Wild for Love | Horse Racing Free Tips

As we approach the opening of the 2023 breeding season, the TDN staff is once again sitting down with leading breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. Today, we catch up with George Adams at Housatonic Bloodstock, who serves as the Director of Stallions and Breeding for Wasabi Ventures Stables.

WHY NOT TONIGHT (5, Tapiture—Pay the Lady, by Not For Love), to be bred to Nashville

This filly became Wasabi's first stakes winner last year when she won the All Brandy Stakes at Laurel, and she also won an allowance for them after they claimed her at Monmouth. Originally a $57,000 yearling, she has good size and is well-made, and we're sending her to one of the more exciting freshman stallions in this year's crop in Nashville. A wickedly fast sprinter, he's a gorgeous specimen, and the cross is a good one. Plus, she's a half to a stakes horse of last year by Great Notion, from the same Gone West sire-line.

GUN SLINGIN (4, Gun Runner—Easy Tap, by Tapit), to be bred to Liam's Map

Wasabi really upped its game at the Keeneland November Sale, buying five mares for a total of $247,000, and this one was the most expensive at $77,000. A maiden mare, she's a full-sister to the TDN `Rising Star' of last summer Disarm (Gun Runner). We wanted to send her to a proven horse, and she gets that in Liam's Map, who should still have some upside as his best-bred crop comes to the races this year. This mating results in loads of line-breeding to some great Tartan Farm names like Fappiano, In Reality, Dr. Fager, Aspidistra and Rough n Tumble.

AMERICAN THRILLER (4, American Pharoah—Thrilled, by Uncle Mo), to be bred to Candy Ride (Arg)

Another purchase from Keeneland November who will be bred for the first time in 2023, she is another for whom we tried to find a proven stallion to fit. Physically, she's a great, big filly, so should match nicely with Candy Ride. And he has done very well with the Empire Maker sire line from which this filly hails. Her family can also show some versatility on the track, and Candy Ride should play into that, as well.

MAD GRACE (8, English Channel—Floating Island, by A. P. Indy), to be bred to Aloha West

This was a hard-knocking, versatile racemare that Wasabi claimed and who will be bred for the first time in 2023. She has a lot of page, and there are turf horses and dirt horses, sprinters and routers on it. We're sending her to Aloha West, a first-year stallion that is going to get every chance from the folks at Mill Ridge. He was exclusively a dirt sprinter himself, but his pedigree contains the same type of versatility that Mad Grace showed, and we won't be shocked if he gets horses that run longer than he did, and on turf. He's a beautifully balanced horse, very nicely-made, and we're excited to have a share in him and send a couple of mares to him.

FLORAL HALL (4, Bodemeister—Painted Lady, by Broad Brush) to be bred to Greatest Honour

Another Keeneland November purchase, this one carrying her first foal by Frosted, she goes to another first-year stallion that we are very high on in Greatest Honour. Physically, he's an incredible specimen, and we think the turn of foot he showed to win those Derby preps for Shug McGaughey over a surface and configuration that should not have suited his style means he's got a huge shot and offers a lot of value where Spendthrift priced him. This mare's family has had plenty of success with Pulpit-line stallions, and a few by Street Cry, who happens to be Greatest Honour's broodmare sire. So we like this pairing a lot.

WILD FOR LOVE (13, Not for Love—Sticky, by Concern) to be bred to Tapiture

One of Wasabi's first broodmares, Wild for Love delivered her first foal for us in the form of stakes winner Local Motive by the Maryland stallion Divining Rod, a son of Tapit. She has a two-year-old filly of '23 by Maximus Mischief that brought $160,000 as a yearling in 2022, but since then we've gone back to that Tapit/Pulpit line with her–she's in foal to Tacitus currently, and we will send her to Tapiture this spring. Tapiture gets such a high proportion of runners and winners, and plenty of stakes horses, too–and his numbers with Not For Love mares are pretty incredible (4-for-4 winners to runners, two stakes winners plus another black-type placed). We hope we get another Maryland-bred runner to earn us breeder bonuses for years just like Local Motive.

WOWWHATABRAT (11, Louis Quatorize—Kim the Brat, by Smart Strike) to be bred to Blofeld

This mare was a warrior, running 74 times over eight years and earning over $300,000. She was stakes-placed at two and four, and comes from the family of New Money Honey, Any Given Saturday, and a good horse named Second of June. After slipping last year, she is carrying her first foal by Jimmy Creed and looks like she'll be our first mare to foal this year. We are going to breed her back locally to Blofeld—the numbers he has put up are pretty amazing, with his first 14 foals to race all having won, and now he's sitting at 29 winners from 37 runners (out of just 50 foals). He had the winners of both Maryland Million two-year-old races in 2022. He has a couple of decent winners out of a full-sister to Wowwhatabrat, and this mating doubles up on Broodmare of the Year Misty Morn, and adds two more crosses of her dam, Grey Flight. Too far back to count as the Rasmussen Factor, but hopefully still effective.

Interested in sharing your own mating plans? Email garyking@thetdn.com.

The post 2023 Mating Plans, Presented by Spendthrift: Wasabi Ventures appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

With the 2022 breeding season right around the corner, we will feature a series of breeders' mating plans over the coming weeks. Today we have George Adams of Housatonic Bloodstock, who serves as the Director of Stallions and Breeding for Wasabi Ventures Stables.

“With a relatively young group of mares, ideally we'd like to send them to a proven stallion at least once or twice in their first few years, just to get a better handle on their ability as producers,” said Adams. “At a lower stud fee price point that's not always easy to do, especially when you're trying to breed a foal with commercial appeal. But we think we're striking a pretty good balance overall.”

WILD FOR LOVE (m, 12, Not For Love–Sticky, by Concern), to be bred to Tacitus

Wasabi's most proven broodmare is Wild for Love, and she's booked to a first-year stallion we're really excited about in Tacitus. Wild for Love herself brought good money as a 2-year-old and was a pretty solid racehorse. We obtained her privately a couple of years ago, while she was carrying the foal that became the 2021 stakes-winning 2-year-old Local Motive. He's by a son of Tapit, and Not For Love mares have had success with A.P. Indy-line stallions before (see California Chrome), so Tacitus was an easy choice. He's got an outstanding pedigree and a great physical, and he might not have won a Grade I, but he was a top-class racehorse. The fact that he's a Tapit with Storm Cat on his bottom side means this foal will be similarly bred to Local Motive.

YESSHEWILL (m, 10, Giant's Causeway–Wilshewed, by Carson City), to be bred to Rock Your World

Yesshewill was just purchased by Wasabi at Keeneland in November. Unfortunately, she lost the Accelerate foal she was carrying at the time, but she's still a half-sister to a Grade I winner, a Grade II winner, a Grade III winner and another stakes winner, plus two stakes producers.

Having had a handful of foals already, she's another mare that will visit a first-year stallion in 2022 and is booked to Rock Your World. David Ingordo is one of the best judges of young horses out there, and this colt had all the brilliance and versatility you'd want in a sire. His pedigree is also top drawer, and shares some similarities with Gun Runner, who has had his biggest successes so far with mares carrying more Storm Cat blood. We're going to try to duplicate that with Rock Your World by sending him this Giant's Causeway mare, and hope it works as well for him.

HURRYUPANDCOMEBACK (m, 7, Mizzen Mast–Shared Hope, by Gone West), to be bred to Modernist

Hurryupandcomeback produced a $275,000 Saratoga yearling by Army Mule as her first foal, and last year got a shot with a stallion about as proven as you can get in More Than Ready. She's going back to another first-year sire in 2022, in Modernist.

A gorgeous horse by a stallion who has already proven his worth as a sire of sires, Modernist will suit this mare physically as she needs a little bit of leg and substance, which he offers. And her family has already had success with Uncle Mo, as he's the sire of Donna Veloce who appears under Hurryupandcomeback's second dam.

WOWWHATABRAT (m, 10, Louis Quatorze–Kim the Brat, by Smart Strike), to be bred to Jimmy Creed

Wowwhatabrat was a hard-knocking, versatile runner and is a three-quarter sister to a really good colt named Second of June. Her dam is a half to the dam of Any Given Saturday, who is by Distorted Humor, and we have been on record repeatedly as being huge fans of Jimmy Creed (obviously by Distorted Humor), who offers incredible value and is a perfect horse to start off a young mare with given his stats.

So this is a mating which we really love. Unfortunately Wowwhatabrat lost the foal she was carrying last year by Jimmy Creed, but she'll head right back to him this spring and we'll hope for better luck.

BUFF'S IN LOVE (m, 7, Buffum–Who's in Love, by Not For Love), to be bred to Alternation

Buff's in Love was a stakes-placed 2-year-old by a sneaky-good Maryland stallion in Buffum, who died just as he was starting to prove his worth. This will be Buff's in Love's first mating, and she's going to be bred to a proven Grade I sire in Alternation. Buffum is a son of Bernardini, and Alternation's big horse, Serengeti Empress, is out of a Bernardini mare. This year is also when Alternation will have a big crop of 2-year-olds reach the races that was conceived after Serengeti Empress's success, so we think he could be a really smart value play this spring.

WEEKEND MADNESS (m, 6, Include–Weekend Connection, by Pulpit), to be bred to Goldencents

Weekend Madness was a big-money 2-year-old by Include, who is a stallion that we really love as a broodmare sire, and her 3-year-old brother Kavod is on the Derby Trail at Oaklawn this winter. She's going to be bred back to Goldencents this spring. He gets nothing but runners, and Weekend Madness is a half to a couple of stakes horses from the Storm Cat sire line. She's also a big, imposing mare with plenty of leg and substance, which should really suit Goldencents.

SEVILLE'S PRINCESS (m, 6, Seville {Ger}–Rap and Dance, by Pleasant Tap), to be bred to Connect

Seville's Princess also has a close relative on the Derby trail–she's a half to the dam of Grade I winner Rattle N Roll, and as such made perfect sense to send to Connect (sire of Rattle N Roll) this spring.

Connect is off to a very strong start at stud, and she's a young mare who could use a shot with a proven horse. He's also got the bone and substance to beef up her foal, so it's a good match all around.

Let us know who you're breeding your mares to in 2022, and why. We will print a selection of your responses in TDN over the coming weeks. Please send details to: garyking@thetdn.com.

The post Mating Plans: Wasabi Ventures Stables appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post