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Regular readers of these write-ups will remember that we have been big fans of Airdrie’s veteran stallion Include for some time, and we are excited to have been able to recommend that Kuznetsov be mated to him in 2021 on the heels of another successful 2020 season.
Include’s appeal as a mate for Kuznetsov is, firstly, that at his advertised fee of $5,000, he offers incredible value for the number of stakes winners that he’s produced (45, good for 6% of his foals aged 3 and up), which includes five Northern Hemisphere G1 winners and another five G1 winners in Argentina. He also sports a 1.46 AEI compared to a 1.31 CI, meaning that he moves his mares up, too, and he happened to be a heck of a racehorse as well: a homebred Maryland product by 1994’s leading sire, Broad Brush, who was also bred by and raced for Robert Meyerhoff, Include was stakes winner at 3, a Grade 1 winner of the Pimlico Special and four other stakes at 4, and a stakes winner at 5. In total, he won ten of twenty starts, including seven stakes, for earnings of $1,659,560. He put up thirteen triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, including back-to-back performances of 117 as a 4-year-old.
Include has done very well with mares from the Gone West sire-line, including 2020 graded stakes winner Proud Emma and stakes winner Madam Meena. And with mares tracing to Elusive Quality more specifically (a son of Gone West and the sire of Kuznetsov’s sire Great Notion), he has two stakes winners from just eight foals (all eight of which are winners). So this is a cross that has done very well from its opportunities. Plus, Kuznetsov’s own broodmare sire is Two Punch, and he is the broodmare sire of Eclipse Champion Steeplechase horse Good Night Shirt by Concern (a son of Broad Brush, like Include), so that doesn’t hurt either.
Physically, Include is a good-sized, stout individual that should match nicely with the strong, strapping Kuznestov — and his more classic influences should blend very nicely with her speedier lines.
Include wins the G1 Pimlico Special
Include wins the G2 Mass Cap
Include’s daughter Proud Emma, out of a Gone West-line mare, wins the G3 Bayakoa