Four Sires Get First Breeders' Cup Winners

If a weekend of scintillating racing at the Breeders' Cup failed to do anything, it would be how little the results at Del Mar did to change the positioning of North American sires based on progeny earnings. 

Not that this is a bad thing; for the most part, it would have required the sort of anomaly such as a particular sire winning the vast majority of the World Championship races. 

But now that the dust has settled on the two-day event, we should be talking about the most tangible effect on the sire-verse: the winners. More specifically, the sires who had their first Breeders' Cup-winning offspring. 

Since we are focused on North America, that means we aren't talking about Reel Steel. Sorry, Forever Young.

Four North American stallions had their first world championship winners: Not This Time , Mitole , Audible , and Valiant Minister .

Not This Time, the second-leading sire this year, entered the Breeders' Cup with a chance to close the purse-winning gap between him and Into Mischief . Instead, the distance widened. But Not This Time did not come away empty-handed. In a year that has been a breakthrough for him as a sire in every way, he added one more new achievement. Cy Fair took the lead down the stretch and won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T).

Not This Time will stand for $250,000 in 2026 at Taylor Made Stallions near Nicholasville, Ky.

Mitole, who has been hanging out near the tail end of the top 25 in recent weeks, has been looking for a runner to truly establish his presence as a sire. With his third crop on tracks this year as juveniles, it was a daughter from his second crop that kicked the door in and will certainly have more eyes—and interest—on Mitole. Shisospicy trounced a field filled with boys that included the likes of Ag Bullet and Motorious to win the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T). 

Mitole will stand in 2026 for $10,000 at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington.

Audible never had better than a grade 2 winner (My Mane Squeeze). But that changed Nov. 1 when Splendora, the Bob Baffert-trained filly, made it look easy in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). Unleashing a full-throttle assault on the leaders down the stretch, Splendora won by nearly 5 lengths. Perhaps this filly is a harbinger of what's to come for her sire. 

Audible will stand next year for $7,500 at WinStar Farm near Versailles, Ky.

The biggest unknown among winning sires Breeders' Cup weekend is unquestionably Valiant Minister . He was stamped for success early. At the 2015 Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale, he sold for $680,000. And everyone remembers his racing career. Bred by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings, owned by Baoma Corp., and trained by Baffert, this son of Candy Ride (ARG) had success written all over him. He broke his maiden on first asking at Santa Anita Park in January 2017. Then that was it. But the gray or roan stallion began his stud career the next year, and since then has had some decent runners, including a pair of black-type winners who have banked just short of a half million dollars. 

And then came along Bentornato. Out of the Put It Back mare Her Special Way, Bentornato won the 2024 Gallant Bob (G2) and was second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) that year. Given a 10-month layoff, he returned victorious in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes before leading almost the entire Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1).  

Valliant Minister will stand for $4,000 in 2026 at Bridlewood Farm near Ocala, Fla.