Gun Runner got better as he got older, becoming a Grade 1 winner in three consecutive calendar years in a career that spanned more than 28 months. Justify’s meteoric career lasted less than four months but included a sweep of the Triple Crown. Yet the two have plenty in common now. Gun Runner and Justify were Horse of the Year honorees in back-to-back years, 2017 and 2018, respectively. They were inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame last summer, in the first year of eligibility for both. And both have been hailed for extraordinary starts to their stud careers, which now have them among the nation’s leading – and most expensive – sires. Gun Runner and Justify were second and third, respectively, on the 2024 North American general sire list to the record-setting reigning leader Into Mischief. “Today, he is doing great things in the stud barn that will continue his legacy,” WinStar Farm executive Elliott Walden said in accepting Justify’s Hall of Fame plaque. WinStar co-campaigned Justify, by Scat Daddy, with China Horse Club, Starlight Racing, and Head of Plains Partners, before the Coolmore group acquired his stallion rights. Today, he is based at Ashford Stud in Kentucky. The leading third-crop sire of 2024, he will stand for an advertised fee of $250,000 in 2025, tying him with Gun Runner and six-time reigning leading sire Into Mischief for the top number. In contrast to Justify, who has passed through several operations, Gun Runner, the leading fourth-crop sire of 2024, stands at Three Chimneys Farm, where he resided as a youngster and which co-campaigned him with Winchell Thoroughbreds. “The entire team at Three Chimneys’s care and devotion to Gun Runner as a young horse set the foundation for his success on the track,” Three Chimneys’ Rodrigo Torrealba, brother of farm owner Gonçalo Borges Torrealba, said in his Hall of Fame acceptance remarks. “Now, you manage his second career as a stallion with the same dedication and excellence. Gun Runner has not only excelled as a racehorse but has become an extraordinary stallion, the cornerstone of our breeding operation at Three Chimneys.” Gun Runner set an earnings record for a North American freshman sire in 2021 and has been a top 10 general sire each year since. Justify, who did not race as a juvenile, was third on the 2022 freshman earnings list but has come storming on since then. In addition to leading the fourth- and third-crop sire lists, respectively, in 2024, Gun Runner and Justify finished second and third behind Into Mischief on the general sire list. Gun Runner’s season was led by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone, a member of his third crop. Sierra Leone earned the Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old male to become Gun Runner’s second champion, joining 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and divisional champ Echo Zulu. Justify’s season was led by Cartier European Horse of the Year City of Troy, a member of his second crop who turned in his second championship season after earning juvenile honors in 2023. Aidan O’Brien, who trains City of Troy and several other top-class runners from the line for the Coolmore group, has been effusive in his praise of Justify, telling the Racing Post that the stallion could be “the best ever.” A look through some of their contemporaries on the leading sire lists makes it obvious how strongly Gun Runner and Justify have started their careers. For the purposes of this exercise, Gun Runner and Justify’s figures from their first several crops were measured against some other standouts who have entered stud in the past two decades. Tapit, also owned and supported by the Winchell family, set an earnings record for a freshman sire in 2008 and led the nation’s general sire list from 2014-16, setting an earnings record at the time. Candy Ride was the nation’s leading living general sire in 2017-18, helped along by his son Gun Runner. Into Mischief then inherited the mantle for the last six years. Other contemporaries considered are Uncle Mo, who broke Tapit’s freshman earnings record before Gun Runner broke it again, and Curlin, among the leading sires in Breeders' Cup history and perennially-prominent sire of classic horses and champions. :: Beyer Sire Performance Standings: Daily Racing Form's exclusive stallion metrics :: The chart below includes statistics, and standout runners for the first four crops of these stallions, with the exception of Justify, whose third crop hit the track in 2024. Candy Ride (entered stud 2005): Nation’s leading living general sire 2017-18 First crop (stud fee $10,000): 11 stakes winners from 124 foals; highlights include Grade 1 winners Capt. Candyman Can, El Bruja, Evita Argentina, Misremembered. Second crop ($12,500): 9 SWs/93 foals; G1Ws Sidney’s Candy, Twirling Candy. Third crop ($12,500): 9 SWs/103 foals; G1W Home Sweet Aspen. Fourth crop ($12,500): 3 SWs/93 foals. Tapit (2005): Set freshman sire earnings record in 2008; nation’s leading general sire 2014-16 First crop ($15,000): 15 SWs/95 foals; Breeders’ Cup winner and Eclipse Award champion Stardom Bound; G1Ws Careless Jewel, Laragh, Testa Matta. Second crop ($15,000): 6 SWs/79 foals; G1W Tapitsfly. Third crop ($12,500): 14 SWs/129 foals; Breeders’ Cup winner Tapizar; G1Ws Joyful Victory, Tell a Kelly, Zazu. Fourth crop ($12,500): 4 SWs/79 foals; Breeders’ Cup winner and Eclipse Award champion Hansen; G1W Dance Card. Curlin (2009): Among leading Breeders’ Cup sires, living classic sires; 11th on 2024 general sire list First crop ($75,000): 9 SWs/104 foals; Belmont winner Palace Malice. Second crop ($40,000): 5 SWs/117 foals. Third crop ($40,000): 13 SWs/105 foals; Eclipse champion Stellar Wind; G1Ws Curalina, Keen Ice. Fourth crop ($40,000): 9 SWs/85 foals; Preakness winner Exaggerator; G1Ws Connect, Off the Tracks. Into Mischief (2009): Nation’s leading general sire 2019-24 First crop ($12,500): 8 SWs/43 foals; Breeders’ Cup winner Goldencents. Second crop ($10,000): 3 SWs/31 foals. Third crop ($7,500): 2 SWs/39 foals. Fourth crop ($7,500): 3 SWs/36 foals. Uncle Mo (2012): Set freshman sire earnings record in 2015; eighth on 2024 general sire list First crop ($35,000): 27 SWs/227 foals; Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup winner and Eclipse champion Nyquist; G1Ws Gomo, Outwork, Unbridled Mo. Second crop ($35,000): 10 SWs/172 foals; G1W Mo Town. Third crop ($27,500): 12 SWs/199 foals; G1W Dream Tree. Fourth crop ($25,000): 9 SWs/293 foals; G1W Mo Forza. Gun Runner (2018): Set freshman sire earnings record in 2021; second on 2024 general sire list First crop ($70,000): 19 SWs/127 foals; Breeders’ Cup winner and champion Echo Zulu; Preakness winner Early Voting; G1Ws Cyberknife, Gunite, Society, Taiba. Second crop ($70,000): 6 SWs/120 foals; G1Ws Gun Pilot, Vahva. Third crop ($70,000): 10 SWs/118 foals; Breeders’ Cup winner Sierra Leone; G1W Locked. Fourth crop ($50,000): 2 SWs/117 foals. Justify (2019): Third on 2024 general sire list First crop ($150,000): 19 SWs/279 foals; G1Ws Arabian Lion, Aspen Grove. Second crop ($150,000): 18 SWs/254 foals; Breeders’ Cup winner and Eclipse champion Just F Y I; European classic winner and Cartier champion City of Troy; Cartier champion Opera Singer; Breeders’ Cup winner Hard to Justify; G1W Ramatuelle. Third crop ($125,000): 1 SW/177 foals. :: Learn more about 2024's leading sires in the annual Daily Racing Form Stallions Guide :: The number of overall stakes winners for the first four crops of each of these stallions – and the first three crops to date for Justify – is fairly consistent. Uncle Mo, with 58 individual stakes winners through his first four crops, is the outlier. He and Tapit are rarities, with at least one Grade 1 winner in each early crop. The other stallions in this group all recorded between 32 and 39 stakes winners in their first four years at stud. The outlier at the other end is Into Mischief, with 16 through his first four crops. Into Mischief and Tapit were the two stallions in this group who went to stud without a championship, and that is reflected in their early stud fees and the resulting books of mares. Into Mischief’s average number of foals for his first four crops was 37 – well below the others in this group, as owner Spendthrift Farm worked to incentivize breeders to get him off to a good start. While the numbers put them in good stead, the quality of Gun Runner and Justify’s stakes winners sets them apart. To this point, Gun Runner is the sire of 10 individual Grade 1 winners – second only to Tapit – and produced a classic winner, which Tapit did not have at this point. Uncle Mo, Curlin, and Candy Ride each had seven Grade 1 winners through four crops, while Justify has six Grade/Group 1 winners through just three crops. Justify has been granted additional opportunities as the Coolmore group has provided him with strong European support, as well as shuttling him to Australia. The stallion is the sire of three champions in the Northern Hemisphere at this point, plus one more in Australia. Tapit was the sire of two champions through four crops, a figure Gun Runner matches. The scary part? Gun Runner and Justify could still be on the upswing. After Into Mischief’s small first crop included Grade 1 winner Goldencents and several other graded stakes winners, he was more strongly supported in the following years. His fifth crop numbered 170 foals and included 21 stakes winners – more than his first four years combined – led by Grade 1 winner Practical Joke. Tapit went on to sire a modern-record four winners of the Belmont Stakes after his early success garnered additional support. The curve is similar for many other stallions. The book of mares Gun Runner bred in 2022 – after his record-setting freshman season in 2021 – produced foals who will be 2-year-olds in 2025, setting him up for a stellar year. Justify’s breakout season was with his second crop in 2023, with champion juveniles Just F Y I, City of Troy, and Opera Singer in that group. Although he has been strongly supported each season, the book of mares he covered in 2024 may have been his best yet, with more than three dozen Grade/Group 1 winners, led by champions Abel Tasman, Found, Gamine, Malathaat, Minding, Regal Glory, Rushing Fall, and Uni. “I think it’ll be unbelievable what his progeny are going to do,” O’Brien told the Racing Post. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything like what’s going to happen yet.”