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GISW Hot Rod Charlie to Shadai Stallion Station

Grade I winner Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow–Indian Miss, by Indian Charlie) will stand at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan beginning in 2023. The GI Pennsylvania Derby hero and half-brother to Eclipse Champion Sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya) will stand for ¥2,000,000.

Eisuke Tokutake of Shadai Stallion Station said, “Hot Rod Charlie has only one [Grade I] win, but he is running steadily, and his pedigree background is a stallion that is definitely a Japan stallion [in the making] with a champion sprinter as his half-brother, [Mitole].”

Purchased for $17,000 as a short yearling out of the Fasig-Tipton February Sale, he developed into a $110,000 prospect when reoffered at Fasig-Tipton in October of 2019. The Edward A. Cox, Jr.-bred dark bay won a maiden special weight in his fourth start at two for Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing, LLC & William Strauss and trainer Doug O'Neill and was later was a close second to Essential Quality (Tapit) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile of 2020.

At three, Hot Rod Charlie was campaigned with the Triple Crown in mind, and was third in the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. prior to taking the GII Louisiana Derby by two lengths. Gainesway Farm bought in before he crossed the wire in third in the GI Kentucky Derby, although he was subsequently elevated to second as Medina Spirit (Protonico) was disqualified for a medication positive and Mandaloun (Into Mischief) was named the winner. The colt was only 1 1/4 lengths behind old rival Essential Quality when runner-up in the GI Belmont S., and he was a nose the best in the GI Haskell S., but was disqualified to seventh after drifting down the stretch. Recording a career-high victory at Parx in September, he rounded out the season with a fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar, followed by a nose second in Santa Anita's GII San Antonio S.

Sent to Meydan in February of 2022, the then-4-year-old dashed to a 5 1/4-length win in the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 prior to running second in the G1 Dubai World Cup a month later. Runner-up in his North American reappearance in the GIII Salvator Mile last June, he finished third behind Eclipse finalist Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in the GI Whitney S., narrowly besting Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice) in the GII Lukas Classic in October. He concluded 2022 with a sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic held at Keeneland Nov. 5.

“What to say? Thank you Hot Rod Charlie for the amazing memories, the great and often unpredictable ride and for inspiring us to give our ALL every time,” tweeted O'Neill. “Wishing him the best in his new career. We'll miss him around here.”

In a press release, O'Neill continued: “Hot Rod Charlie was a phenomenal racehorse. He competed against the best of his generation and proved his class time and again. As a half-brother to champion sprinter Mitole, the sky's the limit. We look forward to following his stud career.”

He retires with a mark of 19-5-5-4 and $5,676,720 in earnings. The fifth foal, runner and winner for his placed dam, Hot Rod Charlie hails from the same family as GII Davona Dale S. heroine Live Lively (Medaglia d'Oro).

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Into Mischief Tops Spendthrift’s 2023 Stud Fees

Into Mischief once again leads Spendthrift Farm's roster for 2023 with his stud fee remaining at $250,000 S&N, the operation announced Thursday.

Spendthrift has added four new stallions including MGISWs Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) and Cyberknife (Gun Runner), who are both pointing for the Breeders' Cup. The other new additions are GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and GSW Greatest Honour (Tapit), who are both available for inspection at the farm.

Champion Jackie's Warrior, the likely favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, will command a fee of $50,000 S&N. GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell Invitational S. winner Cyberknife's fee will be determined after he runs in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Mo Donegal, who retired shortly after his Classic victory, will stand for $20,000 S&N. While regally bred Greatest Honour will be at an introductory fee of $7,500 S&N.

“We are extremely excited about the new stallions we are bringing in for 2023. They represent exactly what we hope to do each year, in terms of offering quality and value at all levels of the market,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. “Jackie's Warrior is a brilliantly fast champion and one of the most decorated racehorses to come around in recent years. Mo Donegal is a graded winner at two and classic winner at three. Cyberknife won two of the most high-profile Grade Is for 3-year-olds, and Greatest Honour has a rare combination of talent, looks and pedigree that you don't find often at his level of the market. From $50,000 on down to $7,500, all four of these horses were precocious, displayed immense talent, are tremendous physicals, and possess the sire power breeders are looking for.”

Into Mischief's GI Kentucky Derby-winning son and Horse of the Year Authentic will stand for $60,000 S&N for his third season, down $10,000 from last year. Meanwhile Bolt d'Oro will see his fee increase on the back of a strong freshman season, going from $20,000 to $35,000 S&N.

Omaha Beach and Yaupon will remain at $30,000 S&N. Omaha Beach's yearlings have proven quite popular, making him the leader in his class at the recent yearling auctions. Yaupon is standing his second season this year.

Spendthrift's stallions under $20,000 are led by champion Vino Rosso at $15,000 S&N, down from $20,000 last year. MGISW Vekoma and champion Mitole will also stand for $15,000 S&N. Mitole's fee is unchanged from last year and Vekoma is down slightly from $17,500. Goldencents, Known Agenda, Rock Your World and Jimmy Creed will all stand for $10,000 S&N.

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D. J. Stable Buys Top Two at OBS October

A Mitole colt and a The Factor filly shared top billing during the select session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's October Yearling Sale, with both fetching $210,000 from the Green family's D. J. Stable.

In total, 123 head changed hands for gross receipts of $6,018,000. The average was $48,927 (up 12.1% from $43,644 for the corresponding session in 2021) and median was $40,000 (up 25% from $32,000 last year). The RNA rate was 34.2% as of this writing, but that figure does not include post-sale transactions.

D. J. Stable led all buyers, while Kaizen Sales was the leading consignor with 18 head sold for $799,000.

The auction concludes Wednesday with an open session beginning at 10:00 a.m. Visit www.obssales.com for more information.

GREEN TEAM ACTIVE IN OCALA

Len and Lois Green's D. J. Stable celebrated a big win this past Friday when their Mark Casse trainee Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief) solidified herself as one of the favorites for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies with a gutsy score in Keeneland's GI Darley Alcibiades, and the team was back at it on Tuesday adding to their roster of 2-year-olds for next year. In total, D. J. purchased five head for a combined $590,000, including both of the $210,000 toppers.

“Our expectations are always to try and find value,” said D. J. general manger Jon Green when asked if last week's win had anything to do with Tuesday's activity. “We have people looking at every sale for us with the idea that if horses fall within the price ranges that we anticipate that we'll go ahead and strike. It's really a matter of value, and we felt like the horses we picked up at this sale, although they weren't inexpensive by any stretch, they represented value for the athleticism and the pedigrees they possessed.”

The Greens also purchased the $600,000 Curlin colt topper earlier this yearling season at Fasig-Tipton July.

The first of their high-priced buys Tuesday was a Mitole colt consigned by Bobby Jones Equine LLC, Agent II as hip 122. The Florida-bred is the first foal out of an unraced Uncle Mo half-sister to grade/group winners Giant Gizmo (Giant's Causeway), Eons (Giant's Causeway) and Tableaux (Giant's Causeway) and to the dam of MGSW Cheermeister (Bodemeister).

“The reason why we went as high as we did on the Mitole colt is that he doesn't look like a typical sprinter that you would expect from a champion sprinter like Mitole,” said Green. “He's bred 3×3 to Indian Charlie and he looks like he's going to be a big 16.3 kind of colt once he's all done growing. So, for us, it was the appeal of getting a horse who could potentially have the turn of foot and speed that Mitole had during his career, but still have the scope to go two turns like this colt should be able to do and like his female family suggests he should.”

Green also noted that D. J. had bought another Mitole colt at Keeneland September after he RNA'd for $190,000, “but we probably got outbid on four or five others.”

Also among D. J.'s acquisitions was a filly by The Factor (hip 150) who received a well-timed pedigree update when her 2-year-old half-sister Delight (Mendelssohn) romped in the GII Jessamine S. one race before the Alcibiades. Delight sold for $90,000 at this auction 12 months ago and then for $400,000 at OBS March off a sparkling breeze (10.1) and gallop out. Like Delight last term, hip 150 was consigned by Stuart Morris.

“It was a combination of things,” Green said when asked how much of the filly's $210,000 price tag was the pedigree and how much was the physical. “Mark Casse, who will train her, had her down in his opinion as the top filly in the sale. We were actually present when Delight won the Jessamine at Keeneland and I was just very impressed with her in the paddock–with her demeanor–and we were one of the many underbidders on her at OBS March. [Trainer] Jonathan Thomas has done a great job campaigning her and I fully anticipate that Delight is going to hit the board in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and if that's the case it'll be a tremendous update for this filly as well.”

The D. J. team has a connection to a third Breeders' Cup-bound juvenile filly in GI TVG Del Mar Debutante S. and GII Chandelier S. heroine And Tell Me Nolies (Arrogate), who they bought for $70,000 as a KEEJAN short yearling upon the recommendation of bloodstock agent Kim Valerio and then sold for $230,000 at OBS April.

“The team starts with Kim Valerio,” Green said. “She's been outstanding as far as finding athletes for us. Kim has so many years of experience in the industry across the board in various aspects, and she's used to working with end users like us and knows what things we can live with vs. pinhookers for example. Kim does an outstanding job of finding these athletes and giving us a short list, and then it's up to our trainers to take the short list and narrow it down even more, but I would have to say for the majority of the horses on Kim's short list, our trainers concur and feel confident in vetting and subsequently bidding on and buying.”

D. J. will be seeking a second Breeders' Cup Juvenile fillies title (Jaywalk, 2018) next month, and Green said all systems are go: “Wonder Wheel, knock on wood, came out of the race outstanding. We fully anticipate for her to compete and run a good race in the Breeders' Cup. I've said previously in other interviews, and as silly as it sounds, the Spinaway (in which Wonder Wheel was second as the favorite Sept. 4) is a Grade I at Saratoga, so you'd think that would be very high up on everyone's list for trying to win it. But our goal was to set her up for the Alcibiades and then the Breeders' Cup, so on the one hand we were a little disappointed we ran second, but we weren't squeezing the lemon for that race. We were really trying to make sure she had two more big races in her arsenal and I think she's setting up to run a great race.”

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First-Crop Yearling Previews: Mitole

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.

Mitole (Eskendereya – Indian Miss, by Indian Charlie) is a barn favorite for Spendthrift Farm's Stallion Sales Manager Mark Toothaker for several reasons, perhaps a big one being that, as Toothaker joked, “He's easy on a guy trying to sell stallion season.”

The 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint champion bred over 200 mares in each of his first few years at stud, including that tough third season where many promising stallions are lucky to get 100. What has made Mitole so extremely popular?

“I think with Mitole, the biggest thing with him was just how fast he was,” Toothaker explained. “Steve [Asmussen] even said that this is the fastest horse in the world. He was hard to beat at any distance and we feel like that's what breeders have gravitated toward is his speed. The demand for him has just been amazing through the first three years.”

Bred by Edward A. Cox Jr., Mitole was a $20,000 yearling turned $140,000 OBS April 2-year-old. Campaigned by William and Corinne Heiligbrodt and trained by Steve Asmussen, the colt out of future Broodmare of the Year Indian Miss (Indian Charlie) got his first win in his third start, defeating a field of maidens by 10 lengths as a young 3-year-old. He got his first stakes win two months later in the Bachelor S. at Oaklawn Park.

“We were chasing another stallion that day,” Toothaker recalled. “When I came back to the office, I told everyone that I may have seen the best 3-year-old in the country. They thought I was talking about the other horse, but I was talking about Mitole. This was April of his 3-year-old year and he got a 107 Beyer. This horse was just incredible.”

Mitole was sidelined after a win in his next start in the Chick Lang S. due to a splint injury, but returned at four to capture six of his seven starts in 2019, including the GI Churchill Downs S. on the Kentucky Derby undercard, the GI Runhappy Metropolitan H. over MGISW McKinzie (Street Sense) and the GI Forego S. in stakes-record time. He culminated his season with a career-high 112 Beyer Speed Figure in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and retired with over $3 million in earnings as the 2019 Champion Male Sprinter and Horse of the Year finalist.

Launched with an initial stud fee of $25,000 in 2020, Mitole's fee was brought down to $15,000 the next year when Spendthrift reduced stud fees for most of their roster in 2021. Toothaker said that as the young stallion's first foals arrived, breeders started calling with the hopes of bringing their mares back to him.

“People have loved the way these things look,” Toothaker said of Mitole's first foals. “They have great hips on them, they look like him, and they just look fast.”

Mitole sent 56 weanlings and short yearlings through the ring at the breeding stock sales. 46 sold to average $80,608 and place their sire among the top 5 first-crop weanling sires in North America in 2021. His colt out of Rode Warrior (Quality Road) sold for $285,000 at Keeneland November to Spendthrift Farm and Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt while another colt at the same sale brought $200,000.

At the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale on July 12, Mitole will be represented by 13 members of his first crop.

“I feel like as we go around and do our notes out there, it's going to be a lot of the same,” Toothaker said. “It will be a horse that looks like we could take to the 2-year-old sale and it could go fast and have a chance to hit a big lick, or, it could be a horse that trainers are going to take to the track saying that we could come out with this 2-year-old and mean business from the get go.”

Brookdale Sales will send Hip 9, a Mitole colt out of the Lonhro (Aus) mare Limit, through the sales ring at Fasig-Tipton July for breeder Mineloa Farm. Martin O'Dowd said that everyone at Mineola has been impressed by this colt from the start.

“He's very, very nice,” O'Dowd said. “He's correct and has a great mind and a lovely walk. In the paddock, he just moves beautifully with a fabulous, low stride. The mare has a very deep family and it's a family that runs on dirt and turf.”

At the same sale, Rosilyn Polan's Sunday Morning Farm will send a Mitole colt through the ring as Hip 51. The yearling is out of Sweetness Galore (Rock Hard Ten), a daughter of GISW Tribulation (Danzig). Polan's favorite thing about the youngster, she said, is his powerful stride.

“I love that he is not only so fluid when he walks, but he's so purposeful,” she explained. “He acts like he's planning ahead with every footfall and just reaching for the finish line. He's a fun one to have.”

Toothaker said that he is anticipating high demand for Mitole's yearlings from a wide variety of shoppers.

“It's exciting because Bill and Corinne were active at the sales supporting him and they're going to try to have these things ready to roll as well,” he said. “I feel that the 2-year-old pinhookers all the way to the people going to the races are going to want to have a Mitole. Everybody likes fast.”

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