Tomorrow kicks off our favorite time of year, Mating Planning Season! But to remind you of why we do these write-ups — beyond for your own reading pleasure — we thought we’d highlight a pair of sales success stories for the products of past Housatonic Recommended Matings.
At last week’s Keeneland November Sale, our good friends at Wasabi Ventures had their first Kentucky sales consignment, and in addition to selling 100% of the horses that they sent through the ring, they topped their session with a weanling colt from the first crop of multiple G1 winner Gunite out of the Justify mare Itgetsgreaterlater. Itgetsgreaterlater was a Housatonic Recommended Purchase for $80,000 at the 2023 version of the Keeneland November, carrying what turned out to be a colt by Practical Joke (which sold for $80,000 last month at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Yearling Sale). She was then bred back to Gunite in this Housatonic Recommended Mating:
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 – Itgetsgreaterlater
The new Wasabi broodmare Itgetsgreaterlater gets her latest shot in the breeding shed with the gorgeous, multiple G1-winning Gunite as part of his first book at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in 2024.
And the colt from that mating made $160,000 last week to trainer Wesley Ward! Congratulations to both Wasabi Ventures Stallions and Wasabi Ventures Sales for their big score, and thank you — as always — to T.K. and Michele Kuegler for the opportunity to assist with these mating plans.
The other successful sale last week came with a homebred colt that we owned with some excellent partners from Maryland in Nicole Martin and Ciara Denicolo. Out of the Not For Love mare No More Excuses, who we purchased for $10,000 as a broodmare prospect a few years ago, this weanling colt was sired by Kentucky stallion Army Mule (who you’ll remember we’ve been touting heavily the last couple of years), and he sold out of the Mill Ridge consignment for $75,000! Thanks to Nicole and Ciara for their great work raising the colt, and to the wonderful folks from Mill Ridge who sold him for us.
This was the write-up which produced that Army Mule colt (whose dam is pregnant to Army Mule again for 2026):
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 – No More Excuses
No More Excuses was a $102,000 yearling by the regional sire Not For Love, which speaks to her attractiveness as an individual. After winning 14 races and earning over a quarter-million dollars on the track, she has consistently produced beautiful, commercially appealing foals — earning herself trips to higher stud fee stallions each year. In 2024 she…
If you’d like help with your own mating plans for 2026, feel free to drop us a line at [email protected]. Thanks for reading!