McKinzie

LEXINGTON, KY--The market remained competitive as Book 3 of the Keeneland November Sale closed its two-day run Friday with a frenzy of activity towards the end of the session. After a slow, but steady beginning to the day, Spritz (Awesome Again) (Hip 1747) commanded everyone's attention deep into the session, topping the day's action at $550,000 from Gary Holland's Kamden Racing. She is carrying her first foal by Quality Road. The day's co-second-highest priced offering came just six hips later when the Brogdens fended off all comers for a mare...

Tapit's stud fee will remain at $185,000 in 2023, according to a press release from Gainesway Farm Wednesday morning announcing their roster and stud fees for the coming breeding season. The farm's top stallion is currently the leading active sire in North America by Grade I winners (29), Grade I horses (62), graded stakes winners (96), graded stakes performers (184), stakes winners (154), and stakes performers (299), and he is the all-time leading sire by lifetime progeny earnings ($188,654,112). The fee is the third-highest announced thus far for 2023, behind...

6th-Ellis, $60,000, Msw, 8-12, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:04.30, ft, 7 3/4 lengths. STUD LOVIN (c, 2, Nyquist--Livin Lovin {GSW-USA, GSP-Can, $162,153}, by Birdstone) never gave his backers and connections a moment's doubt here, debuting with a stylish 7 3/4-length victory as the 5-2 second choice. Leading from the two path right from the jump, Stud Lovin came into the stretch off the back of a :46.09 half and cruised home from there. Meraj (Army Mule) out kicked a rival home for second. Last Cookie (Bernardini), Frosted's half-brother and 'Insights' runner,...

Not quite nailing the GI Kentucky Derby with Essential Quality (Tapit) felt like one of very few omissions from a spectacular 2021 for Godolphin on both sides of the Atlantic. And while it seems that Sheikh Mohammed must wait at least another year to satisfy that particular craving, his team certainly won't have felt too marginalized during the coast-to-coast sequence of rehearsals that gripped our attention last Saturday. Because they now know for a fact that they have one of the outstanding talents of the previous crop in Speaker's Corner...

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 Erin Fisher of Harper Ridge Thoroughbreds. "All my horses are crossed with stallions that I feel will throw appealing and sound horses that can provide second and third careers off the track and provide longevity to the breed," said Fisher. "I look for soundness and attitude with the idea that my foals can have long futures in any discipline after racing." APPEALING WAY (m, 8,...

First foals for Gainesway stallions McKinzie (Street Sense) and Spun to Run (Hard Spun) were born earlier this week. Withholding Info (Midnight Lute), a winner of two of three career starts for Bob Baffert, foaled a filly by McKinzie on Jan. 11 in Kentucky at Hill 'n' Dale. Four-time GISW and GI Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up McKinzie stands the 2022 season at Gainesway for $30,000. Three-time winner L.A. Style (Scat Daddy) produced a filly by Spun to Run in Louisiana Jan. 11. Spun to Run, upset winner of the 2019...

Thoroughbred Charities of America's 32nd annual Stallion Season Auction will begin Jan. 5 and conclude Jan. 9. The fundraiser opens with an online auction of stallion seasons at 9 a.m. Jan. 5 and continues through 4:30 p.m. EST Jan. 7. Over 150 seasons will be available in the online auction, including to stallions Audible, Basin, Candy Ride, McKinzie, More Than Ready, Speightstown, and Volatile. A full list of seasons is available here. An online silent auction of non-season items, including halters worn by Life is Good, Curlin, Charlatan, Tapit, Knicks...

Gainesway's perennial leading sire Tapit (Pulpit--Tap Your Heels, by Unbridled) will once again head the farm's stallion roster and stud fees for the upcoming 2022 season. Tapit will remain at $185,000 live foal, stands and nurses. Currently among the top five North American stallions on the leading sires list of 2021, Tapit has three year-end leading sire titles and is North America's leading sire of Grade I winners with 27, Grade I performers with 58, graded stakes winners with 92, graded stakes horses with 177, and stakes performers with 284....

Gainesway freshman sires McKinzie (Street Sense) and Spun to Run (Hard Spun), winner of the 2019 GI Breeders Cup Dirt Mile, have their first mares confirmed mares in foal. McKinzie, a four-time Grade I winner, won graded stakes from age two through five, including the GI Los Alamitos Futurity, GI Pennsylvania Derby, GI Whitney S. and GI Malibu S. In addition to a Breeders' Cup win, Spun to Run also annexed the GIII Smarty Jones S. and was runner up in the GI Cigar Mile and third in the GI...

"He's technically full," said Darley America sales manager Darren Fox the other day, discussing Gl Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}), who's standing this year for $60,000, down from $75,000 in 2020. "If you had a nice mare, there's a couple of spots that mares haven't been named yet. We keep him at around 140 mares. He was very hard to manage the demand, especially last year at 75, and he's 60 now, but that's because of overall market conditions. It wasn't a reflection of cooling off on...

Concert Tour (c, 3, Street Sense--Purse Strings, by Tapit) rolled home to an ultra-impressive debut score for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for 'TDN Rising Star' honors at Santa Anita Friday. The Gary and Mary West homebred's worktab included a six-furlong bullet in 1:13 (1/11) in Arcadia Jan. 1 and was backed accordingly as the the even-money favorite while debuting with blinkers and Lasix. He sat a looming presence in second in the early stages and tugged his way to the front under an absolute hammer lock three furlongs from...

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.  ANDREW CARY, Cary Bloodstock  McKinzie (Street Sense), $30,000, Gainesway This is a very strong group of incoming freshman sires and it's very hard to just pick one, but I am a huge fan of McKinzie. I think had he retired...