With the addition of Colonel Liam late in the game, Ocala Stud will debut three new stallions for 2023, all Grade 1 winners, giving them one of the strongest new hands of any farm on the East Coast.

Colonel Liam, a two-time winner of the Pegasus World Cup Turf, was retired prior to this year’s edition with an ill-timed ankle issue. He had been training in Florida for his repeat bid, and now remains in Florida for stallion duty. The son of Liam’s Map won five turf stakes, with a trio of Grade 1s – his Pegasus victories and the Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

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.

It seems the baton has been securely passed to Central Banker, as he cashed in to lead the New York general sire list by a comfortable margin in 2022. It was the second consecutive title for the young standout, a graded stakes winner who has quickly climbed the ranks in the Empire State.

The big story in Florida’s freshman sire ranks for 2022 was rising star Girvin, who launched his career at Ocala Stud, in partnership with Kentucky’s Airdrie Stud and racing owners Brad and Misty Grady.

A distinctive face in the barn at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud for more than a decade now, Munnings had a career year in 2022, which included siring North America’s winningest horse.

Munnings, a multiple graded stakes-winning son of Speightstown, entered stud in 2011, and was fourth on the 2014 freshman sire list. He has made a steady ascent through the general sire rankings since then.

Constitution was among the best in a strong class of freshman sires of 2019, as he and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah slugged it out. Multiple Grade 1 winner Constitution, who stands at WinStar Farm, has continued on in strong fashion, and it looks like the best could be on the horizon for 2023.

Bolt d’Oro, Good Magic, and Justify were familiar foes on the racetrack, and locked horns again atop a competitive freshman sire class of 2022, finishing as the top three, in that order, by earnings, and deadlocked by other metrics.

Forte

Violence – Queen Caroline, by Blame

Bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm ($80,000 Keeneland November weanling purchase by Silver Hill Farm; $110,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Repole Stable and St. Elias)

Eclipse Award champion Forte, who debuts among the top choices on Daily Racing Form’s 2023 Derby Watch list, has a pedigree that combines speed with a globally prominent classic family.

The 2022 racing season continued to showcase the power of the partnership, with champions such as Flightline, Nest, Forte, and other major runners being campaigned in partnership. That theme of teaming up continues into a number of facets of the industry nationwide, including the Ohio stallion ranks.

At age 23, Stroll hasn’t slowed down at all. The Grade 1 winner and successful stallion continues to flourish as a leading sire in his adopted home state of Iowa, standing for Iowa State University’s equine program in Ames. But the big man now has a few new stablemates on campus to help carry the load.