In horse racing, the observe of matching a stallion with a broodmare to create a probably world-class Thoroughbred is a world unto its personal. Many individuals spend some huge cash, time, and psychological concentrate on discovering simply the best male-female mixture that may hit the genetic lottery and end in a Triple Crown or Breeders’ Cup winner. When it does occur, the pairings turn out to be a part of horse racing historical past – so to rejoice Valentine’s Day, listed here are 5 notable Thoroughbred “{couples}” from the previous 20 years or so whose offspring have made mother and pop proud.
1. Good Magic – Puca
These paramours have been within the horse racing headlines over the previous couple of years. Good Magic, who was a champion 2-year-old and Kentucky Derby runner-up throughout his racing days, mated with the Huge Brown mare Puca in 2019. Puca produced a foal named Mage in 2020 who ended up doing his daddy one place higher and profitable the 2023 Kentucky Derby. However that’s not all. One 12 months later they had been paired up once more, and the consequence was a colt later named Dornoch – who received the 2024 Belmont Stakes Introduced by NYRA Bets!
Mage and Dornoch are what’s termed “full-brothers” in that they every share the identical sire (father) and dam (mom). Puca’s subsequent foal after Dornoch was sired by McKinzie, not Good Magic; he’s a “half-brother” to Mage and Dornoch named Baeza who’s now 3 years outdated and presently competing on the West Coast for John Shirreffs. The truth is, Baeza is entered in a race on Valentine’s Day at Santa Anita Park!
2. Oxbow – Indian Miss
This twosome is chargeable for constructing a “Sizzling Rod” that turned some of the common and money-making racehorses of current years. Oxbow, the 2013 Preakness Stakes winner, visited the Indian Charlie mare Indian Miss in 2017 and their ensuing foal born in 2018 offered for under $17,000 as a yearling in early 2019. The colt then was offered once more for $110,000 in fall 2019 on the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearlings public sale to Dennis O’Neill, a bloodstock agent identified for locating good worth and in addition the brother of Kentucky Derby-winning coach Doug O’Neill.
By the point he hit the racetrack below Doug O’Neill’s care, many anticipated the colt named Sizzling Rod Charlie to observe within the steps of his half-brother Mitole, who was Indian Miss’s 2015 foal by the sire Eskendereya and have become a champion sprinter. As an alternative, Sizzling Rod Charlie excelled in longer-distance races, profitable the 2021 Louisiana Derby and Pennsylvania Derby and ending second within the 2021 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and the 2022 Dubai World Cup. He earned greater than $5.9 million racing and is now a sire himself, standing in Japan.
3. Henny Hughes – Leslie’s Woman
A daughter of the obscure stallion Difficult Creek, Leslie’s Woman was OK on the racetrack, profitable a minor stakes race and incomes $187,014, however she was approach past OK as a broodmare. By the point she gave beginning to a filly in 2010 by the champion sprinter Henny Hughes, Leslie’s Woman had already gained discover because the dam of a Harlan’s Vacation colt named Into Mischief, who received a Grade 1 stakes race, retired early from the observe, and began a stallion profession. Little did almost anybody know on the time, however Into Mischief would transform a perennial main sire within the late 2010s proper as much as current day.
As for Into Mischief’s half-sister by Henny Hughes, she offered for $180,000 as a yearling to B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm (which raced and stands Into Mischief). Named Beholder, the attractive bay filly turned out to be a Corridor of Famer, profitable Breeders’ Cup races at ages 2,3, and 6 (!) and incomes greater than $6.1 million. Whereas not fairly matching her mother, Beholder has additionally been profitable as a broodmare since retiring, producing two graded stakes winners. (Leslie’s Woman went on to supply another standout racehorse in turf star Mendelssohn, by Scat Daddy.)
4. A.P. Indy – Higher Than Honour
A.P. Indy was fairly merely one of many best sires of the previous 50 years. Typically, horse trade insiders would add the prefix “breed-shaping” in entrance of his identify, and it was no exaggeration as he led all North American sires in progeny earnings for a particular 12 months twice throughout his profession and in addition had a number of descendants high the annual record, together with his grandson Tapit. A.P. Indy was bred to the Deputy Minister mare Higher Than Honour in 2004, and that pairing augured success as Higher Than Honour was a stakes winner and daughter of a Kentucky Oaks winner.
The ensuing foal, named Rags to Riches, turned among the finest fillies of this century, profitable the 2007 Kentucky Oaks herself and “beating the boys” within the Belmont Stakes. By ’07, Higher Than Honour was already famend for producing 2006 Belmont winner Jazil (by the sire Looking for the Gold) and in 2008 after producing back-to-back Belmont winners she offered for $14 million on the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky chosen fall combined public sale. A.P. Indy, in the meantime, was pensioned from stud obligation in 2011 at Lane’s Finish Farm and the legend died in 2020 at age 30, getting nearly a decade of well-deserved pasture time earlier than his passing.
5. Danehill – Hasili
Offspring of this worldwide energy couple dominated the Thoroughbred world from the flip of the century and thru the 2000s. Juddmonte Farms’ Hasili, an Irish-bred daughter of Kahyasi, produced an unimaginable seven graded or group stakes winners, 5 of them sired by U.S.-bred Danehill, who stood abroad for Coolmore Stud and led annual sire lists a complete of 17 occasions spanning England, Eire, France, Australia, and Hong Kong.
The 5 stakes-winning full siblings from Danehill’s and Hasili’s common breeding shed rendezvous had been, so as of foaling, Dansili, Banks Hill, Intercontinental, Cacique, and Champs Elysees. Every of them competed within the U.S., and all however Dansili received a significant stakes race right here (Dansili completed third within the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Mile). Danehill died in 2003 after an accident in his stall, halting what had been 4 consecutive years of coupling with Hasili, and the mare continued to be bred till 2012. Hasili, the very definition of what horse people name a “blue hen” mare (i.e., superior), died in 2018 at age 27.
