Great Notion is continuing his streak atop the Maryland sire list, and his win streak in one of the state’s biggest events. Great Notion, by Elusive Quality, stands at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, and has led the Maryland general sire list every year since 2018. Last year the veteran stallion, who just turned 23, handily outgunned regional rising star Uncle Lino, who turned 10. Great Notion, who also led Maryland by winners and stakes winners, amassed progeny earnings of $4,615,322. Uncle Lino, a son of emerging sire of sires Uncle Mo who also stands for the powerhouse Northview operation, checked in at $3,115,303. Great Notion has recorded 16 individual winners at the Maryland Million, with at least one victory every year since 2010. The stallion’s streak was kept alive last year by his top earner, Grade 3-placed Fille d’Esprit. She won five stakes on the season, including the Maryland Million Distaff in October at Laurel Park. The mare recently began her 2023 campaign, and Great Notion’s quest for more titles, with a victory in the What a Summer Stakes at Laurel. Great Notion, himself a Kentucky-bred, won three of 12 career starts, including the 2003 Southwest Stakes by nine lengths. He placed in four other stakes races that year, including a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop at Saratoga. He was bested just a neck by Valid Video while finishing a neck ahead of third-place Ghostzapper, who went on to be the 2004 Horse of the Year. Great Notion entered stud in 2005, and has climbed the ranks from a useful state sire into a consistently dominant force in his region who also can make a mark on the national level. He is the sire of multiple graded stakes winner Havelock, and of an additional graded winner in Ruby Notion. “It’s his versatility and the fact that they continue to go on,” Northview general manager David Wade said. “They start out and run well as 2-year-olds and then they just continue on. He gets sound horses.” Through Jan. 26, Great Notion is the sire of 299 winners, including 40 stakes winners, from 381 career starters – a 78 percent strike rate. His career progeny earnings stand at $32,655,073, an average of $85,709 per starter. That is more than 11 times his current stud fee, of $7,500 for the 2023 season. Great Notion covered 39 mares last year, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, which is mid-range for the state. “He’s the patriarch, I guess, right now at Northview,” Wade said. Hoppertunity leading freshman Surprisingly, Hoppertunity’s well-traveled career never took him to the Mid-Atlantic region. But now ensconced at Northview Stallion Station, the multiple Grade 1 winner gives the farm another promising sire. Hoppertunity finished as Maryland’s leading freshman sire of 2022. Hoppertunity was retired for the 2019 season to Northview’s Pennsylania location in Peach Bottom, Pa., where he covered 129 mares in his first season, the most of any Mid-Atlantic stallion that year. After standing another Pennsylvania season in 2020, Hoppertunity moved to the flagship Chesapeake City farm when Northview consolidated its operations to Maryland, and has stood the past seasons there. His first Maryland-sired crop will race in 2024. From Hoppertunity’s first Pennsylvania-sired crop, he was represented by eight winners in 2022 to lead the Maryland freshman sire list, regardless of progeny conception area, by both winners and earnings. His first crop includes stakes winner Midnight Parade and stakes-placed Pachebel. Hoppertunity, by Any Given Saturday, won nine of 34 starts over a five-year career that took him to eight different tracks in five states and the Middle East. He earned more than $4.7 million while winning eight graded stakes, including Grade 1 triumphs in the 2014 Clark Handicap and 2016 Jockey Club Gold Cup. He placed in 11 other graded stakes.