Justify cut an unmistakable presence on the racetrack in 2018, with his blazed face and imposing chestnut frame appearing in the winner’s circle after all six of his starts. And, as the first foals by the Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year began appearing in the fields and in the sale ring in 2020, that blazed face found itself front of mind again. “I was over at Keeneland, and we were across the way from the Hunter Valley guys,” recalled Zach Madden, a partner in consignor Buckland Sales Agency. “That little chestnut colt was literally like a – maybe even Donato said it – it looked like a mini-me of Justify.” Download the 2021 Saratoga Sales Preview The blaze-faced chestnut colt sold for $600,000 to bloodstock agent Donato Lanni from the Hunter Valley Sales consignment to co-lead all weanlings at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale for Justify, who has gotten off to a promising start commercially with his striking offspring. “All the ones I’ve seen have been stamped with that leg and strength and overall well-balanced kind of physique that he has,” Madden said. “If that’s a sign of things going forward, you’ll have to think he’ll be in a really, really good position at stud.” It remains to be seen if Justify’s first foals have inherited his talent along with his looks, but there has been reason for optimism at Fasig-Tipton, which has brought the stallion’s first summer yearlings to the sales ring. “I think anybody that watched Justify run will say he’s a brilliant, brilliant racehorse, and anybody that’s gone to see him will say he’s a beautiful horse,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning Jr. said. “So he’s got the combination of looks and performance, and his offspring certainly have the looks aspect of it. It’s pretty exciting, and I think people have a high level of optimism that they’ll have some of the racing traits he demonstrated.” Justify debuted for an advertised stud fee of $150,000 at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, which also stood his sire, the late Scat Daddy. Ashford has the distinction of cultivating the stud careers of the two Triple Crown winners of the 21st century. It also stands 2015 Triple Crown hero American Pharoah, the leading freshman sire of 2019 and leading second-crop sire of 2020; both young stallions also shuttle to Coolmore Australia for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season. In Justify’s first Northern Hemisphere breeding season, he covered 252 mares, according to statistics from The Jockey Club. That tied him with fellow Ashford first-year stallion Mendelssohn, also by Scat Daddy, as the busiest stallion in North America that season. From that resulting first crop, Justify had nine weanlings sold in 2020 for an average price of $421,738, led by Lanni’s $600,000 purchase. Justify had one yearling sell at the Fasig-Tipton July sale in Kentucky, the North American kickoff to this marketplace, with a filly out of Grade 1 winner Emma’s Encore bringing $210,000. Fasig-Tipton continues Justify’s yearling sales career this month, as the young stallion had 14 yearlings chosen for the boutique Saratoga selected yearling auction, with one more in the New York-bred yearling sale the following week. His entries further showcase the quality of his first book of mares. His foals on offer at Saratoga include a colt out of Grade 1 winner Appealing Zophie, dam of Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit and two other stakes winners; a colt out of Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Bar of Gold, whose first runner is stakes-placed; a filly out of stakes winner Kosmo’s Buddy, dam of Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Pegasus World Cup winner Knicks Go; a filly out of stakes-placed Storm Dixie, dam of Kentucky Oaks winner Princess of Sylmar; and a colt out of Grade 1 winner Together. “We are incredibly grateful to all of the breeders who have supported Justify in his first few years at stud,” said Charlie O’Connor, Ashford’s director of sales. “He was heavily supported by the Coolmore partners who have bred over 50 mares to him in each of his three years at stud, and also by many big international breeders, especially in Japan. He made a terrific start with his yearlings at [the] JRHA sale, where he was represented by a $1.8 million colt out of Grade 1 winner Zipessa and a $1.2 million colt out of champion filly Caledonia Road.” Justify famously did not run as a 2-year-old, becoming the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby without having raced as a juvenile. His foals also have shown signs of needing time to develop. “His horses all have size and scope, from what I’ve seen, and I think they’re getting better and better as the year goes on,” said Mark Taylor, vice president of marketing and sales for his family’s Taylor Made Sales, a prominent consignor. “As weanlings, a lot of them looked real leggy and maybe a little bit gangly, like they didn’t have it all together. But as the year goes on and as they mature into themselves, every month I’ve seen these Justifys – and I’ve been looking at probably 20 of them – they just keep getting better every month. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product.” Taylor also noted that Justify appears to be a dominant stallion who stamps his offspring with his own physical traits. “He’s an interesting horse because he’s a big horse himself, good size himself, super athletic . . . but if you look at his breeding, you’ve got Scat Daddy and [broodmare sire] Ghostzapper, which, neither one of them, on a regular basis, throws really big horses,” Taylor said. “He’s kind of an outlier for those sirelines. So I didn’t know if he would throw back to that or throw himself, and it looks like he’s throwing himself.” Keeping step with Justify at the top of this first-crop yearling class to date is City of Light, who won the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and 2019 Pegasus World Cup and three other graded stakes at both sprint and route distances while never missing the board. The young stallion, who stands alongside his sire, Quality Road, at Lane’s End Farm, will look to continue his strong commercial results in Saratoga, where he has 10 yearlings cataloged between the two sales. City of Light was represented by 12 weanlings which sold for an average of $216,000 last year, more than six times his introductory fee. That included a $600,000 colt who led all weanlings at the Fasig-Tipton November sale. He then topped his first-crop class with a $230,000 filly at the Fasig-Tipton July sale. “He’s been a very consistent stallion in terms of what he’s thrown physically,” said Allaire Ryan, director of sales for Lane’s End. “They all have leg, they all have scope, they’re beautifully balanced horses with good range of motion. . . . To me, they just come out and they look like very classic, two-turn, quality individuals. It’s very hard to pick them apart.” Lane’s End also stands 2018 Eclipse Award champion older male Accelerate, who won five Grade 1 stakes in his championship season, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic; and 2017 Eclipse champion 3-year-old colt West Coast. Accelerate “was the definition of a sound, hard-knocking individual, with an incredible amount of heart and try – his record is a testament to that,” Ryan said. “And the Accelerates are very useful-looking horses. They’re strong, good-bodied, they’ve got good natural substance, they stand over a good amount of ground – I think you see a lot of [Accelerate’s grandsire] Smart Strike coming through in them. “They’re good-minded individuals, and they move well. They look workmanlike. They’re the kind of horse where you could have 10 in your barn and be completely happy with them.” This class includes another Eclipse Award divisional champion in Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Good Magic. The young Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm stallion, who stands alongside his sire, Curlin, was second to Justify in the Kentucky Derby. “He’s everything you could want in a horse,” Hill ‘n’ Dale president John Sikura said. Other accomplished runners in this class include Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (WinStar Farm), Preakness Stakes winner Cloud Computing (Spendthrift Farm), Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit (Gainesway), and Grade 1 winners Army Mule (Hill ‘n’ Dale), Bee Jersey (Darby Dan Farm), Bolt d’Oro (Spendthrift), Collected (Airdrie Stud), Free Drop Billy (Spendthrift), Funtastic (Three Chimneys Farm), Girvin (Ocala Stud), Hoppertunity (Northview Stallion Station), Long On Value (Pleasant Acres Stallions), Mendelssohn (Ashford), Mo Town (Ashford), Mor Spirit (Spendthrift), Oscar Performance (Mill Ridge Farm), Ransom the Moon (Calumet Farm), and Sharp Azteca (Three Chimneys). This story appears in our special edition previewing the 2021 yearling sales season. You can download the complete special edition as a PDF by clicking here.