Several years ago we were firmly seated on the Munnings bandwagon and recommended a half-dozen mares to him when he stood for $20,000 in 2019. Since then, Munnings has seen his stud fee rise as high at $100,000 (for the 2023 breeding season) with 87 black-type winners (8% of his runners) to his credit, including G1 winners like Jack Christopher, I’m a Chatterbox, Kimari, Eda, etc.
With the crop conceived on that six-figure stud fee poised to run as 2YOs in 2026, Munnings has to be among the best values in the business at his $45,000 advertised fee this coming season, and he should be an excellent match for Wasabi’s beautifully-bred Gun Slingin this spring.
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The best stallion son of Speightstown, Munnings made a splash when bringing $1.7 million from Demi O’Byrne on behalf of Coolmore as a 2YO in-training, and he backed that up on the track by becoming a multiple graded winner and multiple G1-placed during his career from 2YO through 4YO (showing more precocity than Speightstown and many of his best offspring who — though wickedly fast — were not always extremely precocious). Munnings retired to Ashford Stud at an opening fee of $12,500, and was advertised as low as $10,000 before his runners’ success drove his fee up to ten times that amount.
From just eight runners out of mares by Candy Ride or his sons, Munnings has seven winners to his credit, which is an auspicious start and makes him a great choice on paper for Gun Runner’s daughter Gun Slingin. (TrueNicks rates the broader cross of Gone West over Candy Ride as an “A”, and it’s produced G1 winner Town Cruise among others). Furthermore, Munnings has had even more success with Tapit-line mares, he being Gun Slingin’s broodmare sire, to the tune of G2 winners Poster, Muhimma, Bonny South, Finite, etc.
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There are no fewer than 30 black-type winners under Gun Slingin’s 3rd dam White Jasmine, including G3 winner Scoop, by Gone West, and a black-type placed horse by Munnings himself.
We also love this mating physically: Gun Slingin is a bit of a rangy, less-robust mare, and thus it is important that she be mated with horses that bring plenty of substance to the table — which is easily the most noteworthy feature of Munnings’s own physical. His mass and breadth will suit her perfectly, and should produce a foal the commercial market will love on the heels of what we anticipate to be a big couple of seasons for Munnings with those expensive foals hitting the track!