Flightline, the unbeaten 2022 Horse of the Year, was a special type of racehorse. And it took a special mare to come to his court in his first season at stud. Flightline, a son of Tapit, swept three Grade 1 races in his championship season, dominating the Metropolitan Handicap by six lengths with a 112 Beyer Figure; the Pacific Classic by 19 1/4 lengths with a 126; and the Breeders’ Cup Classic by 8 1/4 lengths with a 121. He arrived at Lane’s End Farm a few days later to prepare for stud duty in 2023, with an advertised fee of $200,000. He was limited to a book of 152 mares in his first season, a relatively limited number, especially considering the internal support he received from his syndicate, which further lessened room for outside mares. For comparison’s sake, the busiest stallion in North America for 2023, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, was Golden Pal, who covered 293 mares at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud – a book approaching double that of fellow first-year stallion Flightline. The 10 busiest stallions in North America for 2023 covered an average book of 217 mares, 30 percent larger than Flightline’s. With that selectivity leading to a focus on quality over quantity, Flightline’s first book was, thus, one befitting his own accomplishments. The mares reported bred to him included Littleprincessemma, dam of multiple Grade 1 winners including Triple Crown winner American Pharoah; the dams of Eclipse Award champions Arrogate, Caledonia Road, Essential Quality, Forte, Improbable, Swiss Skydiver, and Unique Bella; the dams of Grade 1 winners Cave Rock, Constellation, Gift Box, Gina Romantica, New Year’s Day, Pauline’s Pearl, Say the Word, and Search Results; Eclipse champion Shamrock Rose; Argentinian champion Blue Stripe; Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Unrivaled Belle, Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Bar of Gold, and Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Belvoir Bay; and Grade 1 winners Bell’s the One, Centre Court, Come Dancing, Crown Queen, Dalika, Harmonize, Hot Dixie Chick, Juju’s Map, Kalypso, Noted and Quoted, Obligatory, Paulassilverlining, Separationofpowers, and Tara’s Tango. Now, some of the breeders will try to cash out on those mares, while some savvy shoppers will look to get a hand on an upcoming foal from Flightline’s first crop while still in utero. Mares in foal to Flightline make up a major point of interest at this month’s breeding stock sales. First, eight mares in foal to Flightline are currently entered at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale the evening of Nov. 7. Those are highlighted by stakes winner Queen Caroline, dam of last year’s Eclipse Award champion 2-year-old Forte, who was a classic-placed Grade 1 winner at 3. Also on offer is Lady Shipman, herself a graded stakes winner who took 11 total stakes, and was second in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. She is the dam of the aforementioned popular young stallion Golden Pal, a two-time Breeders’ Cup winner in the 2020 Juvenile Turf Sprint and 2021 Turf Sprint. Also cataloged at Fasig-Tipton November are multiple graded stakes winner Merneith; multiple stakes winner Joyful Cadence, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Country Grammer; Grade 2-placed Southampton Way, dam of stakes-placed Easy Action; and the unraced Grand Sofia, dam of Grade 1-placed stakes winner Chop Chop. At the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, which begins Nov. 8, Flightline has 11 mares in foal cataloged, with seven of those in the single-session Book 1 to open the sale. That group includes the Grade 1 winners Centre Court and Dalika. The Keeneland group also includes stakes winners Another Broad and Bella Aurora. Lane’s End recently announced its 2024 stud fees, and while Flightline’s fee will drop to $150,000, his book will continue to remain selective and high-end. “Flightline was held to 152 mares in his first season, with a book containing an impressive collection of Grade 1 winners and producers,” Bill Farish of Lane’s End said in a release. “We adjusted his fee for his second season in keeping with what has become ‘industry norm,’ while continuing to limit his book close to 150 mares again.” Early Voting future up in the air Early Voting was a well-anticipated stallion when he arrived at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud for 2023. Not only was he one of the first sons of the white-hot Gun Runner to retire to stud, but he was that champion’s first classic winner, taking the 2022 Preakness Stakes. Early Voting brought a stellar bottom half of his pedigree to the equation as well, as he is from the immediate family of champion and prominent sire Speightstown. However, Early Voting will not stand at stud in 2024, due to an unspecified “inability to breed, according to veterinary experts,” Coolmore said this fall. The young stallion is the subject of an ongoing insurance claim. Early Voting covered 191 mares before he was removed from stud duty during the season, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. He did get mares in foal, and 19 of those mares will be on offer during the run of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. With no further details on if Early Voting’s veterinary problems are the type that can be solved for further service, his first-crop foals could wind up as collectors’ items. First-crop weanling sires get tested The extremely selective single session of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale and the Keeneland November breeding stock sale’s elite Book 1 portion provide some hints as to first-crop weanling sires whose offspring have caught the eye at this early stage. The first-crop weanling sires with the most foals selected to the Fasig-Tipton November catalog are Grade 1-winning sprinter Yaupon (Spendthrift Farm), with eight; Charlatan (Hill ‘n’ Dale), a Grade 1 performer around both one and two turns, with seven; multiple Grade 1 winner Maxfield (Darley) with five; and classic winner Essential Quality (Darley), a two-time Eclipse Award champion, with four. All four of those stallions are then represented by weanlings slotted in Keeneland’s Book 1, as Charlatan has 10, Essential Quality has six, Yaupon has five, and Maxfield has one.