Spendthrift Farm

The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) has named its finalists for the TOBA National Owner of the Year. In alphabetical order, the five finalists are Gary Barber; Godolphin; Klaravich Stables; the partnership of Spendthrift Farm LLC, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables LLC, and Starlight Racing; and Three Diamonds Farm. The winner will be announced Saturday, Sept. 11, at the TOBA National Awards Dinner at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa in Paris, Ky. Motown legend Gladys Knight will perform. TOBA will also honor breeders from 18 states and Canada, as well...

St. Elias Stables' Known Agenda (Curlin--Byrama {GB}, by Byron {GB}), winner of this year's GI Florida Derby, has been retired from racing and will take up stud duty at Spendthrift Farm in 2022. The chestnut, who will stand for an introductory fee of $10,000 S&N, will be offered through the farm's "Share The Upside" program on a limited basis. He is available for inspection by appointment. "Any time you can add a Florida Derby winner by Curlin with his looks and pedigree, you jump at the opportunity," said Ned Toffey,...

Nothing, it seems, will help you see through the vanity of materialism quite like a $4.1 billion fortune. A few summers ago, I was sitting alone in the baronial boardroom at Spendthrift, waiting to interview the farm's owner. It was a hot day, but here all was panelled cool, the venerable furnishings slumbering through the prosperous drone of a lawnmower. I was thinking about this apt conflation of heritage and modernity when startled by the entry of a tanned octogenarian whose casual apparel, in the round, must have cost rather...

B. Wayne Hughes, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist who resurrected Spendthrift Farm and turned it into one of the leading stallion farms in North America, died Wednesday at his residence on the farm surrounded by his family. He was 87 years old. Born Bradley Wayne Hughes on Sept. 28, 1933, in the small town of Gotebo, OK, he was known by his middle name since childhood. The son of a sharecropper who fled Oklahoma's Dust Bowl and resettled in California shortly after he was born, Hughes grew up poor in...

2nd-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:41 p.m. LOVE TO RUN (Connect) debuts for Breeze Easy LLC and trainer Mark Casse, who enjoyed is year-delayed induction into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Friday. Piloted by Tyler Gaffalione, who is striking at a 19% clip at the current meet, the half to MSP Thanks Mr. Edison realized a $640,000 final bid from agent Tom McGreevy following a 10 2/5 breeze at the OBSAPR Sale. The price represented the top price for a 2-year-old filly and the second-highest...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-DMR, $70K, Msw, 3yo/up, 5 1/2fT, post time: 7:00 p.m. ET Bred in Australia by the renowned Arrowfield Stud, KAZUHIKO (AUS) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was purchased for a joint third-highest price of A$1.7 million (US$1,211,760) at the 2019 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale by a partnership including Spendthrift Farm, Kennewell Racing and Group 1 Bloodstock. Trained by Lloyd Kennewell, the Sept. 1 foal was the subject of major betting support ahead of his debut in the G3 National S. at Adelaide's Morphettville Racetrack in South Australa...

One of the stars of the successful New York Racing Association and Fox Sports daily broadcast from Saratoga, Acacia Courtney joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Courtney gave her impressions on the early part of the Saratoga meet and talked strategy when it comes to analyzing the 2-year-old races that are so integral to the programs at the Spa. Asked about the different feeling in the air at tracks this year with fans...

Spendthrift's Eric Gustavson talks on the reign of Into Mischief, the influence the mare cap will have at the upcoming yearling sales and the future of the farm's partnership with MyRacehorse on the TDN Writer's Room podcast.

The election results for the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors have been announced. William S. Farish, Jr. (Lane's End Farm), Eric Gustavson (Spendthrift Farm), and Alex Solis, II (Solis/Litt Bloodstock) were each elected to serve a four-year term. Farish and Solis were re-elected as Directors. Gustavson, who joined Spendthrift in 2006, has overseen the farm's extensive growth rising from one homebred stallion to currently having the largest roster in North America. Gustavson also has led the team that brought the "Share the Upside Program" and making racehorse ownership available to...

by Christie DeBernardis & Christina Bossinakis LEXINGTON, KY - It was a very strong day of trade across the board at Fasig-Tipton's July Selected Yearlings Sale Tuesday, and, to no one's surprise, offspring of Into Mischief proved to be the auction's most coveted offerings. The Spendthrift kingpin accounted for three of the day's top four sellers, including the $800,000 sales topper (hip 123), who sold to Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and LNJ Foxwoods. "He is an amazing stallion," Fasig Tipton President Boyd Browning. Jr. said of Into Mischief. "He is always...

Generally well-represented at most sales venues throughout the yearling season, Spendthrift Farm offers a sextet of homebred youngsters, dominated by the offspring of a trio of the nursery's fledgling stallions, at the Fasig-Tipton July sale, set to take place July 13. And while the operation has reached great heights with its marquee stallions--the late Malibu Moon and Into Mischief--the basis of Spendthrift's program has been largely built upon the continuous replenishment of young stallions offered at affordable fees. "We want breeding to work for everybody involved," explained Spendthrift General Manager...

I noted on Steve Byk's "At the Races" radio show last Wednesday that some stallions that enter stud for between $10,000 and $20,000 occasionally punch above their weight and find lasting success. The in-your-face examples of this are Into Mischief, Tapit, and War Front, three of the best and most expensive horses at stud, but others that have fit the profile through the years include Distorted Humor, Candy Ride (Arg), Elusive Quality, Munnings and Twirling Candy. Twirling Candy, a son of Candy Ride, was recently profiled in this space along...