mating plans

Pop quiz: what do 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify and Atomic Blonde, dam of last week's GI Preakness Stakes winner Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map), have in common? Both are by Scat Daddy, both were bred by the Gunther family, and both were raised at Glennwood Farm near Versailles, Kentucky. Justify and Atomic Blonde also have something else in common with a number of other Glennwood-bred and -raised Grade I winners such as Vino Rosso, Tamarkuz, First Samurai, and Stevie Wonderboy. "We do tend to raise some good chestnuts on this...

That must have been a good sandwich. It was certainly a memorable one. Walker Hancock of Claiborne Farm distinctly remembers eating subs from Jersey Mike's one fall afternoon in 2021 with Daisy Phipps Pulito and Claiborne's farm manager Bradley Purcell in Claiborne's conference room. The three of them sat down over those sandwiches to hash out mating plans for the Phipps mares for 2022. "It all goes back to some Jersey Mike's subs," said Hancock with a laugh. "We did the matings for her mares for that following year that...

Payson Stud's breeding program has been a fixture in the Thoroughbred industry for more than four decades, built by the late Virginia Kraft Payson. Since Mrs. Payson's passing in 2023, trustee Christian Erickson has carried her legacy forward, and I've been fortunate to serve as bloodstock advisor to the program. Our goal in recent years has been simple: upgrade the broodmare band. That goal led to some of the hardest--and best--decisions we've made. Together with the team at Gainesway Farm, we sold foundation mare Summer Sweet, the dam of champion...

Mating plans for some of the illustrious names at the Aga Khan Studs have been revealed, with Zarigana, the winner of last year's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, set to visit Justify for her maiden cover in 2026, while the four-time Group 1 scorer Tahiyra goes to Frankel. Tahiyra and Zarigana are both Classic-winning daughters of Siyouni, who will reportedly receive an increased number of around 30 mares from the Aga Khan Studs due to the injury to Zarak which has temporarily sidelined him from covering duties. Among them is another...

Elite winners are always cause for celebration. With racing at the highest levels quickly ramping up for 2026, we continue to spotlight some of the special Grade I producers of the last several months. Up today, we get a glimpse into a quartet of mares who produced homebred stars. Stormy Welcome, dam of Raging Sea "Great families might sleep, but they don't die, and she's a great example of that," said Mill Ridge's Price Bell last summer when musing over the unraced Stormy Welcome (Storm Cat), a now-20-year-old mare whose ninth...

Erik Johnson, who won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, retired in 2025, but he has remained busy.  Johnson, an avid racing fan, now spends much of his time managing his Thoroughbred interests, which includes an expanding broodmare band. In January, he purchased Timber Town Stables, which was owned by Wayne and Cathy Sweezey. That has become the home to most of his mares. Here is a look at his mating plans for 2026 and comments from the former All-Star defenseman, who played 17 seasons in the...

by Joel Politi I have been around horses since I was young and grew up with a 12-horse barn in our backyard. My Dad bred and raised almost all of the horses that he ran and I've been paying attention to breeding my whole life. I love this aspect of horse racing, have owned horses myself for more than 20 years and I bred our first mare in 2017. Currently have 12 broodmares, and Mark Taylor and Travis White with Taylor Made help me with all of my matings. We...

Based in Miramar Beach, Florida, Greg Tramontin of Greenwell Thoroughbreds purchased what was formerly known as Siena Farm outside of Paris, Kentucky and the breeder/stable owner has also continued to add to his broodmare band. At the recent Keeneland January Sale, Tramontin went to $2-million to acquire GISW Simply in Front (Summer Front) who will visit Into Mischief, and he also purchased for $550,000 Closing Statement (Blame) who is entered in Not This Time's book for this spring. Tramontin sat down with TDN to offer highlights from his 2026 matings...

The MyRacehorse partners have been lucky enough to campaign runners worthy of taking up stud duties in Kentucky both in 2025 and 2026, and in an effort to support both Seize the Grey (Arrogate) and Straight No Chaser (Speightster), we've begun building up our broodmare band. These breeding-focused ventures have proven extremely popular--probably more than we even expected--and provide our owners with a chance to experience a different part of the business. While there's certainly a focus on supporting our stallions, we have made an effort to diversify and also...

Sometimes, you might as well just buy the factory. It was the fall of 2023 and Glenn Bennett already had two of Adorabella (Ghostzapper)'s three foals, the oldest of which (Girl Trouble, by Fast Anna) was a stakes winner for him and partner Swilcan Stable at Parx, and the youngest of which he'd just bought as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic sale. He'd twice tried to make a deal for the third, the mare's then-2-year-old named Book'em Danno (Bucchero), who'd caught his eye after winning his first three starts at...

The President of Unified Door and Hardware Group, L C Racing's Glenn Bennett has grown from a regional, Pennsylvania-based breeding program to a band of 20 which now includes the dam of an Eclipse winner. Bennett, who lives close to Parx and still brings his family to the track for days like the Pennsylvania Derby card and Owner Appreciate Day, often partners with Chuck Zacney's Cash Is King Racing (best known for campaigning MGISW Afleet Alex) along with now-retired trainer Mark Reid who Bennett credits with the genius behind these...

Brandywine Farm (Jim & Pam Robinson) started in 1974 in North Carolina where Pam Directed the Graduate Program in Sports Medicine and the Research Lab in Human Performance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jim is a professional electrical engineer and was promoted to Director of Transmission and Protection for General Telephone and Electronics. After 25 years in North Carolina, the broodmare band had grown to 100 mares in addition to standing five stallions. While selling at the Keeneland November Sale in 1998, we looked at several...