Reigning North American leading sire Into Mischief secured his first classic victory last year when eventual Horse of the Year Authentic won the postponed Kentucky Derby, as well as the Breeders' Cup Classic at the same 1 1/4-mile distance. Among Into Mischief's prospects this year as he seeks a second consecutive Derby victory is Mandaloun.
Eclipse Award champions Beholder and Untapable have each safely delivered their most recent foals, each bolstering the books of young stallions in which their respective owners have vested interests.
The Thoroughbred world was rocked in early January with the news of the death of Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the founder and principal of the internationally renowned Juddmonte Farms. But Juddmonte has continued on from strength to strength, with a homebred squarely on the Kentucky Derby trail in the U.S. and one of its most anticipated breedings of the season, which Prince Khalid planned before his death, taking place over the weekend.
In the days following the Breeders' Cup in early November, many of 2021's incoming stallions – including the Breeders' Cup Classic's top three finishers, Authentic, Improbable, and Global Campaign, and champion Maximum Security – left their racetrack lives behind and shipped to their respective stud farm homes to begin to settle in to their new surroundings. But not Tiz the Law.
Tapit, among the most successful sires in modern classic history, has three individuals in the first Derby Watch Top 20 list. That trio is led by Godolphin's homebred Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and Eclipse Award champion Essential Quality, already a multiple Grade 1 winner around two turns.
Multiple Grade 1 winners Blue Prize and Elate each produced her first foal, both fillies, early Tuesday morning in Kentucky.
Our annual Eastern Stallions special edition, presented by the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund, takes a closer look at the leading sires in that state of New York, as well as the Mid-Atlantic region of Maryland and Pennsylvania, the Florida market, and other states.
Uncle Mo was expected to be a fine sire of juveniles. However, no one could have predicted the scope of his early success, as he broke the mold with a record-setting freshman season. Five years later, Uncle Mo, firmly ensconced as a successful general sire, is breaking the mold once again.
As a sire, American Pharoah has already connected for an impressive double by leading his class of young sires in consecutive years – and, with momentum coming into 2021, he could be heading for a third.
Into Mischief was represented by his first classic winner in 2020 – but also sired top sprint performers and turf performers. He rewards grateful backers with picture-perfect commercial yearlings and rock-solid racehorses who regularly bring home paychecks. And, at a relatively early curve in his career, he is continuing to reward his connections, including B. Wayne Hughes's Spendthrift Farm, as a sire of sires.
