Honest Mischief immediately served notice he was going to be a force in his adopted home state of New York. The Juddmonte Farm homebred covered 127 mares at Sequel Stallions in his initial season in 2021, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred.

That was not only a phenomenal number for a new stallion in a regional marketplace, it made him the busiest stallion overall in New York. The young sire’s resulting first crop are now yearlings and will have a coming-out party at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale on Aug. 13-14.

It takes a special horse to succeed in Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney Sale Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with the yearlings fetching the highest prices at one of the nation’s elite sales possessing a blend of sparkling pedigree, physical athleticism, and other intangibles.

While Kentucky is the epicenter of North American breeding activity and produces more than half the registered Thoroughbred foal crop annually, it’s a common refrain that a good horse can come from anywhere. Perhaps no regional program better exemplifies that than New York – and New York-breds can win anywhere, too.

In order to be chosen for the boutique Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, horses must possess stellar pedigrees and outstanding physical conformation. Before the yearlings arrive on the sale grounds the first week of August for their conformation and athleticism to be analyzed, here is a short list of those who, on paper, bring the most sparkling pedigrees. This list of horses to watch accounts for catalog updates and sale outs through July 25.

Night 1 – Monday, Aug. 7

McKinzie came to Saratoga in 2019 to win the Grade 1 Whitney and left with his career-high Beyer Speed Figure, one of seven official graded stakes triumphs in a career in which he demonstrated both precocity and durability, speed and stamina.

Four years later, a sizeable group from his first crop of yearlings will come to Saratoga for the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, which provides the opportunity for a star-making turn commercially for popular young sires. The sale is set for the Monday and Tuesday following this year’s renewal of the Whitney.

Raise Cain, Lord Miles, Red Route One, and One in Vermillion have all had success on the road and Sunday night they will invade Mountaineer Park for the Grade 3, $500,000 West Virginia Derby.

The 1 1/8-mile race highlights a card that includes the Grade 3, $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s. The races were previously run on a Saturday, but were moved to Sunday to avoid clashing with major stakes cards at other venues such as Saratoga, officials said. First post is 5 p.m. Eastern.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – McKulick, who ran down odds-on favorite War Like Goddess to win Thursday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls Stakes, will be aimed at the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl going 1 3/8 miles here on Sept. 2.

War Like Goddess, who had won the previous two runnings of the Glens Falls, could run in the Flower Bowl or face the boys one week earlier in the Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer on Aug. 26.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Crimson Advocate, who won the Group 2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot and who at one point was being considered for a start in Saratoga, is on the farm getting a freshening and will be brought back for a fall campaign targeting the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Up to the Mark, a two-time Grade 1 winner and arguably the leader of the older male turf division, suffered a setback in his training that will likely alter his plans leading up to the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Todd Pletcher said this week.