Not This Time red hot heading into yearling sales

Not This Time has emerged as one of the early leaders of the 2020 freshman sire class on the racetrack, and his first crop found smashing commercial success in a turbulent market. The young stallion, who bucked trends by getting a solid second book at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, looks to carry that success into the yearling sale season.

Not This Time, a son of Giant’s Causeway, was a 10-length maiden winner at Ellis Park in his second career start before winning the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs by eight lengths. He then was beaten a neck by divisional champion Classic Empire in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. That proved to be his final career start, as he was retired due to a soft-tissue injury. He was expected to be a good sire of 2-year-olds, in his own mold. Anticipation for his first crop was heightened when his half-brother Liam’s Map sired a pair of Grade 1-winning juveniles, Basin and Wicked Whisper, from his own first crop in 2019.

Not This Time indeed fired off the mark, as he leads his freshman class with nine individual winners through Sept. 9. Those include Grade 1 winner Princess Noor and Grade 3-placed Hopeful Princess.

Even before his first juveniles hit the track, Not This Time was well regarded in the commercial arena, and his numbers soared as the calendar turned to 2020. The stallion averaged $63,746 from 68 first-crop yearlings sold at public auction last year, more than four times their advertised conception stud fee of $15,000. He then averaged $175,216 from 37 juveniles sold this year, led by a $1.35 million filly who topped the OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training and finished as the most expensive horse of the juvenile sale season, which was upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

The filly, who has since been named Princess Noor, was purchased by bloodstock agent Gary Young after working a quarter-mile in a bullet 20 1/5 seconds on the Ocala Training Center’s Safetrack surface during the under-tack preview for the sale. She has continued to show that speed, winning her debut on Aug. 22 at Del Mar for trainer Bob Baffert and following up with a victory in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante.

In addition to commercial auction prices, one way to gauge the popularity and appeal of a stallion is in the size and quality of his books of mares. Not This Time covered 145 mares in his first season at stud, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. That book was highlighted by Grade 1-winning millionaire Dream of Summer, dam of classic-placed Grade 1 winner Creative Cause, recent Grade 1 winner Vexatious, and classic-placed Grade 2 winner Destin. All three are by Giant’s Causeway, the sire of Not This Time.

The quality of a stallion’s book may decrease slightly his second, third, and fourth years at stud, as breeders wait to see his first foals and how they are received. However, Not This Time’s second book of 129 mares in 2018 included a major vote of confidence for his continued success in Broodmare of the Year Leslie’s Lady, dam of four-time Eclipse Award champion Beholder, Grade 1 winner and leading sire Into Mischief, and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn.

Her inclusion in his book was all the more notable because the stakes-winning mare was 23 when she delivered the resulting filly, meaning she has few opportunities left in her breeding career. Breeder Clarkland Farm intends to retain the resulting filly, Marr Time.

Not This Time will be represented by six yearlings from his second crop at the Fasig-Tipton selected yearling showcase and another 47 at the Keeneland September yearling sale. He has two yearlings slotted in the marquee Book 1 portion of Keeneland September – a colt from the family of Grade 1 winner Capote Belle and a colt from the family of Grade 1 winner Frost Giant, by Giant’s Causeway. He has four more yearlings in Book 2 at Keene-land, including half-siblings to graded stakes winners I Spent It and Island Commish.