimed the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita S., was taken down to second after crossing the wire first in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S., and capped off his career with a memorable victory in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic to earn Eclipse honors as Champion Older Dirt Male.

Vino Rosso colt out of Money Madness sells with Mill Ridge Farm at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale | Sara Gordon

Retired to Spendthrift Farm, Vino Rosso was launched at a stud fee of $30,000 and bred 238 mares in his first year at stud. With fees of $25,000 and $20,000 in his next two years at stud, the son of Curlin bred over 180 mares in 2021 and close to 140 this year.

The stallion ranked third in his class of first-crop weanling sires at last year's breeding stock sales when his progeny averaged $90,595 with 47 of 61 sold. Leading the way was his colt out of Fair Huntress (Tiznow), who brought $340,000 at the Keeneland November Sale.

Five yearlings by Vino Rosso are slated to sell at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. The first to go through the ring is Hip 28, a colt out of Money Madness (Rahy). The Mill Ridge Farm-consigned chestnut was a $100,000 pinhook partnership purchase at the Keeneland November Sale and is a half-brother to LNJ Foxwoods' MGSW Boardroom (Commissioner). Mill Ridge's Price Bell said that the colt is thriving in the final weeks of sales preparation.

“Physically, he looks very fast,” Bell said. “[Our partnership] fell in love with his leg and his attitude when he was a foal and we feel like he has really progressed since that time. He has a really nice, quick look to him and in prep, he has been a workhorse. He has really enjoyed his exercise.”

Bell added that with the Vino Rosso yearlings they have had at Mill Ridge, he has been consistently impressed by their attitudes.

Also at the Saratoga Sale, a Vino Rosso colt out of the winning Pulpit mare War Relic sells with Denali Stud as Hip 115. The yearling was foaled and raised at Elm Tree Farm. Farm owner Jody Huckabay said that the colt has been special from the start.

Vino Rosso's Fasig-Tipton-bound colt out of War Relic was bred and raised at Elm Tree Farm. | Sara Gordon

“He came looking honestly very similar to what he looks like now,” Huckabay said. “He's just developed and he does everything we've asked him to do through the prepping process. You hear that all the time, but he's a horse that has been a joy to be around. We're very proud of him. He's very athletic. We think he's a special horse.”

Other Vino Rosso yearlings at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale include Hip 71, a filly out of GIISP Shaken (Uncle Mo) with Gainesway; Hip 133, a half-brother to GIIISP Aurelia Garland (Constitution) with Warrendale Sales; and Hip 172, a colt out of the stakes-placed mare Divergent View (Congrats) with Machmer Hall Sales.

An additional 10 sons and daughters of Vino Rosso are cataloged for the New York-bred Sale.

Toothaker indicated that Vino Rosso will have a strong backing from his ownership group as the yearling sales progress.

“[At the Fasig-Tipton July Sale] Mike Repole was in there bidding and they didn't end up getting anything, but they made sure everything got vetted and wound up selling very well,” he said. “There will be some yearlings that land in his lap as we go forward and it's exciting to know that there are going to be some in those orange and blue colors.”

Once Vino Rosso's progeny get to the racetrack, Toothaker said he believes the athleticism they display now will become even more apparent.

“I feel like they're going to be very efficient on the track with the way they move,” he said. “If they have any of that Curlin blood running through them, which they do, every time you look up you see something from the sire line having success, so we're excited about what the future holds for Vino Rosso.”

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First Captain Turns In ‘Special’ Performance at Pimlico

'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin) looked to have it all to do with a quarter-mile to go in Friday's GIII Pimlico Special S., but he called on his class in the final 50 yards to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Adding blinkers for the first time off a disappointing seventh in the GI Carter H. Apr. 9, the $1.5-million joint-topper at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale was off alertly and settled in fifth position passing under the wire for the first time as recent Excelsior S. runner-up Untreated (Nyquist) led them along through a leisurely opening couple of furlongs in :24.99. Traveling comfortably enough down the backstretch, First Captain raced worse than midfield and was four off the inside and in the clear as the field entered the final half-mile, the pace still very much working against the back markers on a track that seemed to be carrying speed. The chestnut came under a Luis Saez ride with about three furlongs to run and looked to be one-paced at the top of the stretch, as Untreated was still enjoying a soft time of things up front. But, pulled out to the middle of the track, First Captain took aim on favored Vindictive (Uncle Mo)–who'd wrested command from his stablemate Untreated deep inside the final furlong–and fought on bravely to score by a short neck.

An impressive debut winner over seven furlongs last April, First Captain showed determination and poise well beyond his relative inexperience to add a first-level Belmont allowance en route to 'Rising Star' honors the following month. The chestnut made the GIII Dwyer S. his third win from as many appearances July 5, but he stubbed his toe when trying two turns for the first time in the restricted Curlin S. July 30 and was shelved. First Captain made a victorious comeback to the races in a seven-furlong test at Gulfstream Feb. 27, but was always outpaced in the Carter, finishing well down the field.

“I debated on the blinkers last year after the Curlin, but we didn't get that far,” said Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. “We trained him in them here [at Belmont Park] and we liked what we saw. I saw him gallop here the other morning before he shipped and my thought was, 'If he runs the way he gallops, he's going to be pretty tough.' Obviously, he did.

McGaughey continued, “He had trained well. The Carter was a puzzler. All his other races were good; he's won five out of seven now with a third in a listed stakes. We were anxious to get him around two turns.”

Pedigree Notes:

Bobby Flay, who was also represented Friday by Hilltop S. winner Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), gained access to First Captain's booming female family when acquiring second dam Lacadena privately after she was led out unsold on a bid of $1.4 million at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

The fact that Lacadena, stakes-placed at two for Jim and Alice Sapara, would prove to be so coveted, was no surprise, particularly in the aftermath of the 2007 racing season. The mare's dam, Butterfly Blue, was a half-sister to Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister), whose daughter Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy), defeated First Captain's sire in a stirring renewal of the GI Belmont S., giving an unusually demonstrative trainer Todd Pletcher a first Classic success.

For her second covering, and to no one's surprise, Flay sent Lacadena to A.P. Indy and the mare foaled a filly in March 2011. The celebrity chef elected to retain that produce when bidding stalled out on her at $725,000 at Keeneland September in 2012, and the decision proved shrewd, as America would go on to win five times from 22 starts, including the GIII Turnback the Alarm H., and was third in the GI Delaware H. before retiring to Flay's boutique broodmare band in 2016.

Flay elected to send America to Curlin for her first date in the breeding shed and he must have been pleased with the result, as she returned to the Hill 'n' Dale star for the 2018 breeding season. She foaled a filly in January 2019, eight months before First Captain took his spot in the Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, where he and a Curlin colt out of Wapi (Chi) (Scat Daddy) shared top honors when hammering for $1.5 million.

The family was given yet another advertisement in the summer of 2020, when Paris Lights (Curlin), a daughter of America's half-sister Paris Bikini (Bernardini), took out the GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Flay sold Lacadena to Heider Family Stables in foal to Bernardini for $1.3 million at Keeneland November in 2015, while Paris Bikini was hammered down to Katsumi Yoshida for $1.95 million in foal to Uncle Mo at Fasig-Tipton November in 2020.

America visited Uncle Mo in the winter of 2019 and was offered by Flay at that year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She was ultimately retained on a bid of $3.1 million. The resulting produce, a colt, was a $550,000 RNA at Keeneland September last fall, while America is responsible for a yearling full-sister to First Captain and a colt by Uncle Mo foaled Mar. 19. She was bred to Curlin again this season.

Friday, Pimlico
PIMLICO SPECIAL S.-GIII, $300,000, Pimlico, 5-20, 3yo/up, 1 3/16m, 1:56.24, ft.
1–FIRST CAPTAIN, 120, c, 4, by Curlin
1st Dam: America (GSW & MGISP, $580,532), by A.P. Indy
2nd Dam: Lacadena, by Fasliyev
3rd Dam: Butterfly Blue (Ire), by Sadler's Wells
'TDN Rising Star' ($1,500,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm LLC, Bobby Flay & Woodford Racing LLC; B-B Flay Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Claude R McGaughey III; J-Luis Saez. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 7-5-0-1, $470,100. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*.
2–Vindictive, 120, c, 4, Uncle Mo–Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($200,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, LLC & LNJ Foxwoods; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher. $60,000.
3–Untreated, 120, c, 4, Nyquist–Fully Living, by Unbridled's Song. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($550,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $300,000 3yo '21 KEEJAN). O-Team Valor International LLC; B-Ashview Farm & Old Oak Farm (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher. $30,000.
Margins: HD, 1 1/4, 7 1/4. Odds: 5.00, 1.00, 4.00.
Also Ran: Workin On a Dream, Mohaafeth, Treasure Trove, Mischief Afoot, Excellorator, Capocostello, Forewarned. Scratched: Shooger Ray Too.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Sunday’s Racing Insights: F-T Saratoga Co-Topper Debuts at Belmont

5th-BEL, $90K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1 1/16mT, 2:43 p.m. ET
CONQUER THE WORLD (Curlin), the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga $1.5-million co-topper, gets his career going on the lawn here. He is the first foal out of Wapi (Chi) (Scat Daddy), the 2016 champion 3-year-old filly in her native country. She brought $1.05 million from co-breeders Don Alberto Corp. and Three Chimneys Farm carrying Conquer the World at the 2017 KEENOV sale. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Conquer the World, drawn on the rail, is owned in partnership by Let's Go Stable, Aquis Farm, USA, LLC and Crawford Farms Racing. TJCIS PPs

2nd-KEE, $84K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:32 p.m. ET
XTREME GEM (Tapit) makes her debut for owner Xtreme Racing Stables LLC and trainer McLean Robertson after bringing $625,000-the highest price for a filly–at this year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The :10 1/5 breezer is the second foal out of Gomo (Uncle Mo), heroine of the 2015 GI Darley Alcibiades S. Gomo brought $1.5 million from Bridlewood Farm at the 2017 FTKNOV sale. Xtreme Gem worked a four-furlong bullet in :47 2/5 (1/53) at Keeneland Oct. 5. TJCIS PPs

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Lynn Hancock Builds Upon Family Success at Saratoga

Lynn Hancock breezed through the Fasig-Tipton sales grounds early Tuesday morning last week, heading for Barn 1 wearing a baseball cap and a smile. After a long stretch of days running a successful consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale, Stone Farm's Director of Racing and Sales had enjoyed a night of celebration when her consignment sold the highest-priced yearling of the auction's first session.

“I didn't want to get out of bed this morning, but the horses needed fed,” she said with a grin, nodding toward the pair of stalls that had recently been vacated. The youngsters had shipped out shortly after their morning feed.

There was plenty of cause for Hancock to savor all festivities the Saratoga Sale is known for. The youngest daughter of Stone Farm founder Arthur Boyd Hancock III had successfully sold both yearlings at the first Saratoga consignment she had brought up on her own.

“Dad has always been here,” Hancock said. “This was my first consignment coming up here by myself. Even though my dad was guiding me from afar, it was very rewarding to come up here and put in a lot of work. It's not easy to get these horses to this point from the time they're foals up until now. To bring them up here and get the results that we had, it's exciting.”

When Hancock, alongside a few of her farm's best horsemen and the two sale-bound yearlings, arrived in Saratoga, she knew the colt out of Dame Dorothy (Bernardini) could be something special.

“I wasn't sure what to expect, but we knew it was a nice horse,” she said. “He has done everything right since the day he was born.”

Dame Dorothy has been a special horse for breeder and celebrity chef Bobby Flay, taking him to the winner's circle in five stakes including the GI Humana Distaff and giving him two successful yearling sales already in Spice Is Nice (Curlin), a $1.05 million yearling who went on to earn graded stakes status this year for Robert and Lawana Low, as well as a 2-year-old colt named Principe d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) purchased for $650,000 by Juddmonte, Bridlewood and Winchell Thoroughbreds last September.

Hancock said this third offspring from Dame Dorothy, a May-foaled striking bay colt, excelled from the start.

“He has always been an easy keeper,” she explained. “I would say he was a gate hugger. My dad always said that's a sign of a good horse. When you turned him out, he would turn back around and come hang out at the gate, curious and interested. When you ask him to do something, he does it. Horses like that you keep an eye on because you expect something from them. I've always really liked him.”

Buyers liked the colt as well and when the son of Uncle Mo was the consummate professional in the sales ring, bids flew. The hammer dropped with a $1.6 million winning bid from Jacob West, agent for Spice Is Nice campaigners Robert and Lawana Low.

“He did everything right and when he came up here, he showed well,” Hancock said. “It's fun to bring one that you feel a bit of connection to and get those results. It's very rewarding and it's not easy to do. Breeders will know that you can have a well-bred horse and have all kinds of issues, or things will go right and all the stars align and you can bring them here and have some fun.”

The stars had aligned two years earlier in Saratoga for Stone Farm and Flay when their Curlin colt out of GSW American (A.P. Indy) was the co-topper of the sale, going for $1.5 million. Now known as First Captain, the promising Shug McGaughey trainee took the GIII Dwyer S. in July and is now pointing towards the GI Pennsylvania Derby.

“First Captain was similar in a lot of ways to this Uncle Mo colt,” Hancock said. “He was very laid back. Those well-bred horses, it's really fun to bring them up here and do well with them. You want them to sell well, but the most important thing is that you want them to go on and run. So it's been really fun to watch him become a graded stakes winner. The hype surrounding him has been fun to watch and I think there's more to come.”

While Stone Farm is certainly no stranger to success at the Saratoga Sale, the family behind the legendary surname has been connected with the Fasig-Tipton auction since its inception.

“My great-great-grandfather, Captain Richard Hancock, sold up here in the very early days of Fasig-Tipton,” Hancock noted. “It's been exciting to be up here at the 100^th sale as the fifth generation of Hancocks. Everyone was like, 'Oh, your dad left you to do it yourself,' and I told them he may have misguided faith in me, but it worked out okay.”

When she's not running a sales consignment, Hancock stays busy working alongside her father as Stone Farm's Director of Sales and Racing.

“People ask me what I do on a daily basis a lot and it is kind of ever-changing,” she said. “I look at the horses and I technically do our racing, bloodstock and sales, but a lot of it is just whatever my dad tells me to do. I call him my father boss and what he says, I do.”

While the light-hearted, teasing side of Hancock's relationship with her father is evident, she is also clearly appreciative of the wisdom the renowned horseman has to offer.

“My dad went out on his own and started Stone Farm and it's something that we're all really passionate about because he built it,” she said. “One thing I respect a huge amount about my dad is that he'll tell you what he thinks and he's not afraid to shy away. People might not agree, but he's always going to do what he thinks it the right thing. He always says that all you can do in life is the next best thing.”

She continued, “We're all very proud of him and the work that he has put into a lot of different fronts to better the industry. I think that's what we all want to do is to see the industry continue to grow, try to get young people involved and continue to have the horse racing we all love.”

The Hancock family with Horse of the Year Sunday Silence. | Tony Leonard

Growing up on Stone Farm's stunning acreage in Bourbon County, Hancock and her five elder siblings developed an appreciation for their land and a respect for their horses early on from parents Arthur and Staci.

“It was so much fun growing up on the farm and it was always a little bit of a zoo,” she admitted. “But I think we all have a really strong place association with the farm. Another thing my dad always says is that we're farmers and the product that we grow is Thoroughbred horses. We all love the farm and want to see it thrive and continue to produce runners.”

Today, the business still remains a family affair.

“I love working with my family,” Hancock said. “My dad and I work well together and my mom is very involved with the farm. My sister Alex just had a baby so she's on a hiatus, but she works at the farm and all of my siblings are very involved and interested. I send out alerts so everybody knows what's happening with the horses that come off the farm-not just the ones that we breed and raise, but horses like the Dame Dorothy colt. It's exciting for everybody.”

Lynn Hancock was just a few years old during Sunday Silence's dominating 3-year-old campaign in 1989, but nevertheless, the six-time Grade I-winning son of Halo co-owned by her father is still one of her all-time favorites.

“Sunday Silence was kind of our banner horse and really solidified the future of the farm,” she said. “There's a picture of us kids lined up with him and his story is just amazing. I was two years old so I don't remember, but to go back and watch that Preakness race with Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, that was something that kind of hooked me into the industry and into wanting to do this.”

While Arthur Hancock continues to gradually dole out responsibilities to the next generation of leaders at Stone Farm, his youngest daughter hopes to build on the firm foundation he has already constructed for their farm.

“We're very lucky to have good land, good water and good clients,” she said. “We have large pastures and that has built into how we raise the horses in letting them be horses and develop into the best versions of themselves they can be. We just hope to keep Dad's legacy going. He has had so much success, especially in the '80s and '90s in the early days, that I want to get some graded stakes winners for us too.”

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