Frankel Waltzes to a Second Sires’ Championship 

Frankel (GB) has recaptured the crown he first wore in 2021 and is the champion sire in Britain and Ireland for 2023, as well as being the leading sire in Europe, for the second time. It won't be the last.

Whether or not he will be able to emulate the long reigns of his sire Galileo (Ire) and grandsire Sadler's Wells remains to be seen, but it would be unwise to bet against it. Yes, Frankel's launch into his stud career was the stallion equivalent of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, so great was the support from major international breeders from the outset, but there have been plenty of examples of that not equating to a horse becoming a top sire. Frankel is just that, any way you look at it.

He is quickly being joined at stud by a number of his best sons, and there are plenty to choose from. This year alone in Britain, the trio of Chaldean (GB), Mostahdaf (Ire) and Triple Time (Ire) join the Newmarket powerhouses of Juddmonte, Shadwell and Darley, while Onesto (Ire) is now at Haras d'Etreham in France. Irish Derby winner Hurricane Lane (Ire) joins the National Hunt ranks where St Leger winner Logician (GB) already resides, and Derby winner Adayar (Ire) and another Irish Derby winner, Westover (GB), have headed east to Japan. That's seven new Group 1-winning sons of Frankel in one year's intake alone.

Frankel has won this year's championship in a manner not dissimilar to his performances on the track: by a wide margin. His progeny earnings in Britain and Ireland of just over £7 million put him almost £3 million clear of last year's champion Dubawi (Ire), with a margin of roughly £30,000 separating the runner-up and third-placed Dark Angel (Ire). In fact, it was pretty tightly packed among the first six horses in Frankel's wake.

To return to the champion momentarily, his 39 stakes winners worldwide in 2023 (23 in Britain and Ireland) included his 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean, who now stands alongside him at Banstead Manor Stud, Soul Sister (GB), who became his second winner of the Oaks, Inspiral (GB), who recorded her sixth Group/Grade 1 win at Santa Anita at the Breeders' Cup, and her fellow Group 1 winners Nashwa (GB) and Jannah Rose (Ire). Three of these four fillies/mares remain in training, with Jannah Rose's immediate future yet to be decided. 

Dubawi is also not short of the company of his sons at stud either. On the Darley roster alone, there is Night Of Thunder (Ire) (who is 12th on this year's table), along with Ghaiyyath (Ire), Space Blues (Ire) and Too Darn Hot (GB), and that group has been bolstered by the arrival of Modern Games (Ire), a Group/Grade 1 winner at two, three and four. Dubawi's wide-margin G1 National S. winner Henry Longfellow (Ire), out of the champion mare Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}, should be high among his Classic colts to follow next year.

Good old Dark Angel. There is little doubt that his books will have risen in quality over the years but he would not be covering as many bluebloods as Frankel and Dubawi. He has been in the top seven sires in the last six years and takes third again, equalling his best performance of 2020. The six-year-old Art Power (Ire) typifies Dark Angel's profile as a sire who provides stock that are generally fast and hardy. Art Power is classy too, and he brought the curtain down on a good year for his father with victory in the G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint.

Three of the stallions to have finished in the top 20 in Britain and Ireland for the year are no longer with us. Galileo (Ire), for so long such a dominant force in Europe, and Deep Impact (Jpn), of whom the same can be said in Japan, died in 2021 and 2019 respectively. Recently Ballyhane Stud lost its stalwart Dandy Man (Ire), who ends this year in 19th place in the table and was one of only five stallions to sire 100 or more winners this year.

Galileo, 12 times the champion sire, took the fourth spot, with the dual Group 1 winner Warm Heart (Ire) being his stand-out performer of the year from his 15 stakes winners in Britain and Ireland, which put him third in this sector behind only Frankel and Dubawi. 

Not surprisingly, Deep Impact had only 11 runners in Britain and Ireland this year, but four of them won, and when one of those is the dual Derby and Irish Champion S. winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) then a decent slot in the table is guaranteed. The late Shadai stallion duly finished in 13th place.

In fifth was France's leading sire Siyouni (Fr), who had another banner year beyond his home country, with Paddington (GB) and Tahiyra (Fr) winning the Irish 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas respectively, before landing another five Group 1 victories between them. Paddington becomes the third son of Siyouni to join the Coolmore roster after Sottsass (Fr) and St Mark's Basilica (Fr).

Galileo's half-brother Sea The Stars (Ire) ensured that two Aga Khan Studs stallions made the top six. King George hero Hukum (Ire) was of course his best runner. He is now at stud in Japan, while we live in hope that the G1 Coronation Cup winner Emily Upjohn (GB) returns to training next year having not been seen since finishing seventh behind Hukum at Ascot in July.

The 103 British and Irish winners (and 11 stakes winners) for Kingman (GB) this year came at a 50% strike-rate to put him in seventh position, one ahead of the prolific Kodiac (GB), who is the leader by number of winners on 118 and was also represented by nine stakes winners.

Lope De Vega (Ire) was another member of the quintet with winners into three figures – 101 and eight stakes winners. No Nay Never completes the top ten with nine stakes winners to his credit, including new Coolmore stallion Little Big Bear (Ire).

Of those bubbling just under, it is hard not to think that we won't see Wootton Bassett (GB) shooting up the charts from next year. His 11th place finish in 2023 came from just 58 runners in Britain and Ireland, around a quarter of the number fielded by most of those names above him. 

From 2024, we will see the first two-year-old runners to have been conceived following his move to Ireland, and Wootton Bassett was represented by three new Group/Grade 1 winners this year in three different countries. The hugely likeable King Of Steel was his real talking horse, and he returns next year, along with the Classic prospect Unquestionable (Fr) and Bucanero Fuerte (GB).

The dependable Derby winners Australia (GB) and Camelot (GB) were also in the top 20, along with Classic sire Nathaniel (Ire), who is surely one of the best value elite stallions in Britain. 

An honourable mention must also go to Havana Grey (GB), who in 16th was the youngest of the top 20 finishers with only two crops to have raced for him so far, and eight stakes winners to his credit this year. And let's not forget Muhaarar (GB), which is what many perhaps tried to do when he left Shadwell to stand at Haras des Faunes in France in 2022. Now that people have worked out that most of his progeny are not sprinters, as he was, we can also admit that he's not a bad sire at all. He's had a jolly good year, in fact, with Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi (Ire) leading the charge and backed up by G2 Princess of Wales S. winner Israr (GB) and Group/Grade 3 winners Annaf (Ire) and Motorious (GB) among his nine stakes winners worldwide (four in Britain in Ireland). Muhaarar is on the move again and will stand at Haras de Petit Tellier in 2024.

France and Germany

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is such a valuable race that it usually guarantees French champion status (or thereabouts) to the sire of the winner.

Last year Frankel took the title, thanks largely to his wonderful daughter Alpinista (GB) but this year he has to play second fiddle to his son Cracksman (GB), sire of the brilliant Ace Impact (Ire). Frankel's influence loomed large in the Arc trifecta, with his sons Westover and Onesto taking second and third.

Of the stallions standing in France, Siyouni continues to stand tall and was third in the French table overall, with his daughter Mqse De Sevigne (Fr) landing a notable Group 1 double for her owner-breeder, the outgoing France Galop president Edouard de Rothschild. Siyouni notched the highest number of winners (66), and had Wootton Bassett just behind him in the table in fourth.

Next for the home team came Anodin (Ire), who was sixth overall with 60 winners and his first Group 1 winner, King Gold (Fr), in the Prix Maurice de Gheest. Dabirsim (Fr), now at Haras de Montaigu and sire of the multiple group winner Horizon Dore (Fr) this year, came next, while Zarak (Fr), another to have a first Group 1 winner his year when Zagrey (Fr) won the Grosser Preis von Baden, was ninth overall.

It is worth noting that, along with Zagrey, Zarak had another seven group winners this year: three more in Germany, and one in America. This unsurprisingly put him high in the German table in fourth position, with Straight (Ger) having won the G2 Union Rennen, while Shagara (Ire) won the G3 Preis der Winterkonigin and Princess Zelda (Ger) took the G3 Mehl-Mulhens-Trophy.

King of the hill in Germany, however, was Sea The Moon (Ger), which is no surprise given that he supplied the G1 Deutsches Derby winner Fantastic Moon (Ger) and the first three home in the G1 Preis der Diana, led by Muskoka (Ger). The Lanwades resident had another three group winners in Germany in 2023, as well as one each in Ireland, America and Italy.

Separating Sea The Moon and Zarak was the late duo of Areion (Ger) and Adlerflug (Ger), and special mention must go to Iquitos (Ger), who finished seventh in the table despite having had just five runners. That quintet included the stakes winners Mr Hollywood (Ire) and Drawn To Dream (Ire), both bred by Gestut Ammerland from Hurricane Run (Ire) mares.

 

 

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Champion Sire Dansili Passes At 25, Leaving Lasting Legacy For Juddmonte

Following a short but aggressive illness, champion sire Dansili has died shortly before his 26th birthday at his birthplace, Banstead Manor Stud, in Newmarket, England, Juddmonte announced with great sadness on Wednesday.

Bred by Juddmonte Farms, the son of Danehill was the first foal out of the Listed stakes winner Hasili, a daughter of Kahyasi who went on to become a “blue hen” of considerable note as the dam of six consecutive Graded stakes winners including five individual Group or Grade 1 winners.  Dansili may not have won his Group 1, but he made up for this by becoming one of the Leading British-based sires and broodmare sires of his generation.

Trained in France by André Fabre, Dansili won his first and only race as a 2-year-old, and his racecourse debut at 3, making him a leading contender for the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) in 1999. Fifteen runners went to post – one of the highest numbers in the race's history – and Dansili found only Sendawar too good. He ran four more times that season, winning the Group 3 Prix Messidor and placing in the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois (won by Dubai Millennium) and Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp.

A tough and consistent campaigner, Dansili returned for a 4-year-old season in which he won both the Group 3 Prix Edmond Blanc and Group 2 Prix du Muguet and placed four additional times at the highest level, including running second to the “Iron Horse,” Giant's Causeway, in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and third to War Chant and North East Bound in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile by a neck and a nose, the fastest closing quarter in Breeders' Cup history. Soon afterwards, Dansili was returned to his birthplace at Banstead Manor Stud to start a new chapter as a stallion.

Dansili went on to sire 22 Group 1 winners, starting at a fee of £8,000 and rising to a peak of £100,000 thanks to some outstanding horses such as Flintshire, Harbinger, Rail Link, Proviso, Queen's Trust, Dank and The Fugue; and was Champion Sire in France in 2006. He was also an exceptional broodmare sire of the likes of Nezwaah, Cliffs Of Moher, as well as Irish Oaks heroine Chicquita, Time Test, Snow Sky, Agent Murphy, Astaire and Juddmonte stallion Expert Eye. He was pensioned from stud duties in 2018 at the age of 22.

Dansili's influence will be felt at Juddmonte for many years to come through his daughters in the broodmare band and via current Juddmonte stallion Bated Breath, whose career has closely echoed that of his sire to date.

Simon Mockridge, general manager (UK) shares the following tribute: “As a racehorse he was durable, genuine, consistent and expertly handled by André Fabre throughout his career. Although he deserved a Group 1 victory on the racecourse, having been placed in six, that somehow always managed to evade him. During his 17 years at stud he played an intrinsic role alongside Oasis Dream in establishing the reputation of the Juddmonte roster. A truly wonderful, reliable, and uncomplicated character as a stallion he was a firm favourite of the Stallion Team and Juddmonte as a whole. He will be greatly missed.”

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Body & Soul: What Goes Around Comes Around?

Don’t let that headline throw you off–we are not about to bury anyone in keeping with the Oxford English Dictionary‘s definition of the proverb, i.e., “the consequences of one’s actions will have to be dealt with eventually.”

However, there may be a little karma being tossed around herein because of what the graphic which accompanies this essay seems to indicate.

To set the stage we take another bit of a dip into the endlessly fascinating brain of Dr. Franco Varola, for whom our admiration is shameless. He devoted Chapter 11 in The Functional Development of the Thoroughbred to how the species developed over time in each country to reflect the culture and economy of that country. His is a fascinating analysis of how breeding and/or purchasing Thoroughbreds tends to reflect the psyche, if you will, of a particular country–or at least how it likes to present itself to the world.

For example, the British tend to emphasize excellence in a royal sense–the Classics are the be-all and end-all, and one should breed a horse that comports itself royally, don’t you know. The French strive for all-around excellence but also want to see it done with style–or as Varola called it, “souplesse.” The Germans built their bloodstock on the dour professional, and it used to have to be “dunkelbraun”–dark bay or brown.

As for the Americans, well, no one can figure us out, not even Varola. But we’ll give it a try.

To bring some perspective into our thesis please note that your correspondent spent a good portion of the 1970s and part of the 1980s as a journalist with three specialties–financial matters, travel, and Thoroughbred racing. This was a wonderful gig, especially when a travel assignment coincided with locations where racetracks were located.

One might recall that the 1970s and 1980s were eras of turbulent social change and, almost forgotten today, massive financial dislocations–recessions, inflation, ruinous scandals. These two decades also saw extraordinary changes in Thoroughbred racing’s financial infrastructure beginning with the Northern Dancer mania at the sales to the development of multi-member racing partnerships to the exploratory and eventual embracing of simulcasting.

We will not need to expound upon the specifics here but instead we will share an insight which, over those years, we expounded in print: It seemed that whenever the overall international economy was disrupted for the majority, the hints were there first in Thoroughbred racing and breeding–sometimes up to two years ahead. Yearling sales went through the roof, and a year or so later inflation grabbed the news headlines–followed by market crashes. Breeders suffered through market crashes and foreign interests scooped in to nearly decimate historic broodmare bands.

In short, things went from a period of financial stability which dominated the 1950s and most of the 1960s to a push-and-pull amongst the entrenched Wall Street ways of doing things to financial innovators who invented, peddled, and profited from questionable futures as well as sometimes wild, and usually unsuccessful, tax shelter schemes.

In hindsight, we can now look back on the cultural changes, many of which evolved into political expressions, and see that what many feared was the loss of political stability at the time of John F. Kennedy’s election turned out to be just a hint of what would come. There was always a push-and-pull in American politics between conservatives and progressives but it was usually the men in the middle (without much female assistance) who held the center and prevailed. However, with the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, women’s liberation, LGBTQ awareness–all wrapped in a mix of disco, heavy metal, rap, and country music–the push-and-pulls turned into tugs of war.

What follows logically is how the stallion population, which comes from the racing population, is shaped by the culture and economics of an era. This shaping comes into focus over one or more decades, and we noticed in a biomechanical sense that something interesting might be going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We present herein a graphic depicting the phenotypic distribution of the leading sires for the past five decades. One should recall that a phenotype is defined as any “detectable characteristic of an organism (i.e., structural, behavioral, etc.) determined by an interaction between its genotype and environment.” As such, we have arranged our phenotype targets in clockwork fashion by decade with the 1970s at the top. Note that stability and conformity are closest to the center, and the more traditional (i.e., Classic-oriented) is off to the right (Emphasis = Stride), while the new (Emphasis = Power) is off to the left.

Note that the distribution of phenotypes in the 2000s and 2010s appear to be congruent, but in reality we are seeing a subtle move back toward the center because the stallion population in the 2010s is relatively young and are of the type that are getting sons who might help influence that movement over the next decade.

It might not turn out to be “everything old is new again,” but it could very well be somewhat karmic.

Bob Fierro is a partner with Jay Kilgore and Frank Mitchell in DataTrack International, biomechanical consultants and developers of BreezeFigs. He can be reached at bbfq@earthlink.net.

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Life Only Gets Better for Mischief

Call it the year of authentication. After sealing his giddy rise with a first sires’ championship last year, Into Mischief has retained his title in 2020 with spectacular ease. Indeed, while several of his predecessors have required a single outstanding earner to elevate them above their rivals, this most remarkable of stallions would have secured the laurels even without the $7.17 million banked by a son on the point of formal anointment as Horse of the Year.

As it is, we can instead treat his latest champion, Authentic, as immediate and priceless confirmation that an upgrade in Into Mischief’s mares–and remember he was still only a $45,000 cover when Peter Blum sent Flawless (Mr Greeley) to the Spendthrift phenomenon in 2016–would enable him to draw out his trademark speed through a second turn.

There had, admittedly, already been auspicious glimpses of this capacity: Owendale and Audible, for instance, had both emerged from much cheaper books to finish strongly for Classic placings. But the emergence of a GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner is not a matter of mere consolidation for Into Mischief. Authentic represents a neon validation of his competence to produce the kind of Triple Crown stock commensurate with a fee that has now soared, even as tariffs are being slashed at his own and virtually every other farm, to $225,000.

And if Authentic proved to be aptly named, then how about Life Is Good as a potential flagship for their sire’s next crop, which was conceived at $75,000? It’s obviously early days for a colt who only made his debut last month, but their trainer is eyeing the GIII Sham S. on Saturday–the very race he used to launch Authentic as a similarly raw sophomore prospect.

Other Into Mischief youngsters already astir include Mandaloun, who has won both starts to date for Brad Cox and may head to the GIII Lecomte S. a couple of weeks later; and Highly Motivated, whose track record at Keeneland was admittedly one of several to fall Breeders’ Cup weekend but nonetheless attests to his abundant natural speed. As a sprinter who must show how far he can stretch, Highly Motivated sets a familiar challenge. But Mandaloun certainly measures the changing complexion of the genetic material nowadays complementing Into Mischief’s own contribution: he is a Juddmonte homebred, out of an Empire Maker mare who won a Group race over just short of 10 furlongs in Ireland.

Authentic was his sire’s flagship runner this year | Coady

The momentum behind Into Mischief, as such, looks inexorable for the next few years. His rise has been sustained by unusually reliable libido and fertility, and he remains assured of undiminished quantity to support the improving quality of his mares. His books have proved invulnerable to fee increases: his 2021 juveniles, conceived at $100,000, emerge from a book of 245; the next crop, at $150,000, from one of 241; and this year he covered 248 mares at $175,000. Obviously he has his home herd to service, gratis, but the turnover being generated by outside mares is still eye-watering.

Famously, of course, there are nine breeders out there who wouldn’t have to pay a cent–though presumably they will mostly have cashed out by now, having secured a lifetime breeding right by committing a mare to Into Mischief’s first two seasons. It was launching a couple of rookies into the backdraft of the 2008 financial crisis that inspired Spendthrift’s owner B. Wayne Hughes to develop Share the Upside, pioneer among many the incentive schemes that have meanwhile transformed the stallion industry in the Bluegrass. (A process, admittedly, that has discomfited many a farm; and, in candour, made some rivals resent the rise of Into Mischief as poster boy for a whole new culture.)

The kind of elite stallion Hughes is now managing to bring to the farm won’t need that kind of extra support. Both Spendthrift and its flagship stallion have come a long way since Into Mischief covered 50 mares at $7,500 in 2012, just as his first runners were about to reach the track.

Those first years earning his stripes do mean that Into Mischief is now in his prime, about to turn 16. He already has some promising sons at stud, even from his cheaper books, and breeders at all levels duly have more accessible alternatives: from those who sent 196 mares to Maximus Mischief at $7,500 in his debut book, to those who will pay 10 times that sum to reach Authentic this coming spring.

Nonetheless, after finishing 35th, 13th and fourth in the three years prior to his first title, Into Mischief is clearly going to take a lot of shifting from the summit for the time being. Yes, it remains possible for a handful of disproportionate purses in the international calendar to distort the validity of a pecking order determined by prize money. In fact, it had come to seem imperative to find a more instructive gauge after Unbridled’s Song won a posthumous championship in 2017 exclusively through the lucrative endeavors of Arrogate, who won the GI Pegasus and G1 Dubai World Cup in the first three months of the year. Otherwise Unbridled’s Song would have finished 44th. (Not that the horse so denied the title, Candy Ride {Arg}, could throw stones from his glass house: without Gun Runner, he would have finished 20th.)

Into Mischief at home at Spendthrift | Sarah Andrew

Hats off, then, to Into Mischief for restoring a helpful correlation between prize money and consistent merit. Last year, his top earner Covfefe contributed just $1,052,425 to an overall haul of $19,179,389. This time round, his progeny earned well over $15 million even without the bank vault filled by Authentic. That would still have put him $3 million clear of a runner-up, in Medaglia d’Oro, who himself owes very nearly half his 2020 earnings to his prolific Hong Kong star Golden Sixty (Aus).

And that’s in terms of global earnings. If measured by North American and European purses only, Into Mischief has doubled the tally of his nearest pursuer, Uncle Mo ($21.7 million against $10.6 million). To be fair, whatever else he is, he is not yet a stallion of intercontinental reach: his overseas earnings are marginal. But he is certainly restoring the good name of the championship he has retained.

This consistency of output is partly a function of the industrial Spendthrift model–which is driven by opportunity, to put it positively; or numbers, to put it more plainly. Even in a year where the pandemic devoured much of the springtime program, and in particular delayed the advent of the juveniles, Into Mischief has had 420 starters. (This and all other numbers cited remain subject to mild overnight updates, being correct to Dec. 30.) In the top 10 only Uncle Mo, standing on another farm that will not take kindly to the impending restriction on books to 140, has had even 300 starters.

So yes, there have been plenty of stallions in 2020 with a superior ratio of winners to starters. But the witting, willing trade-off made by these big commercial farms, who believe a stallion gets more momentum from headline horses than small-print percentages, does not actually weaken the credentials of the champion. Because his 15% black-type performers-to-starters is the best of the year; narrowly exceeding a rival, in War Front, who has always operated with quality ahead of quantity.  His 29 black-type winners, moreover, were assembled at a clip matched among Kentucky rivals only by Speightstown and, in another significant endorsement for the numbers game, Uncle Mo.

Other Top Proven Sires
We’ll be crediting several who have performed well behind Into Mischief in our ongoing series previewing covering options for 2021. For now, it’s worth giving honourable mentions to a handful. Multiple previous champion Tapit remains a wonder of consistency, once again on the podium; the splendid veteran Speightstown was unique in managing four individual Grade I winners; Munnings, in breaking into the top ten, has stopped smouldering and is now sparking at last, as high as fourth in the North American/European table; Hard Spun, following through on fourth last year with another excellent show in ninth, continues to outpunch his fee; and likewise The Factor, still only $17,500 despite only just missing the top 10 active Kentucky stallions.

Uncle Mo | Coolmore photo

But perhaps the most conspicuous achiever behind Into Mischief has been Uncle Mo–not just after ascending to fourth from 13th, but as the sire of three of the top four in the freshmen’s championship. That makes 2020 a game-changing year for Ashford’s linchpin of the Caro line, who is only turning 13.

Among his current racing stock, consistency was the key: while he didn’t muster a single Grade I winner, none could match Uncle Mo’s 14 individual graded stakes winners. But for a stallion with just six racing crops to have emerged virtually overnight as a sire of sires is quite extraordinary.

First-Crop Sires
Just as Nyquist emerged from Uncle Mo’s first crop to emulate his 2-year-old championship, so he has in turn become champion freshman sire (by prize money) with a GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner of his own. Vequist accounts for half the earnings banked by Nyquist’s 17 winners from 45 starters. He has not messed around: he only has two stakes winners, but both had the opportunism to win at Grade I level (Vequist plus Summer S. winner Gretzky the Great). Of five black-type performers overall, moreover, Nyquist has had two others placed at the elite level.

If Nyquist has jumped through the same hoops as his sire, Laoban came out of left field–or at least out of New York, where he had started at $5,000. After pulling fairytale GI Alcibiades S. winner Simply Ravishing out of his hat, Laoban is on his way to WinStar in Kentucky where he will join Outwork, their sire’s other fast starter with 19 winners.

Not This Time | Jon Siegel

Intruding on Uncle Mo’s private party was Not This Time, far and away the most prolific with no fewer than 28 individual winners from 54 starters. He has proved he can get a good one, too, with the charismatic OBS Spring Sale-topper Princess Noor a runaway winner of the GI Del Mar Debutante (unfortunately since retired with a soft tissue injury).

Second-Crop Sires
These young guns will now look to consolidate after the fashion of American Pharoah and Constitution, who finished first and second in the freshmen’s table last year and fill the same positions in the second-crop championship. The big mover in this group was obviously Daredevil, whose star filly Swiss Skydiver helped him up to fourth, and back to the Bluegrass from Turkey, after her anonymous debut last year.

Third-Crop Sires and Beyond
Top of the preceding intake remains Goldencents, who finished second as a freshman and first last year. This was the first racehorse to show that Into Mischief might become a more potent sire than had been expected. Who can say, then, which unheralded young stallion may commence some equivalent rags-to-riches rise in 2021? That’s the whole beauty of this business. We’re always seeing stallions who seem to have the world at their feet, falling flat on their faces; and the converse, too.

As Hughes constantly reminds his team at Spendthrift: “Nobody knows.” That may seem a disadvantage, if you’re trying to put together any kind of coherent business plan with Thoroughbreds. But actually it’s what gives us all a chance–and the reason why Into Mischief, for all the uncomfortable challenges Hughes has set more conventional competitors, deserves a universal toast on concluding another remarkable chapter in his epic tale.

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