Spendthrift Farm

Editor's note: In just under two weeks, Spendthrift Farm will officially open its B. Wayne Hughes Visitors Center in honor of its late founder. The two-story visitors center will offer a trophy room, gift shop, and help to enhance tourists' visits to the farm. A bronze statue of the late Malibu Moon will greet guests as they arrive. The sculptor responsible for the bronze, Douwe Blumberg, gave the TDN a behind-the-scenes look at how the sculpture came together. My professional sculpting career began over 30 years ago, following an 18-year...

Into Mischief once again leads Spendthrift Farm's roster for 2023 with his stud fee remaining at $250,000 S&N, the operation announced Thursday. Spendthrift has added four new stallions including MGISWs Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) and Cyberknife (Gun Runner), who are both pointing for the Breeders' Cup. The other new additions are GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and GSW Greatest Honour (Tapit), who are both available for inspection at the farm. Champion Jackie's Warrior, the likely favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, will command a fee of...

Courtlandt Farm's Greatest Honour (Tapit--Tiffany's Honour, by Street Cry {Ire}), winner of Gulfstream's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. and GIII Holy Bull S., has retired to stud at Spendthrift Farm and will stand the 2023 breeding season for a fee of $7,500 S&N. "Greatest Honour has one of the best combinations of pedigree, looks and ability among the sons of Tapit that we've evaluated," said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. "Unfortunately, he came up with an injury in last year's Florida Derby as the odds-on favorite before the Triple...

"I told them," he says. "You can't make a hardboot out of a Virginia redneck. And that's all I've ever been. Never pretended to be anything else. Just a Virginia redneck that loves horses." When you have spent as much time as Beau Lane among these unerring vehicles of humility--from the Appaloosas of his youth, to two Kentucky Derby starters in the last seven years--you tend to develop total immunity to self-importance. Even at 80, you never know what's coming next; nor, when something does happen, whether it will turn...

Saturday's pair of Grade I dirt routes for 2-year-olds solidified intriguing subplots while establishing the three likely favorites for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' Cave Rock (Arrogate) cemented kingpin status with a thorough shellacking of the GI American Pharoah S. field at Santa Anita. But fellow 'Rising Stars' Forte (Violence) and Loggins (Ghostzapper) might have delivered the more nuanced performances with their length-of-stretch slugfest in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland, which supplied both colts with valuable race-over-the-track experience heading into the Nov. 4...

Major Dude gave his freshman sire a second graded winner on the grass and trainer Todd Pletcher a record fifth GII Pilgrim S. trophy Sunday as he stamped his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf next month. A debut winner at Monmouth June 18, the $550,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling could only manage sixth in the Spa's GIII Sanford S. July 16 and was third behind romping stablemate Lost Ark (Violence) when stretched to a mile for Monmouth's Aug. 27 Sapling S. He had posted a couple of breezes...

Spendthrift Farm has erected its new Malibu Moon memorial statue that will serve as the centerpiece at the front of the B. Wayne Hughes Visitors Center, which is set to officially open Nov. 1 during Breeders' Cup week. "The B. Wayne Hughes Visitors Center has really come together, and the addition of the Malibu Moon statue in front is a special highlight that we are all very proud to see go up," said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift General Manager. "We look forward to unveiling the visitors center Breeders' Cup week as...

Was it divine intervention? As the story goes, sometime in late 1923 or early 1924, a Kentucky pastor, Rev. Dr. Thomas Settle, convinced some state legislators in Frankfort not to end legalized gambling in Kentucky by repealing parimutuel wagering, much to the relief of the Kentucky Jockey Club and other concerned horsemen. Most ministers may have taken the opposite tack at the time, but not Dr. Settle, and this made him stand out. A well-travelled Englishman who'd found his way to a small congregation on Main St. and Bell Ct....

A filly by the late Lord Nelson brought $125,000 from agent Michael Wallace, acting on behalf of St. Elias Stables, to top Friday's 11th of 12 sessions of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Vinnie Viola's operation has purchased a total of 48 head throughout the sale, either alone or in partnership, for gross receipts of $18,815,000 and an average of $391,979. Consigned by Legacy Bloodstock, agent for breeder Spendthrift Farm, as Hip 3709, Friday's topper is a full sister to 2022 GII Saratoga Special S. third-place finisher and recent runaway...

Loggins (c, 2, Ghostzapper--Beyond Blame, by Blame) had a trio of bullet workouts on display for trainer Brad Cox and ran to the money as the 4-5 favorite with an impressive 'TDN Rising Star' performance on debut Saturday at Churchill Downs. Away in good order from a middle gate in a field of 11, the bay raced in between rivals in a tightly bunched group. Third and traveling smartly on the far turn, he launched a three-wide bid approaching the five-sixteenths, took control under his own power at the top of...

Donegal Racing and Repole Stable's Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo--Callingmissbrown, by Pulpit), last seen validating favoritism with a three-length victory in the GI Belmont S. presented by NYRA Bets June 11, has been retired from racing and will enter stud for the 2023 breeding season at Spendthrift Farm. He will command a fee of $20,000, stands and nurses terms. Bred in Kentucky by the Lyster family's Ashview Stud in partnership with Richard Santulli's Colts Neck Stables--also the breeders of Belmont S. runner-up and leading 3-year-old filly Nest (Curlin)--Mo Donegal was purchased...

Three years ago David Fennelly of Mountmellick Farm partnered with Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm to purchase a trio of seven-figure mares with the intention of forming a high-end boutique commercial broodmare band. The partnership, which has already had success in the sales ring and on the racetrack, sends the first foal of its most expensive acquisition through the ring during Monday's first session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Consigned by Hunter Valley, hip 36 is a dark bay filly by Curlin out of multiple...