With Three Newcomers, Spendthrift Gearing Up for Another Busy Breeding Season

This past year marked a new record for Spendthrift Farm when they came just six short of covering 3,700 mares during an exceedingly busy breeding season. After adding three new recruits for 2025, they'll likely surpass that eye-watering number next year with a growing roster of 29 stallions. It's the biggest sire lineup in Spendthrift's history since the farm was purchased by B. Wayne Hughes 20 years ago.

With such a wide array of stallions, open house season is a busy time at Spendthrift. As the Keeneland November Sale transpired some 15 miles away, a steady stream of breeders swept through the gates at Spendthrift over the past two weeks.

Popular requests included champion Into Mischief, who is leading the general sires list once again this year, the fast-starting stallion Vekoma, who is currently in a tight battle for leading first-crop sire, as well as the quartet of Arabian Lion, Forte, Taiba and Zandon, who will all see their first foals next year. But nearly all of the breeders in attendance were there to get a good look at Spendthrift's trio of new, Grade I-winning sires. Belmont Stakes hero Dornoch (Good Magic), Preakness Stakes winner National Treasure (Quality Road) and Stephen Foster Stakes victor Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) took in all the activity in stride.

After inspecting the three sires, Kip Knelman of Farfellow Farms in Paris, Ky. said that their boutique operation will likely be sending mares to each of the three newcomers.

“Dornoch and Kingsbarns are both physically imposing,” the breeder said. “They're different from one another, but both fantastic physically. We also like National Treasure. He is also just a beautiful horse. We expect big things from all three of them and we think there are good fits for all three of them with our mares.”

Spendthrift's Mark Toothaker said that the new recruits' books are filling at lightning speed.

“The demand out here has been crazy and that's what you hope for,” he explained. “Any time that you've got these new horses coming in, you hope that breeders are going to love them as much as you do. I guess the problem that we all have is that we have way more requests than we have actual spots, so that's the tricky part, but we're so thrilled to be able to have them here and show them to our breeders.”

Dornoch heads back to the stallion barn after inspection | Sara Gordon

One of the leaders of this year's class of incoming sires with a stud fee of $40,000, Dornoch is nearly tied with his full-brother Mage as Good Magic's highest-earning performer.

After breaking his maiden by six and a half lengths at Keeneland last fall, Dornoch stepped up to graded company in the GII Remsen Stakes, where he battled future Breeders' Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and came out with the win by a nose.

“This horse was very game all the way through his 2-year-old year,” said Toothaker. “His race in the Remsen was amazing with the tenacity he showed to be able to come back and beat Sierra Leone. It put him on our radar that this is a horse with guts and a big pedigree to go along with it.”

This summer, Spendthrift announced that Dornoch would eventually stand at Spendthrift after he had collected Grade I wins in the Belmont, where he handed trainer Danny Gargan his first Classic win and defeated both of the other Classic winners, Mystik Dan (Goldencents) and Seize the Grey (Arrogate), and then the Haskell Stakes. After a fourth-place finish in the GI Travers, Dornoch was forced to miss the Breeders' Cup Classic when he was diagnosed with bone bruising.

Along with West Paces Racing, Belmar Racing and Breeding, Two Eight Racing and Pine Racing Stables, Dornoch's ownership group included Randy Hill's R.A. Hill Stable, which also co-campaigned dual Grade I winner Vekoma before he retired to Spendthrift in 2021.

“We kind of had an inside tract with Randy and so we were able to get a deal done after the Belmont,” said Toothaker. “He would come back a month later to win the Haskell in a very game fashion so that added another Grade I to his resume, along with winning Grade II races in the Fountain of Youth and the Remsen.”

Mallory Mort, the longtime manager of Marlene Brody's Gallager Stud in Ghent, New York, was in Lexington for the breeding stock sales last week and made the trip to Spendthrift to visit the newcomers. He said that he was impressed by what he saw in Dornoch.

“He's a good-sized boy,” he said. “He moves out nicely and he's correct up front and behind. Sometimes with these racehorses, especially the big ones, they don't have a huge amount of muscle definition behind, but he's got plenty of engine back there so I was really impressed with him.

National Treasure, who will also stand for a fee of $40,000 in 2025, was another physical standout according to Mort.

“He looks very much like a Quality Road,” he noted. “A long-bodied horse with a nice, short back and short cannon bones for a good-sized horse. He's very attractive and balanced. I liked him very much as well.”

A $500,000 yearling bred by Peter Blum, National Treasure broke his maiden on debut before earning Grade I placings at two in the American Pharoah Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The Bob Baffert trainee scored a breakout victory the following season in the Preakness, where he defeated Kentucky Derby winner Mage and became Quality Road's only Classic winner.

Toothaker said that the Spendthrift scouting team visited National Treasure and Arabian Lion at Baffert's barn at Pimlico the following morning.

Kingsbarns strikes a pose for breeders | Sara Gordon

“We were able to work out a deal on both of those horses,” he said. “We brought Arabian Lion in last year and then National Treasure got to run for another year, which was a lot of fun. He just got beat by champion Cody's Wish by a head in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last year. He would go on this year to win the GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream and the Met Mile, which was a very exciting race, and he ran a super race in the GI California Crown.”

After a runner-up performance in the inaugural California Crown, National Treasure retired with earnings of over $5.5 million. He raced strictly in Grade I company since the spring of his 3-year-old season and finished in the money in 9 of his fifteen career starts.

Rounding out the newcomers at Spendthrift, Kingsbarns will stand for $20,000 next year. He will join Yaupon, whose first yearlings averaged over $165,000 this year, and Mo Donegal, whose first yearlings will be on offer next year, as sons of Uncle Mo on the Spendthrift roster.

Toothaker said that Kingsbarns stands out as a rare 2-year-old purchase for Spendthrift. After the colt worked a quarter in 20.3 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, Spendthrift went to $800,000 for the son of graded stakes-placed Lady Tapit (Tapit), a half-sister to Grade I victress Gozzip Girl (Dynaformer).

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Kingsbarns won his first three career starts at three, culminating with a decisive score in the GII Louisiana Derby. As a 4-year-old, he won the GIII Ben Ali Stakes, ran second to Pyrenees (Into Mischief) in the GIII Pimlico Special Stakes, and then defeated that same rival in the Stephen Foster. Kingsbarns was a top contender in the older male dirt division going into the Breeders' Cup Classic, but retired to Spendthrift after developing a ligament injury during training.

“He's a beautiful horse and he's a fast horse that could carry his speed,” said Toothaker. “We've brought him in here for $20,000 and we're very excited for the breeders to come see him. He's been very well received.”

Along with welcoming the new recruits at Spendthrift, Toothaker said that the farm has a lot more to look forward to in 2025.

“We have 29 horses that are all here for great reasons,” he said. “We look forward to seeing where the season goes and what pops up out there in 2025. Maybe Authentic will have a horse on the Derby trail like Vekoma has [in GIII Iroquois Stakes victor Jonathan's Way]. Thousand Words has a very good filly in [Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up] Vodka With a Twist, so we'll see what happens. Hopefully we'll have something in the Oaks and the Derby that will give us some things to really look forward to for the spring of 2025.”