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One of the stallions that we are most excited about heading into 2024 is the veteran sire Maclean’s Music. A brilliant winner of his only start when he was awarded an astronomical 114 Beyer Speed Figure — the highest Beyer ever earned by a first-time starter — Maclean’s Music was given a chance at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm and has made the most of his opportunities. He sired Preakness winner Cloud Computing in his first crop (conceived off a $6,500 stud fee), and has since added G1W 2YO Complexity, G1W 3YO Drain the Clock and Eclipse Champion Sprinter (a G1W at 2, 3 & 4) Jackie’s Warrior to his resume, among his 32 total black-type winners (good for a solid 5% of his foals of racing age).
What makes Maclean’s Music even more exciting at this moment is the fact that he’s about to jump from a crop of 2023 2YOs numbering 41 and conceived off of a $20,000 stud fee (out of which he already has six winners, three of whom have also picked up black-type), to a crop of 2024 2YOs numbering around 182 and conceived off of a $25,000 stud fee, which will be followed by two more triple-digit crops conceived off of $50,000 stud fees.
His 2024 2YOs include 113 that sold at yearling sales this year for an average of $118,636 (up over last year’s average of $100,857 for 21 sold), including individuals that brought $625k, $500k, $460k, $400k, $350k, $310k, $300k (x4), $275k (x2), $250k (x2), etc. Purchasers of Maclean’s Music yearlings in 2023 include the likes of the “Avengers” group, Stonestreet, Klaravich, WinStar, Rigney Racing, Cherie DeVaux’s Belladonna group, Mike Ryan, etc.
So we believe that Maclean’s Music is poised to take a big step forward in 2024 and 2025, and at his $40,000 stud fee heading into this breeding season, we think he offers excellent value.
He will be a great choice for the young Wasabi stakes winner Why Not Tonight for a few reasons. First and foremost, this will be just her second trip to the breeding shed and her first mating was to a first-year stallion — so by sending her to a proven veteran like Maclean’s Music, we’ll hopefully get a good idea of her abilities as a producer.
Second, as a daughter of Tapiture (he a son of leading sire Tapit, an A.P. Indy grandson) she comes from the broodmare sire-line with which Maclean’s Music has produced his two highest achieving runners: Eclipse Champion Jackie’s Warrior (out of a mare by A.P. Indy’s son A.P. Five Hundred) and Preakness winner Cloud Computing (out of a mare by A.P. Indy himself). Maclean’s Music is also the sire of ‘23 G3W Dance to the Music out of a mare by A.P. Indy’s son Congrats, and from just a dozen foals of racing age out of mares by Tapit or one of his sons, he has already sired the $200k-earner Parlance.
And then on physical this is a great case of like-to-like: Maclean’s Music is a beautifully-balanced, medium-sized horse with a ton of substance, and Why Not Tonight is maybe just a tad taller and longer, but equally balanced and a beautiful mare over-all. So they should hopefully produce a gorgeous foal that’s a hit in the sales ring, and then achieves plenty of success on the racetrack when the time comes!