Tag: spendthrift

Top Videos of the Year

It was a record-breaking year for video production at the TDN, and for video views, with over 3.8 million TDN videos and advertisers’ commercials shown on our platforms. We took a look to see what you were watching the most. Here are our top 10 videos of the year, as watched on the TDN’s YouTube Channel and the TDN site combined. Click on the red links below to watch.

  1. Zenyatta and Her Candy Ride Filly at Lane’s End. 108,960 views. She may be the fan-favorite of all time.
  2. Meet the First Foal from Songbird, By Arrogate. 91,160 views. Even though this video was published in March of 2019, it had legs, racking up over 90,000 views in 2020.
  3. The Incomparable, Invincible, Unbeatable Cigar. 56,962 views. This 20-minute video wasn’t published until October 16 under the TDN Look banner, but still racked up an impressive amount of views…even if it was a little depressing when Tom Durkin told us that what he had really said was “unconquerable” and not “incomparable.” Whoops.
  4. A.P. Indy Turns 30. 51,968 views. Here’s another video with legs: published in March, 2019, it racked up over 50,000 views in 2020 alone.
  5. Authentic Retired to Spendthrift. 49,163 views. The retirement and arrival of the sure-to-be Horse of the Year at Spendthrift was seen almost 50,000 times.
  6. The Late Arrogate’s First Yearlings go to Market. 44,189 views. Between the video on his Songbird foal and this one featuring his first yearlings, Arrogate was a popular, if sadly tragic, topic for viewers in 2020.
  7. Taylor Made Stallions on the Rise, 41,217 views. Katie Ritz talks to Frank and Ben Taylor about first-crop sire Not This Time, Midnight Storm and Taylor Made’s new arrival, Instagrand.
  8. An Unexpected Storybook Ending for Midnight Bisou. 36, 963 views. Owner Jeff Bloom reminisces on the incredible career of Midnight Bisou as she prepares to sell at the Fasig-Tipton November sale.
  9. Songbird Celebrates Her Second Mother’s Day. 33,296 views. This addition gives Songbird has two of the top 10 videos of the year. People clearly love checking in with the top mares.
  10. Volatile Settling in at Three Chimneys, 26,182 views. New stallion visits are always popular, and Volatile sat just off the pace of Authentic as this year’s leader.
  11. Tour Newmarket With John Berry, 23,052 views. Early on in the pandemic, we tried to help people feel as if they were getting out of their homes with video tours. John Berry was kind enough to take us on a multi-part tour of Newmarket and the series drew tens of thousands of views.

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Who’s Your Pick? Aidan O’Meara

As we approach the end of the calendar, we turn our attention to the incoming sire class of 2021. We asked several judges who their favorite incoming sire is for next year and if there are any other stallions, new or otherwise, that have caught their eye as under-the-radar picks.

AIDAN O’MEARA, Stonehaven Steadings 

Authentic (Into Mischief), $75,000, Spendthrift Farm 

The horse we’re most excited about this year is a bit of an obvious one, but it has to be Authentic. His sire has developed into the preeminent sire of this past five years and has set himself up to carry that status well into the next decade and beyond.

When a sire hits that stratosphere and puts himself out of reach of most of your broodmare band, you hope that a significant son of his shows up to give you a viable alternative and thankfully, Authentic is that and more. A horse that showed raw brilliance from day one, he is one of the more exciting prospects to retire in recent years and a stand-out in a group of young horses that is arguably one of the stronger incoming classes in the last decade.

What I consider to be one of the more significant things to do as a racehorse to showcase your potential future abilities as a stallion is to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a 3-year-old. Only a handful of horses have been able to do it and most of them have gone on to be significant sires- Sunday Silence, Unbridled, A.P. Indy, Tiznow, Curlin and most recently American Pharoah. Authentic’s win this year in the Classic and the manner and time in which he did it coupled with wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Haskell S. gives me a lot of confidence that we may have something potentially special on our hands with him.

He was picked out as a yearling by one of the sharpest teams in the business [SF Bloodstock, Starlight West] and that will tell you a lot about his physique. He is somewhat atypical of the sire line in that he has a larger frame and stretch than what normally is seen and has a body that will only be further complimented as he matures.

I was fortunate enough to see him a couple of mornings on the run up to the Breeders’ Cup and he’s a horse that just exuded class as he cruised around Keeneland. We will be breeding a couple of A-team mares to him, the dam of Shanghai Bobby (Harlan’s Holiday) being one of them.

War of Will (War Front), $25,000, Claiborne Farm 

There are plenty of value sires in the ‘breed to race’ sphere. Paynter, Midnight Lute, Lookin at Lucky, etc. have consistently delivered at the racetrack but have been held back commercially for different reasons and make for limited commercial plays. Any proven sire that has shown commercial appeal to go along with racetrack success has sky rocketed in the other direction to where it only makes sense for a handful of breeders.

Despite what was a very difficult year for most farms trying to sell yearlings, the stud fee market has not been very reflective of that and just about all stud fees for established sires with any commercial appeal and all of the incoming freshman sires are about what they would have been at this time last year.

That being said though, the one young sire that I thought jumped out from a value standpoint was War of Will at $25,000. He’s a very attractive horse that gets your attention two steps out of his stall. He carries more size than expected from the sire line and has a classy yet masculine look that we like to see in young prospects. He’s a Grade I winner on dirt and turf and has a big pedigree to back it all up.

Claiborne has traditionally been very selective in their young stallion acquisitions and has developed young stallions who have been commercially successful in the all-important first few years of their careers, as evidenced by Mastery (Candy Ride {Arg}) again last year.

We think War of Will has a big shot to develop into one of the talking horses at the weanlings and yearling sales the next couple of years and offers breeders a great opportunity of commercial success without being over exposed on the stud fee.

Do you have a favorite incoming sire pick for 2021 or a stallion that you think might be under-the-radar next year? Email the TDN’s Katie Ritz at katieritz@thoroughbreddailynews.com to give your response.

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Who’s Your Pick? Derek MacKenzie

As we approach the end of the calendar, we turn our attention to the incoming sire class of 2021. We asked several judges who their favorite incoming sire is for next year and if there are any other stallions, new or otherwise, that have caught their eye as under-the-radar picks.

 

 

DEREK MACKENZIE, Vinery Sales 

Higher Power (Medaglia d’Oro), $10,000, Darby Dan 

My favorite new sire for 2021 is Higher Power. Physically, he’s just phenomenal and his pedigree is hands down the best this year for the new sires. I also think he is incredible value at $10,000, where I thought he would probably have a $12,500 or $15,000 stud fee factoring in that he’s a Grade I winner by Medaglia d’Oro with that tremendous female family.

Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno), $7,500, Hill ‘n’ Dale 

For under-the-radar stallions with outstanding value this year, I would have to go with Mucho Macho Man at $7,500. What he’s done with the small crop sizes at the racetrack is outstanding– including two Grade I winners. I also love his offspring physically, as they always have great balance to their frame with plenty of length to their hip just like him. His yearlings all just look so athletic and for him being such a big horse (over 17 hands), that is a credit to him that neither he nor his babies are awkward in any way.

Bolt d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) [Spendthrift] is another one I really like for value at $15,000 for this year. I’ve loved his babies physically and he’s got a big chance to hit when they hit the racetrack as he ticks all the boxes, including being a good 2-year-old himself.

Do you have a favorite incoming sire pick for 2021 or a stallion that you think might be under-the-radar next year? Email the TDN’s Katie Ritz at katieritz@thoroughbreddailynews.com to give your response.

The post Who’s Your Pick? Derek MacKenzie appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Vekoma Retired, to Stand for $20K at Spendthrift

Multiple Grade I-winning millionaire Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}–Mona de Momma, by Speightstown) has been retired from racing and arrived at B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm where the 4-year-old will take up stud duty in 2021. His fee has been set at $20,000 S&N.

This year’s impressive winner of the GI Carter H. and GI Runhappy Metropolitan H., Vekoma was scratched as the morning-line favorite in Saturday’s GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint after spiking a fever upon arrival at Keeneland. He will be given a few days to settle in at Spendthrift before being available for inspection.

“Precocious, brilliantly fast, carried his speed around two turns–you name it, Vekoma could do it,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. “On top of that, he is a Grade I winner by a Grade I winner and out of a Grade I winner, so he’s truly a rare package in the breeding world. You won’t find a more brilliant or better-bred son of Candy Ride. We are extremely excited about his future at stud and look forward to showing him off to breeders after he’s been allowed a few days to settle in here … Any time a horse as good and as deserving as Vekoma does not get the opportunity to run in the Breeders’ Cup, you are obviously disappointed for the horse and for the connections. There’s so much hard work that gets put in. Ultimately, you have to credit George Weaver and his team for having an incredible season and always doing right by Vekoma through some hard luck at the end.”

Trained by George Weaver for owners R. A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables, Vekoma captured graded stakes wins at two, three and four. The chestnut took the GIII Nashua S. at Aqueduct to complete an undefeated juvenile campaign, then went on to score a dominant 3 1/2-length win in the 1 1/8-mile GII Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland as a 3-year-old.

This year, Vekoma was perfect with wins at three different racetracks, kicking off his 4-year-old season with a 3 3/4-length victory in Gulfstream’s Sir Shackleton S. in March, adding a dazzling 7 1/4-length win in the Carter at Aqueduct, earning a career-high 110 Beyer Speed Figure, and scoring a front-running win in the prestigious Met Mile while stopping the clock in 1:32 4/5–just .15 seconds off the stakes record for the 129-year-old New York fixture.

An earner of $1,245,525, Vekoma was bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stables. His dam’s career high came with a victory in the GI Humana Distaff H. Vekoma’s second dam, Society Gal, is a half-sister to successful sire Mr. Greeley.

Vekoma becomes the third Met Mile winner in the last four years to take up stud duty at Spendthrift. Mor Spirit, the 2017 winner, and Mitole, the 2019 winner, both stand at the historic Lexington-based farm.

For more information about Vekoma or to schedule an inspection, contact Des, Mark or Brian at 859-294-0030, or visit SpendthriftFarm.com.

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