Spendthrift Farm triples down with By My Standards

As far as Spendthrift Farm is concerned, you can’t have too much of a good thing – especially when it comes to two-time reigning leading sire Into Mischief. The record-setting stallion made a promising start with his first son to stud, Goldencents, who stands alongside him at Spendthrift. The farm continues to double down on its current signature sireline by adding By My Standards, a hard-knocking son of Goldencents, to its roster for 2022.

By My Standards raced for Chester Thomas’s Allied Racing, earning more than $2.2 million while winning five stakes. The 5-year-old was training toward a final career start this fall in pursuit of an elusive Grade 1 victory when a quarter crack derailed him.

“It’s a bittersweet day, because this is a special horse who deserved to win a Grade 1 and was very unlucky not to,” Thomas said. “However, I’m proud he is retiring happy and healthy, and I couldn’t be more excited about him going to Spendthrift, where he’ll get the best opportunity to become a great sire, just like his sire and grandsire there.”

By My Standards burst onto the scene by winning the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby in 2019. Country House, who was awarded the victory in that year’s Kentucky Derby, and Preakness Stakes winner War of Will were also-rans in that race. By My Standards was then officially 11th in the Kentucky Derby.

Away from the races for the rest of 2019, By My Standards won the first three starts of his 4-year-old campaign, including the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic and Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap, before finishing second in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster and second in the Grade 1 Whitney. Eventual champion older horse Improbable won the Whitney.

By My Standards bounced back to win the Grade 2 Alysheba, then finished eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and seventh in the Grade 1 Clark.

This year, By My Standards made three starts, starting off with a win in the Oaklawn Mile. He finished second to Silver State in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, beaten a length after a rough start. In what proved to be his career finale, By My Standards stumbled at the start of the Whitney and lost a shoe, finishing fifth in a stacked edition won by Knicks Go.

Into Mischief set a single-season earnings record for a North American sire in 2020, his second year atop the earnings list. He is in pursuit of his own record as he leads that list late in 2021 by a wide margin.

The stallion’s first son to stud was Goldencents, who led his freshman class by winners in 2018, and led the class by earnings in both 2019 and 2020. He covered the most mares of any stallion in North America in 2021, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred – edging another Spendthrift resident son of Into Mischief, Kentucky Derby winner Authentic – and recorded his first Grade 1 winner this fall with Going to Vegas.

Into Mischief’s Practical Joke, who stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, is among the leading freshman sires of 2021, with graded stakes winner Wit in his first crop. Into Mischief’s legacy could continue to grow, as he has another 12 sons advertised at stud who do not yet have foals of racing age – including Spendthrift resident Maximus Mischief, who has his first weanlings this season.

“Obviously, this is a sireline we know very well and just have tremendous confidence in,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said. “By My Standards really embodies the heart and ability that have become so signature to the Into Mischief line.”

By My Standards is one of five newcomers for Spendthrift for 2022, along with Grade 1 winners Basin, Known Agenda, Rock Your World, and Yaupon.

Rock Your World is latest Candy Ride

Candy Ride, already steadily successful with his sons at stud, had a breakout season in that regard in 2021. Off that momentum, Grade 1 winner Rock Your World retires to stud as his latest representative.

Candy Ride, who stands at Lane’s End Farm, is the sire of Horse of the Year Gun Runner, the leading freshman sire this season for Three Chimneys Farm, led by Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and likely champion Echo Zulu. Candy Ride also is the sire of two other Kentucky freshman sires in the top 20 this season in Lane’s End resident Unified, with three first-crop stakes winners, and Claiborne Farm resident Mastery.

Meanwhile, Candy Ride’s successful son Twirling Candy, who also stands at Lane’s End, recorded his first classic winner with Preakness Stakes hero Rombauer. Twirling Candy added another new Grade 1 winner later in the season with Pine-hurst, giving him six top-level winners in his career.

New Spendthrift Farm resident Rock Your World, campaigned by Hronis Racing and Talla Racing, won his first three starts, including the Pasadena Stakes on turf and then the Santa Anita Derby by 4 1/4 lengths over Medina Spirit in his dirt debut. That proved to be his final victory.

He finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby after being roughed near the start, and was sixth in the Belmont Stakes. He was second to Medina Spirit in the Shared Belief Stakes in August at Del Mar, but finished ninth after flashing speed in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby on turf at Santa Anita in what proved his final start.

“He’s one imposing individual, and as good-looking of a Candy Ride as you’ll find,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said.

Danzig still important Claiborne sireline

Silver State will look to build on the legacy of the Metropolitan Handicap as a stallion-making race and also build on the legacy of the great Danzig for historic Claiborne Farm as he enters stud there in the coming season.

Silver State raced for Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing, those stables having purchased him as a yearling from breeder Stonestreet Farm. The Hancock family’s Claiborne acquired his stallion rights, and he arrived at the farm after finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar in his final outing.

Silver State is by Hard Spun, a son of legendary former Claiborne stallion Danzig.

“Danzig is one of the legends of Claiborne, and we anticipate his legacy continuing through his grandson Silver State,” Claiborne’s Walker Hancock said.

Silver State made his name by winning six straight races from October 2020 to June of this year, culminating with graded scores in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and the Met Mile. In the latter, he defeated the consistent By My Standards by a length. The Met Mile has been won through its history by prominent stallions such as Tom Fool (1953), Native Dancer (1954), Buckpasser (1967), Tentam (1973), Cox’s Ridge (1978), Fappiano (1981), Gulch (1987-88), Ghostzapper (2005), and Quality Road (2010).

“That mile is kind of a sweet spot,” David Fiske, racing and farm manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, said in terms of stallion-making races. “There’s a lot of sprint races in this country, fewer distance races, but if you can get a mile, many times you can stretch out successfully. They’re versatile. You can get a sprint horse out of them, a distance horse out of them – it depends on what mare you breed to them.”

Following the Met Mile, Silver State finished third in the Grade 1 Whitney to Knicks Go and second by a head to Mind Control in the Parx Dirt Mile before heading to the Breeders’ Cup.

Danzig, who died in 2006, was the nation’s leading sire in 1991, 1992, and 1993 and was among the leading sires three other times – as well as being a leading sire in England, the United Arab Emirates, and Spain. Danzig’s sons at stud included the legendary Danehill, a pioneer in the era of shuttling stallions.

Claiborne’s current flagship stallion is Danzig’s versatile son War Front, a classic sire in the United States with Preakness winner War of Will, who now stands at Claiborne. War Front also is a popular sire internationally.

War Front is beginning to build out his own branch of this sireline, with other sons at stud including Air Force Blue, American Patriot, Fog of War, Hit It a Bomb, Jack Milton, Lost Treasure, Mosler, Omaha Beach, Peace and Justice, Summer Front, The Factor, War Correspondent, and War Dancer.

Hard Spun has proven a successful stallion in his own right, with Eclipse Award champion Questing, 2019 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run, and this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Aloha West among his standouts.

Kelley, Lane’s End team up again

Grade 1 winner Lexitonian was campaigned as a homebred for Calumet Farm, which has its own stallion roster in Kentucky. However, the Calumet colorbearer will instead begin his stud career across town at Lane’s End Farm, which helped make the career of Calumet’s best recent stallion, the late English Channel.

Calumet steward Brad Kelley owned an interest in Eclipse Award champion turf horse English Channel, who raced in the colors of James Scatuorchio. English Channel began his stud career with two seasons at Hurricane Hall, which Kelley co-owned. He then moved to the Farish family’s Lane’s End for five seasons, establishing himself as a consistent sire. He moved to Calumet beginning in 2015 after Kelley began building a stallion roster on the historic property. English Channel was the leading turf sire of 2020 and died in November while again leading that list.

Lexitonian, a 5-year-old son of Speightstown, finished ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar in his final start. His biggest of three career stakes victories came when he won the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap in July at Saratoga. He was a close second in two other Grade 1 races.

“It’s a dream for myself, the barn, and the rest of the guys who do all the hard work for the horse to go on to a fantastic second career and to a farm like Lane’s End,” trainer Jack Sisterson said. “It’s very humbling that Calumet and Lane’s End were able to work something out. He’s every trainer’s dream to have speed, be sound, and win a Grade 1. He should have a successful stud career.”

Charlatan to get top mares

Grade 1 winner Charlatan raced for a multi-pronged partnership of SF Racing; Starlight Racing; Madaket Stables; his breeder, Stonestreet Stables; Fred Hertrich III; John Fielding; and Golconda Stables. He enters stud in 2022 at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm and should have the benefit of top mares from all his partners to get him off to a solid start in his first season.

He already boasts a major gem in that regard, as Hill ‘n’ Dale announced that Grade 1 winner and promising young broodmare Guarana will be bred to him in 2022.

“We have received overwhelming interest in Charlatan from absolute top-class breeders,” Hill ‘n’ Dale president John Sikura said. “We are looking to lead the way with our best mares as a bold sign of both our commitment to and our belief in Charlatan’s chances at stud.”

Sikura bid up to $4.4 million to secure Guarana at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale, dissolving a partnership in Three Chimneys on the mare, who went through the ring carrying her first foal, by Into Mischief. Guarana was bred and initially raced by Three Chimneys, winning 3 of 4 starts in her 3-year-old campaign.

After victories in her debut, the Grade 1 Acorn over Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress in just her second start, and the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, she was second in the Grade 1 Cotillion. Hill ‘n’ Dale bought into the filly before her brief 4-year-old campaign, in which she won both starts, including the Grade 1 Madison.

Guarana is by emerging broodmare sire Ghostzapper, whose daughters have produced Triple Crown winner Justify and fellow Eclipse Award champion Drefong. The 5-year-old is out of the winning Distorted Humor mare Magical World, also the dam of Grade 2-placed stakes winner Magic Dance.

Guarana’s granddam is Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Pleasant Home, and this is the family of champions Sky Beauty, Dayjur, and Gold Beauty and Grade 1 winners Maplejinsky, Pine Island, Point of Entry, Tale of Ekati, and Violence.