Renee Dailey | Horse Racing Free Tips

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.

Buyers will have plenty of opportunity to get a good look at the first crop from Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief – Reina Maria, by Songandaprayer) at next week's Fasig-Tipton July Sale. With a dozen yearlings currently slated to go through the ring for Maximus Mischief, Spendthrift's Mark Toothaker said the young sire is generating quite the commercial buzz.

“I think he's going to have as much hype as any stallion out there,” he explained. “We knew there was a lot of excitement with this horse and we felt like, as the Fasig-Tipton team was doing their inspections, they were going to find a lot of these that they liked. He's a horse that gets the right type of physical. ”

While Maximus Mischief's major selling point for breeders has been the fact that he is by Into Mischief, this son of the remarkable leading stallion offers a different physical than most other sons of Into Mischief at stud. Toothaker said the speedy 'TDN Rising Star'-turned-Grade II winner has continued to fill out since settling in at Spendthrift and now, as a 6-year-old, stands at 17 hands.

“He is my biggest horse,” he said. “For him to win his first three starts, including the GII Remsen S., he was amazing with his speed for a horse that big. But to be an Into Mischief and be that big is even more amazing because normally that's something we don't see a lot. For him to be this massive, stretchy horse, breeders are loving it.”

Toothaker explained that as a unique representation of the Into Mischief line, Maximus Mischief is producing offspring with both the body and the leg that the commercial market demands.

“Breeders are putting something out there that the market wants. You get that great hip and really good Into Mischief body, but also with plenty of leg.”

With a $7,500 stud fee in his first three years at stud, Maximus Mischief has been held to an average of 180 mares each year. It's a book size that Toothaker said fits the stallion and what they hope to accomplish with him.

“I feel like we hit the bull's-eye with him because he's at a price that anybody can afford,” he noted. “It has caused a dilemma because we sell him out, which is a great problem to have, but it's exciting for breeders to be able to get a horse of his quality for that price. Who wouldn't want to breed to a son of Into Mischief?”

Out of a half-sister to Grade I winner Secret Compass (Discreet Compass) and campaigned by Cash is King LLC and LC Racing, Maximus Mischief romped in his first two starts as a juvenile at Parx, winning the first by almost nine lengths under wraps and the second in a similar style with a 98 Beyer Speed Figure. He remained undefeated in the GII Remsen S., but incurred an injury shortly after placing in the GII Holy Bull S. and was forced off the Kentucky Derby trail and eventually into retirement.

“We were pretty determined to land him here at Spendthrift,” Toothaker noted.”We were very fortunate that Chuck Zacney and Glenn Bennett were willing to do a deal with us to insure bringing him here. They've been very, very supportive of Max each year. They've sent mares to him and have been active at the sales buying some.”

At the fall and winter breeding stock sales, Maximus Mischief's progeny averaged $42,777 with 45 of 52 sold. At the Keeneland January Sale, his filly out of Sheza Sweet Lemon (Lemon Drop Kid) sold for $145,000 to Cash Is King and Commonwealth New Era Racing.

Bloodstock agent and pinhooker Renee Dailey said she went into the weanling sales with the goal of coming out with several Maximus Mischief pinhooking prospects.

“We had seen and heard about how their appearance was so much like the Into Mischiefs,” she recalled. “They were very athletic-looking foals that had great walks and strong shoulders and hips. When they were pulled out of the barn, you would not have known it wasn't an Into Mischief.”

Hip 123, Maximus Mischief colt out of Lucy Buckner | Amy Lanigan

Dailey couldn't get her hands on a Maximus Mischief until late in the Keeneland November Sale, but found another prospect in January. Partnering with John Greathouse of Glencrest Farm, she signed the ticket on a colt out of Lucy Buckner (Stormy Atlantic), a full-sister to GISW Stormy Lucy, for $55,000.

“When John and I got him at that price, we looked at each other and high-fived,” she recounted. “We were thrilled. He is a very strong colt. He has a huge hip and shoulder. With Storm Cat on the bottom and Into Mischief on the top, he is bred to be fast and it's a similar cross to GISW Going to Vegas (Goldencents).”

The colt is now preparing to go through the ring as Hip 123 at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale with Four Star Sales.

“I'm just thrilled with how he has come along through sales prep,” Dailey said. “He's a forward, tenacious colt and an extremely athletic physical. I've had him since he was purchased and he just hasn't had a bad day.”

Toothaker said he believes that Maximus Mischief's sales prospects at Fasig-Tipton July will serve as a harbinger for more to come for their sire as the yearling auctions continue.

“Everyone you talk to is saying that they've got a good one,” he said. “They're going to be horses that people can buy right and give them a real chance at the track or back at the 2-year-old sales.”

The post First-Crop Yearling Previews: Maximus Mischief appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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While there are certainly some strong contenders vying for this year's Champion 3-Year-Old Colt title, it's still possible that the future recipient hasn't yet had his breakout win. Perhaps, he wasn't even seen in a Triple Crown race.

In the past 20 years, two colts have managed to earn the crown for Eclipse Champion 3-Year-Old Male despite having skipped the Triple Crown trail. The first was Arrogate, who did not make his graded stakes debut until his famed 13 1/2-length, record-setting GI Travers.

The second came the following year.

A $425,000 2015 Keeneland September Sale purchase, West Coast (Flatter-Caressing, by Honour and Glory) broke his maiden early in his sophomore year and then came within a head in the GIII Lexington S. before earning five straight wins. After victories in the Easy Goer S. at Belmont and the GIII Los Alamitos Derby, the Gary and Mary West colorbearer got his signature score in the GI Travers. Setting the pace early, the speedy bay was never passed, defeating a field that featured each 2017 Classic winner–Always Dreaming, Cloud Computing and Tapwrit.

“West Coast's Travers was really a coming-out party for him,” Lane's End's Bill Farish said. “He ran all three Classic winners from that year into the ground and the way he did it, pulling away from them, is what was the most impressive thing to me.”

West Coast returned to the winner's circle in his next start with an effortless performance in the GI Pennsylvania Derby.

After a third-place finish in the 2017 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the reigning 3-year-old champ returned at four to run second to Gun Runner in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S., earning a 117 Beyer Speed Figure, followed by game second-place efforts in the G1 Dubai World Cup and GI Awesome Again S.

The son of Flatter retired to Lane's End Farm in 2019 with earnings of over $5.8 million as the leading earner for his sire. Out of Caressing, a juvenile Eclipse and Breeders' Cup champion, West Coast is also a half -brother to graded stakes-placed horses Gold Hawk (Empire Maker) and Juan and Bina (Indian Charlie).

“He just showed so much ability,” Farish said. “We love to see a 3-year-old with multiple Grade I wins. They generally have a great chance to make it at stud.”

Off at an initial fee of $35,000, West Coast bred 168 mares in his first year at stud, followed by an additional 103 the following season at the same fee. With first yearlings now preparing to see the sales ring, he stands this year for $20,000.

Lane's End has five West Coast foals on the ground this year including this youngster, a son of four-time stakes horse producer Rehear (Coronado's Quest). | Alys Emson

“West Coast has gotten off to a great start,” Farish said. “He had a full first book, so he has a good representative crop of yearlings this year. We're very optimistic about how they look and how they'll do at the sales.”

Farish explained how their goal from the start was to see West Coast thrive as a Classic-producing sire.

“West Coast is a well-made, good-sized horse with plenty of scope. He looks wonderful. I think people come and see him, and it's what they're hoping to see. With his pedigree in being an A.P. Indy-line horse, the possibilities are that he's going to get you a good Classic-type, two-turn horse.”

Farish confirmed that this first crop of yearlings reflect what they had visualized for West Coast's progeny.

“They really remind you of him,” he said. “They've got size, scope and really look like they're going to be two-turn horses. That's what we've always tried to breed for and that's what he has delivered.”

One West Coast yearling at Lane's End that received high praise from Farish is a filly out of the St. Elias Stable-owned mare Playtime (Street Cry {Ire}). The youngster is a half-sister to this year's GII Appalachian S. winner Jouster (Noble Mission {GB}).

“She's a super filly,” Farish said of the yearling. “She's bred by St. Elias and they're not sure if they're going to sell her or keep her. I think they may be thinking about keeping her. But she's really been a standout from right after she was born.”

Another West Coast yearling foaled at Lane's End has been on Farish's watch list from day one. Out of Irish Jasper, a daughter of First Defence raced to Grade II victory by W.S. Farish and David Mackie, the colt was foaled in March last year.

“He's one of the best colts we have on the farm,” Farish said. “He's one we're going to keep and race. We're excited to see him on the track, but he really is a nice-looking individual.”

Irish Jasper was bred back to West Coast and has another colt on the ground this year.

At last year's sales, 24 West Coast weanlings sold from 34 offered. As a group, they averaged $53,625. The top lot, a colt out of Joannie (Smart Strike), brought $200,000 at Keeneland November.

Agent Renee Dailey found a weanling by the Lane's End sire at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale that she couldn't leave without. She purchased the filly for $65,000.

West Coast filly out of Fixate sells as Hip 156 with the Four Star Sales consignment at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale.

“The filly was the second foal out of the young mare Fixate (Bodemeister), who is a half-sister to MGSW and sire Air Support (Smart Strike) and is from the family of MGISW and sire Coronado's Quest,” Dailey explained. “She was a beautiful physical, I loved her walk, she was a good-sized, strong filly and was very straightforward.”

The owner and operator of Dailey Bloodstock purchased the filly for $65,000 and, according to Dailey, the youngster has blossomed this year.

“She has a lot of stretch and she's very racey, but with a powerful hip and shoulder and a lovely head and neck. We put her in the July sale because we thought she would be a good representation of the sire for the first showing of his yearlings.”

Dailey said she has been excited by the prospecting of selling West Coast's progeny since she first saw the horse in person.

“I was a huge fan of West Coast when he was on the track and won impressively in the Pennsylvania Derby and I was so excited to get to see his foals,” she said. “I was impressed with his physical every time I saw him in the paddock and that's how I picked this filly. I thought she looked so much like her daddy. I think he's stamping his foals. The filly, as well as many of the other ones I've seen, have his strong body, big hip and lovely topline.”

Dailey's pinhook prospect will sell as one of seven West Coast yearlings in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale on July 13. The filly will be offered as Hip 156 with the Four Star Sales consignment.

Other notable pedigrees from West Coast's Fasig-Tipton yearlings include Hip 12, a filly out of GII Adirondack S. winner Designer Legs (Graeme Hall), as well as Hip 77, a filly out of SW Sharp Sally (Posse), a full sister to dual GISW Annals of Time (Temple City). View West Coast's full Fasig-Tipton roster here.

“Buyers are going to appreciate that he's an A.P Indy-line stallion, that he had brilliance and that he's getting good-looking yearlings,” Farish said. “I'm very optimistic.”

Miss one the first four features from our 2021 First-Crop Yearling Sire series? Click here for the full archive.

The post West Coast’s First Yearlings Show Classic Potential appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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