Saturday Sires: McKinzie

Four years ago this week, McKinzie was retired to Gainesway after a stellar racing career that netted four Grade I wins and 11 triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. While it may have been difficult at the time for many to see past the ravages of the COVID pandemic–it was 2020, after all–those far-sighted breeders who patronized McKinzie the next spring are looking positively clairvoyant in 2024.

As is becoming blatantly obvious, McKinzie isn't just starting strong as a freshman sire. Instead, McKinzie's beginning as a young sire has been the stuff of dreams. His 12 winners to date put him among the top 10 first-crop sires in North America, while his number of black-type horses (four) and his progeny earnings (over $1.6 million) put him among the top five. Those are more than respectable statistics and a place anyone standing a freshman sire would love to be. But that doesn't tell the whole story.

Those four stakes horses in McKinzie's tally? Every single one of them is a Grade I performer. It's an embarrassment of riches and a start reminiscent of Gainesway's elder statesman Tapit, who had four Grade I winners in his initial crop. But even the great Tapit didn't have four Grade I performers on a single weekend as a freshman.

To recap, over a fabulous three days of fall racing last weekend, there were five Grade I races for 2-year-olds across the country. A son or daughter of McKinzie factored in four of them. He kicked off Friday with the filly Quickick, who finished a bang-up second in the GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland to the undefeated GI Spinaway Stakes winner Immersive (Nyquist) in her stakes debut.

Saturday saw Scottish Lassie get her maiden win in the GI Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct's Belmont meet, around 30 minutes before 'TDN Rising Star' Chancer McPatrick got his second Grade I in the Champagne Stakes over the same surface. A few hours later, McKinzie Street was up for third in the GI American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita. Chancer McPatrick had previously won the GI Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, while McKinzie Street had previously finished second in the GI Del Mar Futurity.

Click to see McKinzie at Gainesway

That's six black-type performances to date from these first McKinzie 2-year-olds, every single one of them in a Grade I.

“'Wow' is all I can really say, it is surreal,” said Gainesway's Stallion Director Ryan A. Norton. “Within the span of 30 minutes to have two Grade I winners. I almost missed the start of Champagne Stakes from taking phone calls and responding to texts following Scottish Lassie's victory in the Frizette.

“To sire the winners of the Frizette Stakes and the Champagne Stakes in the same year is something that now has only been done four times and the first time since Mr. Prospector in 1987, along Bold Ruler in 1964 and 1967. Those are some elite stallions that he put his name beside this past weekend. I don't want to diminish the fact that in the same 24-hour period he also had Quickick and McKinzie Street run terrific races and become Grade I-placed, and both look to be poised to have exciting racing ahead.”

Both Chancer McPatrick and Scottish Lassie earned 'Win and You're In' berths to the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies, respectively. Quickick and McKinzie Street are also under consideration for the championship races.

“McKinzie looks like he will be very well represented in both the Juvenile and the Juvenile Fillies, and as usual both races will have deep and talented fields so we will cross our fingers and see how it shakes out,” said Norton. “The McKinzie progeny look like they prefer a little more distance, so as we head into the Breeders' Cup and into their 3-year-old year it looks like they are only going to improve.

“Some of the most encouraging news is in conversations with owners and trainers; it sounds like there are several more that will be making their appearance at the racetrack soon and they are very optimistic.”

Campaigned by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for the “Three Amigos” partnership of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, McKinzie was a sharp 2-year-old and an even better 3-year-old. Named a 'TDN Rising Star' on debut in 2017, he was placed first via disqualification in the GI Los Amamitos Cash Call Futurity, then added the GI Malibu Stakes, GI Pennsylvania Derby, and GIII Sham Stakes at three. His 4-year-old season was better still. In addition to wins in the GI Whitney Stakes and GII Alysheba Stakes, his four Grade I placings included the Breeders' Cup Classic and Metropolitan Handicap.

A Grade I winner at two, three, and four, McKinzie added the GII Triple Bend Stakes at five, but had a sporadic campaign that year, as did just about everyone else in that chaotic year. It was 2020. He was retired that October to Gainesway.

“All the credit needs to go to Mr. [Antony] Beck and Brian Graves,” said Norton. “They purchased McKinzie in 2020 during the COVID pandemic when there was so much uncertainty in the world, economically and otherwise, but they saw in McKinzie the attributes and believed he could someday become a prolific stallion. They took the chance and pursued McKinzie, ultimately making him part of the Gainesway roster. It certainly looks like their instincts and fortitude are paying off.”

The son of Street Sense was bred in Kentucky by Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Farm, who purchased his dam, winner of the Alcibiades Stakes when it was still a Grade II in 2004, for $2.7 million at the 2006 Keeneland November sale. Lyons sold McKinzie as a Keeneland September yearling for $170,000 to the Three Amigos.

Chancer McPatrick got his second Grade I in Saturday's Champagne | Sarah Andrew

“McKinzie is big, but a balanced, well-built stallion that stands 16.3h,” said Norton. “He consistently puts a leggy foal on the ground. He really puts a great neck and shoulder on his offspring as well.”

The Jockey Club recently released the 2024 Report of Mares Bred, which showed McKinzie covered 185 mares this year. Norton was pleased with the book, which compared favorably to his first three years.

“I could not have been happier with having a book of that size, especially considering it was his fourth year at stud. I would like to take credit, but it really goes to the great group of shareholders that have supported the horse every year and the fact McKinzie consistently produces such nice individuals that were well received at the yearling sales. They were a very uniform group, and I think that gave breeders reason to feel more comfortable breeding to a stallion in his bubble year.”

McKinzie got a million-dollar yearling in his first crop–a $1.2-million colt out of the famed Puca (Big Brown), who went to Mayberry Farm at the 2023 Keeneland September sale and is now named Baeza–and nearly repeated the feat this year at the same sale, with a $950,000 colt out of Take Charge Angel (Will Take Charge), who went to Donato Lanni, agent for the partnership of SF Bloodstock, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables.

His 204 yearlings to have gone through the sales ring have brought a gross of more than $30 million, or an average of $148,678. That's a nice return for a young stallion who has consistently stood for $30,000 since he retired.

That also leads us to the burning question: is it safe to assume McKinzie's fee will increase for 2025?

“I would be willing to wager that has been the most asked question in Kentucky in the last 48 hours and that is saying something with University of Kentucky basketball and football in full swing!” said Norton in amusement. “It is safe to assume that McKinzie's stud fee is going to increase, but nothing has been set at this time. We will wait to see what the results of the Breeders' Cup are and then we will sit down and discuss and weigh his progeny's accomplishments along with what we think the best value to breeders will be.”

It's a good spot to be in, especially as Gainesway stalwart Tapit is in the later stages of his extraordinary career. The possibility of a young sire poised to take up the mantle when Tapit is inevitably pensioned in the next several years has got to be balm for the souls of all at the farm. However, Norton has a pragmatic approach to anyone ever filling the shoes of the farm luminary.

“McKinzie has had a terrific start at stud, but still has a long way to go to catch the G.O.A.T, Tapit,” he said, “but this past weekend could go a long way in potentially finding the next cornerstone stallion on the Gainesway roster. That being said, if McKinzie can just achieve half of the success of Tapit, I think all of us would be ecstatic.”