We have been honored to serve as the Director of Stallions & Breeding for our friends T.K. and Michele Kuegler of Wasabi Ventures Stallions, Stables and Sales for quite a few years now, as their program has developed from a regional claiming and breed-to-race program, to one operating commercially in Kentucky.
This past week’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale was a bit of a coming out party for Wasabi, as they brought ten homebred yearlings to the sale in their own consignment (Wasabi has only been consigning, under Michele’s leadership, for less than a year). Nine of those ten sold in the ring and grossed $1,210,000, led by a $400,000 filly and a $210,000 colt.
It’s a huge team effort to get a homebred from conception through sale, and numerous people deserve lots of credit for an outstanding job with all of these yearlings, including Wasabi’s farm manager Crystal Jordan. We are proud to be a small part of that team, having planned the matings that resulted in eight of those yearlings and recommended the purchase of the other two while they were in utero. Below are links to all of those write-ups (except for one which was not published via Substack previously).
One important fact we’d like to point out is that these mating plans were all completed as far back as late 2023 and very early 2024, highlighting just how long it takes in the breeding industry to achieve any kind of result, positive or negative — it’s not a game for the impatient! But it also makes those positive results so much more exciting and rewarding when they do come to fruition.
So congratulations to everyone at Wasabi, but most especially to T.K. and Michele for this well-deserved success, and thank you to them both for all of their patience and support, and the numerous opportunities they’ve provided us.
- 2025 f. Arabian Lion – Gun Slingin, sold for $400,000 to Lael Stable.
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 – Gun Slingin (revised)
It happens every year that mares end up switching off of their owners’ first choice of a mate, for any of a variety of reasons. In the case of Gun Slingin this year, as excited as we were for her pairing with Authentic, we’ve been forced to “change horses midstream”, as it were, and she will now be part of the first book of mares for Justify’s first Gr…
- 2025 f. Omaha Beach – Mischievous Mind, sold for $175,000 to X-Men Racing.
(This write-up was not previously published via Substack, but was shared by Wasabi to their Club.)
Mischievous Mind was bred and raced by the historic Phipps Stable, and her 4th dam is the unbeaten Eclipse Champion, Breeders’ Cup winner, Hall of Famer and Broodmare of the Year Personal Ensign!
Placed as a 2YO and sired by Eclipse Champion Runhappy, Mischievous Mind is a half-sister to the Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Performer, and to the black-type winner and multiple Graded Stakes-placed Breaking the Rules, as well as the six-figure earner Bombs Away from all her dam’s other foals of racing age (there’s still a Blame colt of ‘24 to come).
Mischievous Mind’s dam, Protesting (by AP Indy), was a winner each year from 2YO through 4YO and finished 2nd in the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes as a juvenile on her way to earning over $200k. Protesting, in turn, is out of the Grade 3-placed On Parade (by Storm Cat), who was also the dam of Grade 2 winner and sire Parading, Grade 3-placed Parade (dam of promising ‘24 runner Pentathlon), and the black-type producers Viva La Flag, Gloat and Coming Attraction.
On Parade was a full-sister to the unbeaten, Eclipse Champion 2YO filly Storm Flag Flying (who is the ancestress of Graded winners Jouster and Dynamic One), and a half-sister to black-type winner With Flying Colors (dam of Grade 3 winner Teresa Z). Another half-sister is the dam of black-type winner and Travers Stakes-G1 3rd Miles D.
On Parade is out of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies-G1 winner My Flag (by Easy Goer), who was one of three Grade 1 winners out of Personal Ensign — the others being Miner’s Mark and Traditionally. Personal Ensign was also the dam of Grade 1-placed Our Emblem (who sired Eclipse Champion and Kentucky Derby-G1 winner War Emblem), and Grade 2-placed Salute (who was the dam of Grade 1 winner and sire Mr Speaker, Grade 3 winners Fire Away and Vigilantes Way, and of current steeplechase star Snap Decision (also Graded placed on the flat)).
So this is a huge female family, if not the deepest in the stud book, and with Mischievous Mind being only a 3YO and carrying her first foal by the brilliant multiple Grade 1 winner and the leading 2nd crop sire Omaha Beach, she will have plenty of time and opportunities to add to this amazing Phipps female family legacy!
As for that in utero foal by Omaha Beach, because he is a son of War Front, that will make this foal very closely related to Mischievous Mind’s aforementioned half-brother Breaking the Rules, who is also by War Front.
- 2025 c. Maxfield – Sharma, sold for $65,000 to Red Wings.
Housatonic Recommended Purchase — Sharma IFT Maxfield
We have mined the Godolphin consignment for our friends at Wasabi Ventures Stables & Stallions at several previous winter mixed sales, because that perennial Eclipse Award-winning owner/breeder has so many mares that they inevitably wind up letting some future stars escape their grasp. One of the mares that Wasabi was out-bid on two years ago was a mar…
- 2025 c. Oscar Performance – Mad Grace, sold for $100,000 to Fergus Galvin.
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 – Mad Grace
Mad Grace was a hard-knocking, versatile racemare who won nine of 41 lifetime starts. She scored on dirt from 7 furlongs to 1-1/16 miles and on turf going as far as 1-3/8 miles. She also placed in her lone synthetic surface try. Her durability and versatility are complemented by a strong, deep pedigree: she’s a half-sister to multiple G3 winner Henc…
- 2025 c. Up to the Mark – Calling All Angels(FR), sold for $60,000 to Ramsay.
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 – Calling All Angels
Likely Eclipse Champion Turf Male Up to the Mark is one of the first-year stallions for 2024 that we are most excited about. Originally a $450,000 yearling purchase by Mike Repole & St. Elias Stables, he was highly thought of as a juvenile (he reportedly outworked eventual graded winner Wit at Saratoga as a juvenile prior to experiencing a series of mi…
- 2025 c. Army Mule – Floral Hall, sold for $210,000 to Mark Glatt.
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 — Floral Hall (revised)
Wasabi’s young broodmare Floral Hall is a half-sister to the multiple G2W Skylighter, by A.P. Indy’s grandson Sky Mesa, and to stakes winner Cave Hill, by Frosted, a son of A.P. Indy’s grandson Tapit, while one of her half-sisters has produced the G3P/SW Meru, also by Sky Mesa. As such, A.P. Indy’s grandson Army Mule figures to be a strong match for he…
- 2025 c. Maclean’s Music – Queen Mum, sold for $85,000 to Jeffrey Bloom.
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 – Queen Mum
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 h…
- 2025 c. Army Mule – Raggedy, the only one to “RNA” and not sell in the ring. If you’re in the market, he’s still available.
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 – Raggedy
The flashy young broodmare Raggedy has a pedigree that is Lane’s End both top and bottom for the first couple of generations: her sire, Belmont winner Union Rags, stands at the farm still, having joined his own sire there upon his retirement, while her broodmare sire, Courageous Cat, also started his stallion career there. Meanwhile, Raggedy’s dam, th…
- 2025 f. Up to the Mark – Aquatic Approach, sold for $85,000 to Linda Rice.
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 – Aquatic Approach
The recently-named Eclipse Champion Turf Male Up to the Mark is one of the first-year stallions for 2024 that we are most excited about, and his sire-line and racetrack success make him a perfect choice as the first mate for the well-connected young mare Aquatic Approach this spring.
- 2025 c. Annapolis – Paw Prints, sold for $30,000 to Carlos J. Morales.
Housatonic Recommended Matings for 2024 — Paw Prints
Although he retired relatively late for the 2024 breeding season, one of the new stallions that we find find most intriguing is the Grade 1 winner Annapolis, who will join his sire War Front at Claiborne Farm.