Triple Crown winner Justify, coming off a breakout season at stud, has already recorded his first graded stakes winner of 2024 and appears lined up for continued success with a strong group of 3-year-olds coming into this year, a well-bred group of 2-year-olds, and a strong book of mares committed to him for the upcoming breeding season. Justify, who is based at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, also has had success shuttling to the international operation’s Australian farm for the Southern Hemisphere season. He recorded his first Northern Hemisphere graded stakes winner of the year when Alpha Bella took the Grade 3 La Prevoyante on Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup undercard at Gulfstream Park. This was a breakthrough win for the 4-year-old, who was stakes-placed four times last year. Justify also was represented in January by Pilot Commander, who was second in the Grade 2 San Vicente at Santa Anita; and Just Steel, who was second in the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park and who goes in the next race of that track’s 3-year-old series, the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes on Saturday. Just Steel won the Ed Brown Stakes last November at Churchill Downs as one of nine 2-year-old stakes winners for Justify, helping him lead both the North American juvenile sire list and second-crop sire list. He had a pair of Breeders’ Cup winners – Juvenile Fillies heroine Just F Y I and Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Hard to Justify. Just F Y I was awarded the Eclipse Award as 2-year-old filly champion last Thursday. Trainer Bill Mott told Daily Racing Form that the champion is likely to return to the races in March, potentially in the Grade 2 Davona Dale. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Justify has 120 2-year-olds in the Northern Hemisphere, according to Equineline statistics, including a full sibling to his Grade 1 winner Aspen Grove; a half-sibling to Eclipse Award champion Vino Rosso; a half-sibling to Kentucky Oaks winner Princess of Sylmar; half-siblings to Grade/Group 1 winners Above the Curve, Classic Causeway, Danza, Majestic Harbor, Mo Town, Restless Rider, Roly Poly, and U S Navy Flag; and juveniles out of additional Grade/Group 1 winners Damson, Sarah Lynx, Together, Turbulent Descent, and Winter. Justify is standing for a private fee as one of the most in-demand stallions in the country. His fee was initially advertised at $200,000 when Ashford published its fees in October. Following his Breeders’ Cup double, Justify’s fee was moved to private – a common practice when stallions experience high success after the publication of fees. The $200,000 fee ties him with Quality Road (Lane’s End Farm) and is behind only Curlin (Hill ‘n’ Dale), Gun Runner (Three Chimneys Farm), and Into Mischief (Spendthrift Farm) as the most expensive stallions in Kentucky. Among the mares scheduled to visit Justify this year is the Coolmore partners’ Warm Heart, who in her final career start Saturday came up the rail to defeat males in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf. Warm Heart now has three career Grade/Group 1 triumphs, along with last year’s Yorkshire Oaks and Prix Vermille; she also was second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and third in the Hong Kong Vase. “We’re just so delighted for everyone and for her to go off now to Justify is just so exciting,” trainer Aidan O’Brien told Gulfstream publicity. “She’s absolutely made for him. She’s an incredible filly. . . . We’d love to have her and to be racing her, but the lads’ business is breeding these horses and she’s an absolutely incredible broodmare to be going to Justify, who looks probably the most incredible stallion that ever was based on what he’s done so far.” The Coolmore group added another well-bred mare to visit Justify this season when it purchased Prank, a debut-winning half-sister to Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal, for a sale-topping $1.6 million at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales Other mares confirmed to be visiting Justify this season already include Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel; multiple Grade 1 winner Regal Glory; and multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Frank’s Rockette. ◗ Two consistently successful sires recorded stakes doubles on Saturday, with Liam’s Map sweeping the co-features at Aqueduct and Constitution siring a pair of winners in the Southwest. Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Liam’s Map, who stands at Lane’s End Farm, was represented by Interborough Stakes winner Hot Fudge and Jimmy Winkfield winner Bergen on Saturday in New York. Multiple Grade 1 winner Constitution, standing at WinStar Farm, sent out Promise Keeper to win the Fifth Season on dirt at Oaklawn and Neat to win the Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile at Sam Houston. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.