Spendthrift introduces new incentives for fourth-year stallions

Ahead of a season of juvenile racing in which a strong class of freshman sires will be featured, B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm has introduced the “Safe Bet” program, designed to incentivize breeders to support the farm’s current freshmen in their fourth seasons at stud in 2019.

Breeding to a stallion in the year his first foals hit the racetrack is typically considered a risky proposition. By the time the resulting foal is born, the value of the sire could have risen or fallen based on his freshman performance. Spendthrift's Safe Bet program assures breeders that a stallion’s first crop of 2-year-olds will have at least one graded/group stakes winner in 2019, or the breeder will be completely relieved of the stud fee for their resulting 2020 foal.

Spendthrift's freshmen this year are led by a pair of classic-placed young stallions in Grade 1 winner Danza, third in the 2014 Kentucky Derby, and graded stakes winner Medal Count, third in the 2014 Belmont Stakes. The farm's six freshmen are rounded out by additional Grade 1 winners Palace and Wicked Strong, Grade 2 winner Race Day, and Grade 1-placed Normandy Invasion.

“It’s no secret that Mr. Hughes is constantly thinking of ways we can offer breeder-friendly programs for our stallions," farm general manager Ned Toffey said in a release issued by Spendthrift, which has also pioneered breeder incentive programs such as Share the Upside. "The inspiration behind the Safe Bet program largely came from the success of our leading first-crop sires last year, particularly the great things accomplished by Cross Traffic and Goldencents. Breeding to a fourth-year stallion requires making a bet on the early success of the stallion’s first runners. It can be very rewarding – as we saw last year – and there’s also risk involved. We wanted to remove as much risk for the breeders as possible."