Spendthrift

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - By far, the most enthusiastic applause during the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday morning was for a video clip of race that everyone in the audience likely had seen many times. Beholder's (Henny Hughes) career-capping victory by a nose over the previously unbeaten champion Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) in the 2016 GI Breeder's Cup Distaff was nearly as gripping on the big screen at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion as it was live at Santa Anita Park. For sheer drama it ranks with...

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale got off to a strong start Monday in Timonium as it looks to follow up on a record-setting 2021 renewal. "It was a very solid opening session to the sale," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "There was diverse bidding activity literally from buyers all around the world participating today. This has become a really solid marketplace where you can sell a quality horse, you can sell a state-bred horse. There was lots of activity at really all price ranges." A...

Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharaoh), one of the favorites in Saturday's GI Santa Anita Derby, stands to earn a $4-million stallion bonus for his connections if he wins. The "Future Stallion Bonus" is an incentive for selected MyRacehorse-owned horses to earn connections financial benefits if they win a Grade I event on the dirt in the U.S. "We selected a few really well-bred colts and attached a pre-payment of potential stallion value as a way of providing a more immediate financial return for winning a Grade I," said Michael Behrens, Founder...

Spendthrift Farm and MyRacehorse.com have launched a weekly foal contest on social media called #FoalDerby, which will showcase foals from the first crop of their Horse of the Year and GI Kentucky Derby winner Authentic. The contest begins this week and will run weekly leading up to this year's Kentucky Derby. Breeders are encouraged to submit photos each week as their foals arrive and continue to submit as they grow over the course of the next 10 weeks. Submissions will be posted to Spendthrift's Twitter and Facebook platforms. The top...

Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) upset the highly touted Bob Baffert trio to register a front-running victory in Santa Anita's GII San Vicente S. Saturday. Longshot What in Blazes (Straight Fire) burst from the outside post in this five-horse affair with the rest of the field breaking in tandem to his inside. Forbidden Kingdom sprinted up the fence to take command with Grade I winner Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) and his stablemate McLaren Vale (Gun Runner) tracking from about a half-length back through a :21.86 opening quarter. 'TDN Rising Star' Doppelganger (Into...

Urban parks are well-loved destinations in America's most developed and highly-populated cities. Of course Central Park is the first that comes to mind, as well as perhaps Lincoln Park in Chicago or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. These beautifully-designed pieces of landscape architecture serve as gathering places for the city's community and are often stopping points for those visiting a bustling metropolis. In a few years Lexington, Kentucky--with a population of less than 400,000--will get a state-of-the-art park of its own in the heart of downtown. Ground is set...

Leading stallion Into Mischief will stand the 2022 season for $250,000, Spendthrift Farm announced Tuesday evening. The stallion, who is enjoying another standout season on the racetrack and in the sales ring, stood for $225,000 in 2021. Spendthrift has added four new stallions for 2022, including recently retired Grade I winners Basin, Known Agenda and Yaupon, along with multi-millionaire By My Standards who remains in training through the end of the racing season. The new additions bring the farm's roster to 25 stallions. "It is important to us that we...

While it's obviously an extremely poignant day to be reflecting on a breakout success for one of the youngest stallions at Spendthrift, then at least those now mourning the farm's owner know that his own legacy to the breed could scarcely be more secure. For the same cannot quite be said of the horse who started it all for B. Wayne Hughes, Malibu Moon, whose loss earlier this year has now obtained a tragic symmetry. Between the farm's consecutive bereavements, there's no denying that the equine patriarch cannot yet match...

"We were very saddened to learn of the passing of B. Wayne Hughes, who has left an indelible impact and legacy on our sport as a breeder, owner, and industry innovator for the past 20 years. Foremost of his many achievements was his restoration of Spendthrift Farm to its grandeur and success as an internationally preeminent breeding operation, led by such prolific stallions as Malibu Moon and Into Mischief. Moreover, Mr. Hughes believed that breeders were the 'backbone of our industry,' and created programs that re-established the owner/breeder relationship, such...

MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's Got Stormy (Get Stormy), the only female winner of the GI Fourstardave H. when she won the race two years ago in stakes record time, found her best form Saturday to post a 12-1 upset in this year's running of the "Win and You're In" qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Purchased off a fifth-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint by B. Wayne Hughes's Spendthrift Farm for $2.75 million at last year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale and then offered in microshare pieces via...

Spendthrift's Eric Gustavson talks on the reign of Into Mischief, the influence the mare cap will have at the upcoming yearling sales and the future of the farm's partnership with MyRacehorse on the TDN Writer's Room podcast.

Following the tragic loss of Coolmore's cornerstone stallion Galileo, champion sire Into Mischief has suddenly found himself at center stage as the top stallion in the world in just about every category. On this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, the crew sat down with Eric Gustavson of Spendthrift Farm, a new sponsor of the show, to talk about their rise of success with the son of Harlan's Holiday. "For us to have Into Mischief is the classic case of how a rising tide lifts all boats," said...