Plenty of horses in this bracket have recently relinquished their brief window of commercial opportunity, and are now hanging around to discover whether they might join the very small group whose first runners generate a fresh vogue. Even with the newcomers out of the equation–we gave them a separate assessment, to open the series–we're left with three groups still untested on the track: those expecting their first foals; those who have just sold their first weanlings; and those actually about to dip a toe in the water with their first runners.

Pending that crossroads, many find themselves somewhat adrift against a bunch of older sires who have survived that test. These fit this tier either because they are losing stature or, more cheerfully, because they have carved out a viable niche as an affordable source of winners.

First the young guns. Of those who sent their first yearlings to auction this year, the ones who really nailed it, unsurprisingly, vaunted the kind of speed that pinhookers crave.

VOLATILE burned brightly in a light career, not seen again after confirming his Grade I caliber against a small but select field in the Vanderbilt. His 112 Beyer in the Aristides S. (1:07.57) was the highest of 2020 and duly secured 181 mares the following spring. Himself an $850,000 yearling, with a GI Test/GI Ballerina winner as granddam, his $125,431 average was boosted by a spectacular $1.15 million docket for a Book 1 filly at Keeneland in September. Nudged back up to $15,000 (from $12,500), Volatile has three hefty books behind him and will be the horse to beat for the freshman title next year.

But not even his median yield of 4.3 on his opening fee ($75,000/ $17,500) could match that of COMPLEXITY, whose $65,000 median (never mind his average $90,400!) multiplied his $12,500 fee by 5.2. Complexity started with some serious volume by the restrained standards of his farm, and then followed through with another three-figure book in his second season. He was clearly in the same vicinity as Volatile as a mature horse (110 Beyer in the GII Kelso) but was the more accomplished juvenile, wiring a Saratoga maiden (90 Beyer) before a decisive success in the GI Champagne S. on his second start. His half-sister ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, so their unraced dam is obviously channelling the good stuff.

VEKOMA is meanwhile working the Spendthrift system with remarkable efficiency, having started out (at $20,000) with staggering volume, entertaining at least 200 mares in each of his first three seasons. This year he processed 102 of his first yearlings at $98,432, albeit was unsurprisingly stretched somewhat thinner by a median of $60,000. Though confined to eight starts across three seasons, he was class from beginning to end, posting big numbers for his Grade I double in the Carter and Met Mile. From a stallion-producing family, he's a horse I've liked all the way through and everything is in place for him to look after many (albeit probably not all!) of his (very many!) clients at $15,000.

Knicks Go | Sarah Andrew

Among those in this intake offering rather more stretch, one or two suffered horrible yearling medians relative to conception fee. But one who made a solid start off $12,500 was Bolt d'Oro's half-brother GLOBAL CAMPAIGN: 74 yearlings sold at $63,195 (median $43,500). This was a more talented animal than generally appreciated and I can see him proving himself a bargain gateway to Curlin. A closer look at his family shows that it tends to produce faster types than are associated with the seeding sires, and Global Campaign's first crop of 126 live foals may surprise a few people with their dash.

Of those who sold their first weanlings this fall, meanwhile, the one that will sort out the sheep and the goats is KNICKS GO. No questioning his talent, it was just never quite obvious where it all came from–albeit his dam maintained stakes speed through four seasons. Those who didn't require a more familiar pedigree were delighted to see a Horse of the Year introduced at just $30,000. Well, now they can get him for half that, even though he's still nearly 18 months away from the opportunity to demonstrate whether or not he can replicate his brilliance! At this money, some people will surely want to roll the dice.

Even as it is, his weanlings sold a little better than those of SILVER STATE. But it's very early days for the latter, whose pedigree in contrast elucidates all the class he manifested as a runner. A friendly clip to $15,000 should hopefully keep him in the game because this horse equipped to prove a really wholesome influence.

The subsequent intake features some truly frightening books, but I will resist dwelling on that here. Suffice to say that those playing a longer game might quite like a filly by either SPEAKER'S CORNER or MYSTIC GUIDE. Both have taken an early trim at Darley, respectively to $17,500 and $12,500, and their pedigrees shout distaff influence.

We'll have to see how many of the youngsters will endure even in this relatively modest tier, a few years from now. Nor does a flying start bring any guarantees, as UNION RAGS could caution them. The halving of his fee to $15,000 acknowledges the way he has faltered, having stood at $60,000 between 2018 and 2020. Trade for his latest yearlings made this further cut imperative, but he's still the same horse that so quickly came up with five Grade I winners. Hopefully he will find a little oxygen now that he has descended to more accessible altitudes.

Studmate DAREDEVIL has taken his second cut since returning to the U.S., now down to $15,000, but of course it's only in 2024 that we'll get to assess the first juveniles conceived after Swiss Skydiver prompted his urgent repatriation. Their sales performance demanded a mild trim in fee, but he could easily be poised for fresh momentum.

MENDELSSOHN has also taken consecutive cuts, similarly now available at $15,000. He has so far been more about quantity than quality but his supporters will hope that he can still emulate four others, standing at the same fee, who have all done admirably to create a lasting foothold in this most slippery of markets.

The first of these, DIALED IN, is something of a blue-collar hero. He maintains such high volume–corralled 175 mares last spring, his 10th at stud–that it will always be hard, with the raw materials available at this level, to make his ratios “sing”. But Defunded has once again shown the caliber within his competence as his third elite scorer. Dialed In gets his work done at a fair tariff, and will keep plugging away to leave behind many of those now starting at multiples of his fee.

Cairo Prince | Sarah Andrew

CAIRO PRINCE has also created a sustainable brand for himself through six crops, as attested by a solid book of 129 mares last spring. A set-your-clock black-type producer throughout, he's now entering the territory where he can legitimately prove a mare–and of course he gets such a nice type, the average ($54,194) and median ($40,000) of his latest yearlings duly best among this proven quartet.

MIDSHIPMAN is a true yeoman and it's typical of this business that he should have had a quieter year (by his very special standards) both on the track and in the sales ring after finally doubling his fee to $20,000 last year–due recognition for having punched above weight for so long. His lifetime stats remain ridiculous for a stallion who has largely been a four-figure cover: 47 stakes winners at 6.4 percent of named foals, nine at graded stakes level; and 101 black-type performers overall, at 13.7 percent. The trim back to $15,000 brings him back towards the reach of breeders who most appreciate just what he can do for their mares.

KANTHAROS, who has really pulled himself up by his bootstraps, had another very solid year on the track. He has made the same slip in fee, reflecting a tepid book of mares last spring and a challenging yield on yearlings conceived at $30,000. But that was an experience shared by many sires exposed to a porous middle market, and the fact is that Kantharos lurks only just outside the top 10 in the 2023 general sires' list with a dozen stakes winners, including a couple at graded level. His lifetime ratio of stakes runners–11 percent of named foals–remains outstanding for a horse whose first five books were compiled in Florida at just $5,000.

He sired two Grade I winners at that fee, and now has another millionaire in Grade II winner Bay Storm. The first of his two $30,000 books were juveniles this year, and we know how they will keep thriving. That guarantees Kantharos imminently entry into the top 20 active sires on lifetime earnings. All he needs to do is supplant… Lookin At Lucky!

VALUE PODIUM

Bronze Medal: CONNECT
Curlin–Bullville Belle (Holy Bull)
Lane's End $15,000

Connect | Sarah Andrew

Amid all this talk about stud fees being too high, credit is overdue to Lane's End for anticipating the mood in the room. From Flightline down, the farm made 11 cuts across their 2024 roster. All were meaningful, and some nearly brutal, effectively conceding that one or two stallions were drifting into trouble and needed some decisive help. Bravo! The very opposite of burying your head in the sand, and in the present environment I hope it works out both for the farm and its clients.

One stallion who can certainly benefit is Connect, restored from $25,000 to his 2021 fee of $15,000 after the crop conceived that year returned a tepid median (albeit a perfectly acceptable $45,774 average) at the yearling sales. He'd also suffered a real slump in his book last spring, down to 45 from 172 in 2022! But we're accustomed to seeing horses treated like this, once they have served their commercial purpose, and should sooner marvel at the impression he must have made with his first crop to get such a big book (up from 93 in 2021) in his fifth year at stud.

Sure enough, only Gun Runner and Practical Joke banked more prizemoney as freshmen in 2021, and only Gun Runner had more winners. Unfortunately Connect did not then consolidate especially well, but he has made a timely return to form this year with eight stakes winners, three at graded level, plus a GI Kentucky Oaks third in The Alys Look. Moreover, his first-crop flagship, the juvenile Grade I winner Rattle N Roll, failed by just half a length to add another elite score in the GI Stephen Foster S. That horse was a $55,000 weanling but has now banked $1.7 million across three seasons.

Connect's pedigree is not without its challenges but he's another to bring Curlin within range and had real prowess as a racehorse, a blip in the Travers his only defeat in seven starts (four triple-digit Beyers) up the grades after debut. He outkicked none other than Gun Runner in the GII Pennsylvania Derby and, while he won't be doing that again any time soon, he's actually siring winners at a higher percentage of named foals.

With that bumper crop of weanlings in the pipeline, and now a lenient fee, this looks a good time to re-Connect.

Silver Medal: KARAKONTIE (Jpn)
Bernstein–Sun Is Up (Jpn) (Sunday Silence)
Gainesway $15,000

Karakontie | Sarah Andrew

How pleasing to see this undervalued stallion moving his book back up last year, up to 86 from 48. Perhaps his hour has come at last, now that the minority prepared to breed to a quality turf sire in the Bluegrass have been deprived of English Channel and Kitten's Joy.

If you're enlightened enough to see the growing need for turf quality in the U.S., then you might also recognize that you don't always have to fly first class to Tattersalls. With a fifth crop on the track, Karakontie has still only had 174 starters, but seven have won graded stakes. For the second year running, moreover, he had an elite scorer in She Feels Pretty, winner of the GI Natalma S. before failing by barely half a length to overcome a wide trip in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Karakontie's premier earner Princess Grace meanwhile continued to thrive in Australia, missing Group 1 scores by a neck and half a length.

Even after a hike from $10,000, Karakontie is an awful lot of horse for this fee. He converted some of the most regal blood in the book–his third dam is Miesque herself–into a turn of foot that won him a Group 1 at two and then a mile Classic, before doing all he could to endear the American market in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Don't forget that he restores Sunday Silence to the Bluegrass through his dam, herself out of a half-sister to Kingmambo. His international pedigree and participation alike are a measure of our debt to the program that produced him.

The American market has not really grasped its privilege, with this horse, but the elevation in his fee tells you everything you need to know: he's being used by people who want to breed a runner, whether in their own silks or to boost a mare. Actually, Karakontie is perfectly capable of a home run at the sales, including the $525,000 filly at Keeneland in September whose buyers will have been delighted to see her full-sister (who herself made $280,000 the previous year) win the Tepin S. last month. His lesser specimens may struggle commercially, until the environment improves, but that won't trouble those eccentrics who calculate value according to the odds of ending up with a runner.

Gold Medal: MITOLE
Eskendereya–Indian Miss (Indian Charlie)
Spendthrift $15,000

How naïve of me to imagine that all those commercial breeders who flocked to the new sires in 2020 wanted nothing more than to land on the champion freshman of 2023. Because Mitole, as he closes in on those laurels, finds himself the only one of the four Spendthrift sires dominating this table to remain on the same fee in 2024.

Mitole | Louise Reinagel

Now, clearly this farm needs no help in how to make their remarkable machine run smoothly. The Spendthrift team know that Mitole was the one who took the biggest slide of the quartet, in the inevitable slackening of demand for their second crop of yearlings. But they had already ensured that these were conceived more affordably, trimming him from $25,000 in his debut season to $15,000. That was partly a concession to the Covid market, but it also offered such obvious value about a champion sprinter that he maintained the enthusiastic support of 184 mares even last spring, after topping 200 in each of his three previous seasons.

In other words, the system is functioning smoothly and Mitole has played his part so well that he approaches the winning post with a narrow advantage over Maximus Mischief (my serial “gold” pick, I might add, after starting at $7,500!) by prizemoney and also a wafer-thin one by individual winners (32 from 79 starters).

Whether or not he holds out, Mitole is the only one of the four to have a graded stakes scorer–and so joins Flameaway and Solomini in what has been a weirdly unproductive group, by that measure-in GIII Pocahontas S. winner/GI Alcibiades runner-up V V's Dream.

The precocious Maximus Mischief has shown a lot more of his hand (77 starters from 122 named foals) and remember that Mitole (79 from 145) himself only squeezed in a single start at two, in late November. It was as a 4-year-old that he racked up his four Grade Is–including that resonant Met Mile/Breeders' Cup Sprint double, and a stakes record at the intermediate distance in the Forego. So it seems fair to suggest that he has only just got started.

By now Mitole has surely stifled misgivings about his sire, himself after all a brilliant performer and a conduit of corresponding genes. Eskendereya's fifth dam is Cosmah, and doubles up her half-sister's son Northern Dancer top and bottom. It was presumably his unfashionable sire that confined Mitole to $20,000 as a yearling–but then along came kid brother Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), himself a $17,000 short yearling, to reiterate the merit of a family cultivated by the late Edward A. Cox Jr.

Hot Rod Charlie has now followed Eskendereya to Japan, where they have made a habit of exposing crass commercial trends in Kentucky. But here's a horse making the family assets work even in this less imaginative environment, and his debut at the 2-year-old sales–behind only Omaha Beach in the key freshman medians–suggest that Mitole will be taking out a long lease on the attention of pinhookers.

Sires In The Teens: Breeder Selections

Aidan O'Meara, Stonehaven Steadings

Aidan O'Meara | Keeneland

Gold Medal: Volatile
One of the best angles for success in the commercial breeding field is identifying a future leading stallion in the early stages and this sometimes requires taking a leap of faith breeding when their first runners are about to run. Volatile has been the breakout star at the yearling sales this year, mirroring his sire's first crop results a few years back. He's a beautifully built horse himself and passed his physique on with remarkable consistency. He's been very well supported by breeders and will have plenty of ammo in his first few crops to give him every opportunity. If his offspring have legitimate ability, he will skyrocket up the stallion ranks and $15,000 will look like the deal of the decade.

Silver Medal: Connect
The crop of 2021 has all been overshadowed by Gun Runner's incredible achievements, but Connect has been quietly developing a very solid career for himself. He has shown consistency with three graded stakes winners again this year and a strong supporting cast of stakes horses. He has also shown the ability to get the all-important high-class horse with Rattle N Roll. He measures well in all statistical categories and looks to be a stallion that can establish himself long term in the mold of a Midshipman/First Samurai/Blame type.

Bronze Medal: Audible
The Spendthrift quartet has garnered most of the attention from this year's freshmen and rightly so but one horse is simmering just below these and that horse is Audible. His 14% stakes horses with his first 2-year-olds cannot be ignored and his own racing career suggests there is more improvement to be had as they mature. He's a beautiful horse that can throw the right kind as witnessed by his first crop of yearlings. $15,000 is very intriguing for a horse with some potential future upswing and worst-case scenario has shown plenty of ability for longer term success at this price point.

Peter O'Callaghan, Woods Edge Farm

Peter O'Callaghan | Fasig-Tipton

Gold Medal: Midshipman
This stallion has been very good to us both on the track and in the sales ring. We recently bred first-time-out 2-year-old winner Midshipman's Dance; pinhooked Grade II winner Special Reserve; bred Leucothea and co-bred Amidst Waves, both of whom are multiple stakes winning 2-year-olds. He is a very consistent and well-respected sire, standing for an affordable $15,000. You can sell one well at the sales and he produces winners every weekend at the track.

Silver Medal: Mitole
Obviously a brilliant racehorse and looks to be turning out some good 2-year-old winners this second half of the year. Must be a horse worth a punt at $15,000. We are breeding to him again this year.

Bronze Medal: Vekoma
A brilliant racehorse, a high class 2-year-old who trained on, winning some high-profile races in the GII Bluegrass S. going two turns at three. Then winning the GI Carter H. and GI Met Mile at four in impressive fashion. Furthermore, he is a very well-bred son of Candy Ride (Arg), out of the GISW Speightstown mare Mona De Momma from the family of Mr. Greeley.

He is a good-looking horse who seems to sire plenty of good-looking stock. We have bred to him each year and have bought foals by him in each crop, he has not let us down so far.

I think he is a horse with a legitimate shot to be a sire standing at an affordable fee of $15,000.

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“Traditionally, New York breeders have not had the opportunity to breed to a new stallion who was already on the upswing with proven runners on the ground, but that certainly should be changing in the future with the exceptional program New York has developed and actively improved,” said Bucchero Managing Partner Harlan Malter. “We have broken the mold a bit with Bucchero and we feel we are doing it again with our move to New York.” 

Bucchero has celebrated a breakout season in 2023. His second crop has produced two unrestricted juvenile stakes winners, taking his total to three overall, and he has been represented by nine stakes-placed horses from 84 starters. Bucchero is the sire of 52 individual winners, a percentage of 62% that is second-best among his peers with 50 or more runners and higher than the likes of Justify and Good Magic. His runners have finished in the top three in over 47% of their combined appearances. 

Bucchero is currently the second-leading sire of 2-year-olds by earnings outside the state of Kentucky ($856,604). In New York, his current 2-year-old progeny earnings would make him the #1 juvenile sire in the state and his total 2023 progeny earnings of $2,291,021 would make him the third-leading sire overall in New York behind only Central Banker and Tourist.

Led by Shards, who sold for $175,000 at the 2023 OBS March Sale, Bucchero has excelled in the 2-year-old market, with consistently quick under-tack previews that have translated to the sales ring. From a $5,000 stud fee, Bucchero averaged nearly 10 times his stud fee with a $48,595 average from 21 sold in 2022 and built upon that in 2023 with an average of $51,133 from 30 sold.

Bucchero has quickly become a “trainers'” stallion as many went right back to the well in the second crop after campaigning first-crop runners. Joe Orseno, the trainer of first-crop stakes winner Beauty of the Sea and second-crop stakes winner Mattingly (85 Beyer in his most recent stakes start) commented, “I have now trained eight of them and they do nothing but run. Mattingly is a perfect example, a stakes winner on synthetic, stakes placed short on the turf and seven furlongs on dirt and I am now pointing him to the $300K In Reality Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on the dirt. They are fast and smart, versatile and racy.”

“We are thrilled to bring Bucchero to McMahon and the New York program as we feel Bucchero is built for a program like this,” added John McMahon. “He has shown he produces fast, precocious and, most importantly for New York breeders going forward, runners that can win on anything.” 

Malter, who campaigned Bucchero along with the current ownership group added, “All of us involved with Bucchero started as small breeders looking to survive in a very difficult market segment. Bucchero has proved he can get a breeder a quality sales horse and possibly even more importantly, a runner who will keep them looking forward to that 'mailbox money' small breeders depend on to succeed.”

On his way from Florida to New York, Bucchero will make a pit stop in Lexington during the second week of the Keeneland November Sale for a stallion show on November 14th from 1 – 4 pm at Kesmarc at 258 Shannon Run Rd, Versailles.

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Moretti is standing as the property of Erik and Pavla Nygaard's Thor-Bred Stables, who bred and sold the colt for $900,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling before reacquiring him for $30,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale.

For a limited time, breeders who come to inspect Moretti will receive a free written report that analyzes their chosen mare with Moretti and three other stallions of the breeder's choice, as well as an assessment of family racing propensities, pedigree blends and physical matches.

“We want to provide breeders with all the information they need to make the best choice for their mare,” said Pavla Nygaard. “By offering these reports, we are confident that breeders will see the advantages of breeding to Moretti, who has a unique blend of proven talent and stamina, a gorgeous appearance and pedigree.”

A half-brother to the late 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Battle of Midway (Smart Strike), Moretti hails from the female family of GISW Patternrecognition (Adios Charlie) and champion female sprinter Musical Romance (Concorde's Tune).

“We are excited to welcome breeders to Chesapeake Farm to see Moretti n person,” said Collier Mathes, Chesapeake Farm's owner. “We believe that Moretti has the potential to be a top sire, comes at a superb value, and we are eager to share his talents with breeders who are looking for a young gorgeous stallion with a bright future.”

Moretti will cover mares at a fee of $5,000.

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Building on his leading freshman sire campaign in 2021, the 9-year-old is the sire of 11 stakes winners this season, including eight at the graded level and four Grade I scorers, including 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Longines Breeders' Cup third Taiba; GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell S. hero Cyberknife, who was just edged in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile over the weekend; and Early Voting, who became his first Classic winner in the GI Preakness S. this past May. Ten of his starters have earned Grade I black-type this term, while no fewer than 25 have been placed at stakes level. Gun Runner is also the leading sire of 3-year-olds, with nearly double the progeny earnings of his next-closest rival. Gun Runner's third-crop yearlings sold for up to $975,000 this year, while eight Gun Runner foals of 2022 have averaged better than $418,000 at this week's breeding stock sales.

Sharp Azteca (Freud), the leading freshman sire of 22 by winners with 30, gets a bump to $15,000 from $5,000 this past year. The fourth-leading member of his crop by progeny earnings, he is the sire of the brilliant Tyler's Tribe, who won his first five trips to the post by a combined 62 lengths and a pair of additional black-type winners.

The 2023 Three Chimneys stallion roster is as follows:

Gun Runner–Private

Sharp Azteca–$15,000

Volatile–$12,500

Sky Mesa–$10,000

Palace Malice–$10,000

Funtastic–$5,000

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The champion freshman sire of 2016 and reliably among the top sires, Dialed In has also been represented by stakes winners Mr. Wireless, Erase and Gambling Girl as well as Grade I-placed Get Her Number. Dialed In has sired one Grade I winner in each of the last three years: Get Her Number in 2020, GI Arkansas Derby winner Super Stock in 2021 and Defunded this term.

The nursery's other five-figure stallions are Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) and Modernist (Uncle Mo). Tapiture (Tapit), the leading fourth-crop sire by winners, will stand for $7,500.

The newest addition to the stallion barn at Darby Dan is 'TDN Rising Star' Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief). An impressive debut winner sprinting over the Saratoga main track, the son of Downside Scenario (Scat Daddy) was highly impressive in annexing Keeneland's GII Bourbon S. in his turf debut two starts later. He became a stakes winner on dirt in the 2021 Mucho Macho Man S. and is set to cover mares for the first time at a fee of $7,500.

“We are excited to announce the Darby Dan stud fees for the upcoming breeding season,” said Stuart Fitzgibbon, the newly named stallion director at Darby Dan. “Our goal is to provide breeders with a good value roster of stallions representing commercial and successful sire lines. We are delighted with the initial response to Mutasaabeq new for 2023. By Into Mischief out of a Scat Daddy mare, he has all the commercial attributes for the market. Grade 1-producing sire Dialed In continues to fly the flag for Darby Dan, and our younger stallions like Flameaway, Modernist, and Higher Power have been exceptionally well-received and should ensure memorable moments for the farm going forward.”

Darby Dan will once again be offering various incentive programs in 2023 to provide value to breeders, including Profit Protection, Share the Upside, Black-Type Bonanza, and Goldmine 20/20 Match Program.

DARBY DAN FARM — 2023 SERVICE FEES

Dialed In (Mineshaft) $15,000

Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) $10,000

Modernist (Uncle Mo) $10,000

Alternation (Distorted Humor) $7,500

Copper Bullet (More Than Ready) $7,500

Country House (Lookin At Lucky) $7,500

Flameaway (Scat Daddy) $7,500

Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}), $7,500

Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief) $7,500

Tapiture (Tapit) $7,500

Bee Jersey (Jersey Town) $5,000

Tale of Ekati (Tale of the Cat) $5,000

Tale of Verve (Tale of Ekati) $2,000

Dolphus (Lookin At Lucky) Private

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“More Than Ready was an amazing horse who touched everyone he came in contact with,” said Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar Farm. “He may not have been the biggest horse in the barn, but he more than made up for it in class, balance, and character. His expressions said it all. We will greatly miss him at the farm.”

Larry McGinnis, longtime stallion manager at WinStar Farm, said of the legend's passing, “To me, he was more than a great stallion, he was a great friend. It was an honor to take care of such a remarkable horse. I will miss him.”

Bred in Kentucky by Woodlynn Farm Inc., More Than Ready was purchased by Edward Rosen, agent for owner Jim Scatuorchio, for $187,000 at the 1998 Keeneland September sale and won his first five starts for trainer Todd Pletcher, including the GIII Tremont S. and GII Sanford S. before tasting defeat for the first time when stretched to a mile in the GI Champagne S. Dead-heat winner of the GII Hutcheson S. in his sophomore debut, More Than Ready was second in the GII Louisiana Derby and was beaten a head when runner-up in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. ahead of a meritorious fourth to Fusaichi Pegasus in the GI Kentucky Derby. Focusing on one-turn races for the balance of the season, More Than Ready earned Grade I laurels in Saratoga's King's Bishop S. and was second to stablemate Trippi (End Sweep) in the GI Vosburgh S. He retired to Vinery Kentucky for the 2001 breeding season with seven wins from 17 starts and earnings of $1,026,229, and was one of several Vinery stallions that moved to WinStar upon the closure of that nursery.

We lost a legend today.
With heavy hearts we announce the passing of legendary sire More Than Ready. He will be greatly missed. pic.twitter.com/38hDd2MVZS

— WinStar Farm (@WinStarFarm) August 26, 2022

A Dual-Hemisphere Sensation…

A stallion blessed with tremendous fertility, More Than Ready is the sire of an eye-popping and record-setting 2118 winners to date (72.4% winners to starters), making him the world's most prolific sire of individual winners. With a victory in the GII Wonder Again S. in June 2022, Klaravich Stables' Consumer Spending provided the stallion with his 100th worldwide winner at the group/graded level and the victory occurred on the same Belmont program where Morethanreadyeddie–named in honor of the aforementioned Rosen–won his maiden at first asking over five furlongs. Of his black-type winners (only Galileo {Ire}, Danehill and Sadler's Wells have more), some 26 have struck at the top level in seven racing jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and South Africa. The sire of 17 winners and three stakes winners from his first American crop in 2004, More Than Ready was an instant hit in Australia, where he shuttled to Vinery Stud to serve mares Southern Hemisphere time. To date, he has sired 971 winners in the U.S. and Canada and 905 in Australia and New Zealand. His progeny earnings are in excess of $219 million.

With Australasia's emphasis on speed and precocity, his foals hit the ground running, with six black-type winners among his 17 first-crop winners overall, including G1 Champagne S. heroine Carry On Cutie (Aus). His early Australian crops also featured Benicio (Aus), winner of the 2006 G1 Victoria Derby; Sebring (Aus) and Phelan Ready (Aus), victorious in the prestigious G1 Golden Slipper S. in 2008 and 2009, respectively; G1 Blue Diamond S. hero Samaready (Aus); and G1 Western Australian Derby victress Dreamaway (Aus). More Than Ready has also proven especially potent with Danehill-line mares, resulting in the likes of Group 1 winners More Joyous (Aus), Prized Icon (Aus) and More Than Sacred (Aus) in addition to Benicio (Aus), Sebring (Aus), Perfectly Ready (Aus) and Dreamaway (Aus). More Than Ready's other Southern Hemisphere Group 1 winners include Gimmethegreenlight (Aus) and Entisaar (Aus) in South Africa; and More Than Sacred in New Zealand. His progeny were brilliant enough in the early parts of their careers to score in races like the G1 Golden Slipper and G1 Blue Diamond S., but were equally effective at trips of 2000 meters and beyond in Australian fixtures such as the Queen Elizabeth S., and he accounted for Derby winners in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. In total, More Than Ready has sired Group 1/Grade I winners in seven countries.

Trainer Todd Pletcher and More Than Ready | Horsephotos

The top-level winners were a bit slower to come at home, but Buster's Ready became More Than Ready's first American Grade I winner in the 2011 Mother Goose S. Verrazano, raced in partnership by Kevin Scatuorchio's Let's Go Stable, became his sire's first male GISW in the 2013 Wood Memorial S. and Daredevil–also raced by Let's Go in partnership–his first Grade I-winning juvenile in the 2014 Champagne S. More Than Ready's son Catholic Boy holds the rare distinction of winning Grade Is on two surfaces–the GI Belmont Derby on turf and the GI Travers S. on the dirt. Catholic Boy is one of four sons of More Than Ready at stud in Kentucky (Copper Bullet, Daredevil, Funtastic), while Verrazano has gone on to become a productive stallion in South America.

More Than Ready is the leading sire of Breeders' Cup winners to date with seven and accounted for multiple Breeders' Cup winners on two separate occasions. He was represented by the winners of the Breeders' Cup juvenile turf events in 2010 (Pluck, More Than Real), while champion Roy H won the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint in 2017 and 2018. 'TDN Rising Star' and future Eclipse Award winner Rushing Fall posted the first of her six career Grade Is in the 2017 GI Juvenile Fillies' Turf. Uni (GB)–another maternal granddaughter of Danehill–beat the boys in the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Mile. More Than Ready has been represented by 13 champions around the world. Among More Than Ready's 16 offspring that earned the 'Rising Star' distinction is the versatile Emmanuel, third in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and front-running winner of his turf debut in the GII Pennine Ridge S. at Belmont this past June. More Than Ready is the only sire to have an Eclipse Award Champion each year from 2017 to 2020.

A Broodmare Sire of Note…

More Than Ready is the broodmare sire of fully 135 stakes winners, 61 group or graded winners and 15 at the top level, including GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf hero Structor (Palace Malice), top Australian sprinter Bivouac (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), the rags-to-riches Group 1-winning juvenile filly Miracles of Life (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) and Hong Kong champion Wellington (Aus). Other U.S. graded winners from More Than Ready mares include Kauai Katie (Malibu Moon), Breeders' Cup winner Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) and 'TDN Rising Star' and leading turf distaffer Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), whose dam Mary's Follies is also responsible for Japan's top dirt galloper Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah) and Night Prowler (Giant's Causeway), a dual graded winner in the U.S. whose success extended to Barbados and that island nation's richest event, the Barbados Gold Cup.

Rosen Remembers 'Life-Changing' Horse…

Eddie Rosen has been involved with any number of successful horses over the course of his bloodstock career, but it's safe to say none left the impression the same way More Than Ready did.

“Most people are aware of all the amazing statistics he compiled as the greatest dual-hemisphere sire in history, his versatility in the ability to sire dirt, turf, long and sprint winners,” he reflected. “Sometimes forgotten is what a great 2-year-old he was, reeling off the first five starts of his career in spectacular fashion. My family and I will always cherish the wonderful memories sharing his career with the Scatuorchio family. For me, he was life-changing. During Derby week this year, I was able to visit with him and give him one last peppermint. I will miss him dearly!”

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Trained by Michael McCarthy, Rombauer was an eye-catching maiden winner at first asking over the Del Mar turf course and finished runner-up when trying dirt for the first time in the GI American Pharoah S. before a creditable fifth behind champion Essential Quality (Tapit) in the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He displayed further versatility in annexing the El Camino Real Derby on the Tapeta at Golden Gate in his sophomore debut last February and was third to Essential Quality in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. in April ahead of his fast-finishing, 3 1/2-length success at Old Hilltop. He was last seen reporting home a distant third in the GI Belmont S.

Rombauer emerged from the Belmont with some filling in his ankles and had lightened up, prompting a layoff. He returned to serious training this past October and recorded five workouts, but was beginning to carry pressure once again in his ankles. On Dec. 31, the first day of training at Santa Anita following three days of heavy rain, Rombauer “took a bad step” when galloping and connections elected to stop on him.

“We are very disappointed,” Fradkin said in an email. “We thought we were going to Dubai in March [for the G1 Dubai World Cup] and would make a good showing, and then we were hoping to run him in the [GI] Pacific Classic later in the year. We were also looking forward to trying him back on turf. I actually think turf was his best surface and he could have been one of the better turf horses in the country.

“That's the horseracing business for you,” he continued. “The highs are very high and the lows are very low, and both the good news and the bad news often come as surprises. Winning the Preakness was of course a very high high, as I did not expect to win that day. This is a pretty big low, but it's not a tragic one.”

One of seven Grade I winners for his sire, Rombauer is bred on the wildly successful cross of Candy Ride over Storm Cat-line mares responsible for the likes of Horse of the Year and top freshman sire Gun Runner, among others. A half-brother to SP Cono (Lucky Pulpit), Rombauer is out of a daughter of Ultrafleet (Afleet), purchased by Fradkin for $10,500 at Keeneland September in 1993 and who went on to produce MGSW Calfornia Flag (Avenue of Flags) as well as the tremendous MGSW producer Cambiocorsa (Avenue of Flags), dam of GSWs Moulin de Mougin (Curlin) and Schiaparelli (Ghostzapper); SW & GSP Bronson (Medaglia d'Oro); MSW Alexis Tangier (Tiznow); and GISP Vionnet (Street Sense), dam of the late MG1SW champion Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy).

Rombauer retires with a record of 3-1-2 from eight starts and earnings of $1,040,500. No stud plans were immediately announced.

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Daily Racing Form was first to report the news.

Bred in Kentucky by the partnership of Betz, Lamantia, CoCo Equine, Magers and Burns and trained by Steve Asmussen, Yaupon ran the table through the first four starts of his career, including Saratoga's GII Amsterdam S., clocking 1:08.50 for the six furlongs. The dark bay colt added the GIII Chick Lang S. on the Preakness undercard last October, scoring by four lengths and cementing his status as the favorite for last year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. He endured a troubled trip and finished down the field.

Yaupon bounced back from an often-taxing trip to Dubai for the G1 Golden Shaheen in March with a 1 3/4-length success in Pimlico's Lite the Fuse S. July 4 prior to the Forego, his first try over seven furlongs, in which he got the better of a stirring final-furlong tussle with and an attempted savaging by the classy Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior).

At Spendthrift, Yaupon is slated to stand alongside the Heiligbrodts' champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya).

“Aside from being extremely fast, Yaupon is one of the best-looking sons of Uncle Mo you will find anywhere,” Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey said when news of Yaupon's addition to the stallion barn was announced earlier this month. “When breeders come out to the farm and see a fast Saratoga Grade I winner by Uncle Mo that is as beautiful as he is on the end of a lead shank, we believe we will get a lot of 'yeses'.”

“Yaupon is an absolutely stunning physical with an unbelievable pedigree, and he might have been one of the fastest horses we have ever seen at a 2-year-old-in-training sales,” added Bill Heiligbrodt at the time of the announcement. “Corinne and I have been racing horses since the 1980s and have been lucky to be represented by a lot of nice horses. Yaupon is our best ever when you combine speed, pedigree and conformation.”

One of 75 black-type winners and 40 graded winners for his emerging sire of sires, Yaupon is out of a Grade I-placed mare who has also been responsible for MGSP turfer Sawyer's Hill (Spring At Last). Yaupon's 2-year-old half-sister Royal Flower (American Pharoah) was purchased by Mike Rutherford for $1.2 million at Keeneland September last fall, while his yearling relation, a Good Magic colt already named Limits of Power, was knocked down to Alan Quartucci, agent, for $575,000 on the opening day of this year's September sale.

Yaupon heads to the breeding shed with a stellar record of 8-6-0-0 and earnings of $703,264.

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“It is a sad day for us all,” said Clear Creek's Val Murrell. “Half Ours enriched our breeders' program in Louisiana and beyond, having touched many who bred and raced. He was obviously an integral part of Clear Creek Stud's very existence, like a family member that you saw every day. His loss will be felt by many and his influence will remain for years to come, defined by progeny that always showed up, held together, running on both dirt or grass.”

Bred by Brilliant Stables, Half Ours was purchased by the late Buzz Chace for $625,000 at the 2004 Keeneland September sale and became one of the first 'TDN Rising Stars' when graduating by better than 10 lengths as first asking for owners Aaron and Marie Jones and Barry K. Schwartz and trainer Todd Pletcher at Keeneland before following up in the Three Chimneys Juvenile S. in 2005. Aaron Jones bought out his partner when Half Ours sold for $6.1 million to top the Keeneland November sale in 2006 and the colt ran his unbeaten streak to five with a victory in the 2007 GII Richter Scale Breeders' Cup H. before heading to the breeding shed with a career mark of 7-5-1-0.

Half Ours entered stud at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky before moving to Clear Creek for the 2011 breeding season. From 11 crops to race, he is the sire to date of 24 stakes winners and led the Louisiana sires' table from 2014 to 2016.

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A $100,000 Keeneland September yearling, Fury Kapcori was raced in partnership by a group including trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and made the 2014 GIII Precisionist S. the biggest victory of his career, scoring by 5 3/4 lengths at odds-on.

The 11-year-old entered stud at Journeyman Stud in Florida and has sired 17 individual winners from two crops to race, including the stakes winners High On Gin and The Goddess Lyssa.

Bred by Gerald Ford's Diamond A Racing Corp., Fury Kapcori is a full-brother to GSW Tizfiz, the dam of 2020 GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. hero Tiz the Law (Constitution) and MSP Awestruck (Tapit).

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