Known Agenda

Having dealt with the rookies separately, we now start our quest for value among those stallions already at stud. We'll be going through the pyramid by price band, and today kick off at the level most accessible to breeders on a budget. But do not be deceived that we must be scraping the barrel here. If anything, candidly, there are more horses standing at four figures that one could trust--above all, for a breed-to-race program--than among far more expensive newcomers featured in the first instalment. Whether one could also recommend...

9th-CD, $120,000, Msw, 2yo, 1m, post time: 4:55 p.m. ET OH MONACO (Curlin), a $650,000 purchase by John Stewart's Resolute Racing out of last year's Keeneland September sale, is a son of Byrama (GB) (Byron {GB}), winner of the GI Vanity Handicap on synthetic and a dual stakes winner and multiple graded-placed performer on the grass. The mare's two winners to date include this colt's full-brother Known Agenda, third in the GII Remsen Stakes in 2020 and victorious in the GI Curlin Florida Derby the following spring. Known Agenda now...

Every year, the Fasig-Tipton July sale offers the first chance for buyers to get a look at a new crop of yearling sires. Many buyers were seeing these sires' yearlings for the first time this week, and while it's admittedly early, we took a little survey to get their first impressions. The group includes: Basin, Beau Liam, By My Standards, Charlatan, Core Beliefs, Essential Quality, Independence Hall, Knicks Go, Known Agenda, Leinster, Lexitonian, Maxfield, Modernist, Raging Bull, Rock Your World, Silver State, Tacitus, Uncle Chuck, and Yaupon. LIZ CROW: Tacitus...

Three members from the much-anticipated first crop by undefeated Horse of the Year Flightline (Tapit) are scheduled to go under the hammer during the foal session of the Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) Select Sale on Tuesday, July 9, on the northern island of Hokkaido. The foal sale is preceded by the Select Yearling Sale on Monday, July 8. TDN European Sales Editor Brian Sheerin will be providing on-site coverage. Flightline has every chance to make an enormous first impression when lot 347 becomes the first of the three offerings...

Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher is on fire, unveiling one promising colt or filly after another in maiden, allowance, and stakes races it seems. Last month, Pletcher won his eighth Eclipse Award as North America's leading trainer. Not only that, but three horses trained by Pletcher also won Eclipses: Forte (Violence), champion 2-year-old colt; Nest (Curlin), champion 3-year-old filly; and Malathaat (Curlin), champion older female. Like Pletcher, Curlin shone at the Eclipses. Aside from Nest and Malathaat, his Elite Power was named champion sprinter of 2022, giving the Hill 'n'...

GI Florida Derby winner Known Agenda (Curlin) was represented by his first foal Jan. 7. The filly was born at Glendalough Farm in Lexington and was bred by Phillips Farm LLC out of Sunandsea (Henny Hughes). "We are just overjoyed with this filly," said Phillips Farm's Joshua Phillips. "She's exceptionally well-muscled, has a nice hip and a lot of leg underneath her. Just a physically strong individual like the good Curlins. We looked at a lot of different stallions for this mare and Known Agenda stamped this filly beautifully." Known...

The group we consider today for now retains a convenient gloss, still in the happy position of offering "all talk, no action." But they will actually have got as far as delivering their first flesh-and-bone foals into the straw by the time they start receiving their second book of mares. And many of the people who exploited their novelty value last year will automatically have moved on to the next intake of rookies, rather than expose themselves to the peril that the market won't like a debut crop. Foals conceived...

All five first-season stallions based at Spendthrift Farm have had their first mares reported in foal, the farm announced Sunday evening. Basin (Liam's Map)'s first reported in-foal mare is Littlegreatone (Bernardini), and By My Standards (Goldencents)'s is Danceswithbourbon (Outwork). Known Agenda (Curlin), Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Yaupon (Uncle Mo) each had two mares confirmed as pregnant on the same day. Pink Fizz (Dialed In) and Sunandsea (Henny Hughes) checked in foal to Known Agenda, Hope Lady (Tapiture) and Mrs. O'Connell (American Pharoah) to Rock Your World, and...

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 Jason Howard of Top o' the Lane Farm, a new farm in Shelby County, Kentucky. "I moved back to Kentucky in 2019 after being in Florida and Colorado for a few years because I had always dreamed of breeding Thoroughbreds, and I found the perfect farm in Shelbyville and decided to go for it," said Howard. "I'm in the middle of Saddlebred country, but have...

Welcome to our annual winter survey of Kentucky stallion options--with the difference, this time round, that the emphasis will be far more strictly and succinctly on value. Over the past couple of years, acknowledging of the brevity of commercial momentum for so many sires once losing their freshman luster, we've got into the habit of granting some attention (more or less courteous!) to just about every stallion in the Bluegrass. But such an exhaustive approach has doubtless proved still more exhausting for the reader than for the compiler. So, we've...

Back in March of 2009, in the Werk Thoroughbred Consultants blog, the late Jack Werk recounted a wager we'd made years earlier. This is what he wrote: "The year that Elusive Quality went to stud, pedigree expert Sid Fernando and I had a small side bet: Who was the best sleeper or long shot from that crop? Sid picked Distorted Humor, standing for $12,500, a pretty astute choice at the time. I, of course, picked Elusive Quality, who also went to stud very cheap--$10,000. "As it turns out, we both picked wisely! The top two...

St. Elias Stables' Known Agenda (Curlin--Byrama {GB}, by Byron {GB}), winner of this year's GI Florida Derby, has been retired from racing and will take up stud duty at Spendthrift Farm in 2022. The chestnut, who will stand for an introductory fee of $10,000 S&N, will be offered through the farm's "Share The Upside" program on a limited basis. He is available for inspection by appointment. "Any time you can add a Florida Derby winner by Curlin with his looks and pedigree, you jump at the opportunity," said Ned Toffey,...