Thoroughbred breeding lore is rich in stories of initially underrated stallions that proved their worth with modest early books and then soared to success when better quality mates became available.
Pleasant Acres Stallions' turf speedball Leinster could be the latest stallion to follow this plot.
Among the top 20 North American freshman sires by progeny earnings as of Oct. 29, Leinster is represented by the fewest named foals at 32 and yet he ranks eighth by earnings and is the leading sire by percentage of black-type performers from runners at 15.8%. More significantly, he is the only member of his sire class with a starter in the Breeders' Cup World Championships. WinStar Farm's Independence Hall had been represented by Civil Liberty in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), but the colt was scratched Oct. 28 due to a tendon injury.
Leinster will be represented Oct. 31 at Del Mar by group 2-placed, multiple stakes winner Lennilu in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) going 5 furlongs.
"You have to consider, too, that a lot of these big studs with runners in these big races have 200 babies out there. Leinster has 45 in his first crop," said Helen Barbazon, who bred Lennilu with her husband, Joe. The Barbazons own Pleasant Acres and are partners in Leinster. "It is pretty impressive what he has accomplished. If he'd had the same amount of mares, he could be the best freshman stud."
Lennilu will face a salty group in the Juvenile Turf Sprint's field of 12 that includes seven males and four group-level international challengers led by 7-2 morning-line favorite and group 1 winner True Love, a Coolmore-bred daughter of No Nay Never trained by Aidan O'Brien. Lennilu has the credentials to be competitive, however, with three stakes wins and a third behind True Love in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) during Royal Ascot.
In her last start, Lennilu beat seven males Sept. 27 in the Hollywood Beach Stakes, going 5 furlongs on the turf at Gulfstream Park. She stalked pacesetter Monster, a stakes-placed colt by Leinster, and rolled past him with ease in the stretch to win by 1 3/4 lengths. She stopped the timer in :54.97.
"She ran third at Ascot against the best fillies in the world, so if she gets a good break, then she will be right there," Barbazon said. "She is fast, and she does not quit. In the Hollywood Beach Stakes against Monster, she flew right past him."
Lennilu is owned by a partnership that includes Amy Dunne and her daughter Caitlin, Brenda Miley, Jean Wilkinson, Hoffman Family Racing, Tranquility Lake Farms, and Maury and Christopher Harrington. The filly is trained by Patrick Biancone.
Trainer and leading 2-year-olds in training consignor Ciaran Dunne bought Leinster for a pinhooking partnership for $85,000 as a yearling during Fasig-Tipton's 2016 The July Sale, its select yearling sale in Lexington. The colt was offered the following year at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale where he worked a furlong in :10 but was bought back on a final price of $75,000.
Dunne knew the Majestic Warrior colt was fast so he decided to race him. Leinster, named after the Irish province where Dunne and the Mileys grew up, got a significant pedigree update later in 2017 when his half brother Stormy Liberal captured the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) and then did it again in 2018.
Leinster went on to win two grade 2 stakes and finished third as the favorite in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T). While rallying in the stretch in the Turf Sprint, he got bumped a furlong from the wire and could not catch the winner Glass Slippers and was passed by longshot Wet Your Whistle. He outfinished multiple grade 1 winner Got Stormy.
Leinster won or placed in seven graded stakes, which included winning the 2019 Troy Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga Race Course, the 2020 Shakertown Stakes (G2T) and Woodford Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland, and the 2021 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes (G3T) with trainer George "Rusty" Arnold II. In the Troy Stakes he set a Saratoga course record for 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:00.23, and in the Shakertown set a Keeneland course record going 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:00.86.
"He was a very exciting horse for us when he was racing, but he never got the rub of the green," Ciaran Dunne said. "There were periods of his career when he was right and when he was right, he was very good. But things didn't always seem to go his way, which is why we wanted to give him a chance at stud. His track records at Saratoga and Keeneland show you he had the ability but never got to truly showcase how good he was."
Racing from 3-6, Leinster compiled a 6-6-5 record from 24 starts and earned $764,971.
Toward the end of Leinster's racing career, the Dunnes took on partners Brenda Miley, Jean Wilkinson, and Westrock Stables, with Miley and Wilkinson staying on for the horse's stallion career. The Barbazons were approached about standing Leinster because of their commitment to recruiting quality stallions to Florida.
"They are making a real effort to give the Florida breeders options to stay at home," Dunne said. "It is nice to see them rewarded by having a horse they bred by one of their own stallions going to the Breeders' Cup."
Unquestionably, Lennilu's consistently strong performances raised Leinster's profile among breeders starting with her first-out win by a length in April at Keeneland, but the buzz surrounding the stallion actually started building sooner as pinhookers were giving his first foals their early training.
"A lot of people decided they were going to keep them instead of sell and run them because they liked them that much," Barbazon said. "Those first foals were built very well, and they looked the part."
These first foals impressed breeders so much that Leinster's book for 2025 more than doubled to 111 mares, up from 54 the previous year. He was the second-most-popular sire in Florida this year behind Ocala Stud's Win Win Win .
"We have a lot of people calling from out of state because he seems to be siring very consistent horses with the colts and fillies looking very much like him with a strong shoulder and a great hip," said Christine Jones, director of stallion services at Pleasant Acres. "They seem to be sensible, too, with a great turn of foot. After Monster put out his first (winning) effort (a maiden win by 9 lengths at Keeneland) followed by Lennilu, then we were definitely on the map."
Not all the partners in Leinster have mares, so they agreed to support the stallion by purchasing his offspring when they were available at auction. This led to the partners buying Lennilu as a short yearling for $23,000 at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sales Winter Mixed Sale.
"She has been a queen. Through our starting process, every challenge you put in front of her she sailed through," Dunne said. Once she was sent to Biancone at Palm Meadows in South Florida, he said it has been a pleasure to watch the trainer take her to the next level as a racehorse.
"Patrick has done all the heavy lifting and it has been a thrill for us to watch how he has brought her along," Dunne said. "Most horses in their first start, if they miss the break and get in behind horses in the slop, it would have been over. We watched Patrick work her behind horses before he ever ran her. We knew she was not going to be intimidated by the kickback. So in her first start, she missed the break by a step and Luis (Saez) just sat and let her get into a rhythm and she won. Patrick is a master of his trade."
After Lennilu finished third in the Queen Mary, Biancone told Dunne that she would find redemption at Del Mar.
"He mapped out a plan to get her to Breeders' Cup," Dunne said. "Now, horses don't always get with the plan, but the timetable he mapped out for her she followed and danced every dance. She's already had the benefit of shipping before she's run, and you can't beat experience."
A victory in the Juvenile Turf Sprint would not give Lennilu enough earnings to put Leinster on top of the freshman sire rankings but he could become the first of this year's freshman sires with a grade 1 winner.
"It could not be more exciting. This is what every breeder hopes for and every stallion farm and stallion owner," Jones said. "This is setting the precedent for this nice horse, and he will get the attention he so rightfully deserves from here on. Her last race was a big test to see if she could make it her own way and she proved she could do that."
