Loutsch on Not This Time's Race for Top Juvenile Sire

Albaugh Family Stables' racing manager Jason Loutsch talks about the tight race for the leading North American sire of 2-year-olds race between the Albaugh family's homebred stallion Not This Time and multiple leading North American sire Into Mischief. Not This Time has already captured the leading turf sire title for the year and Into Mischief will earn his seventh consecutive title as overall leading North American sire. After Dec. 20, Not This Time's lead among the sires of juveniles had narrowed to approximately $34,000 over Into Mischief, who, as of late November, was trailing by more than $405,000. Not This Time had five starters Dec. 21 and came away with four winners: Believe in Magic ($60,017), Thailand ($58,842), Petronella ($58,492), and Wine On Sunday ($24,000). After Dec. 21, Not This Time built his lead to $245,955. The Albaugh family retains a significant ownership in Not This Time, who stands at Taylor Made Stallions and has been syndicated. The son of Giant's Causeway will stand for $250,000 next year. BloodHorse: The race between Not This Time and Into Mischief for the leading sires of 2-year-old title has been especially close over the past few weeks and heading into this weekend. Have you been getting nervous about how close this has been? Jason Loutsch: I'd say more excited than nervous. Obviously, we've come a long way over the last five years with Not This Time. We have to give a big shout-out to Taylor Made for doing all they do for us and the great job of managing the stallion. It's been a lot of fun every year seeing his runners getting better and better. We started out a little slow (this year), but once the 2-year-olds started kicking off in May and June, it's been a steady trajectory of a lot of wins. I was looking at his stats this morning. He's had 83 2-year-old runners and 40 winners. That's unbelievable to me, and it's been dirt, turf, synthetic, short, and long. It's just been so much fun. BH: Into Mischief closed the gap when Not a Lady won the Toby Keith Stakes. How did you feel going into Sunday's races? JL: (Dec. 21) was a big day for us. We were sitting only $34,000 ahead going into yesterday with what we thought was a live day with some 2-year-olds running at Turfway Park and Gulfstream. We had runners in four maiden special weight races and an allowance yesterday and won four. We have one more week left. We were a little nervous going into Sunday because it's hard to fend off the champ. Into Mischief is so strong and arguably the best sire of our time, and we knew he'd be coming at us. We'd love to have the leading 2-year-old sire title, just to see his success, because the stallion means so much to us and our family. It's just cool to see where we've come from with the mare (Not This Time's dam Miss Macy Sue) and now Not This Time. I usually don't miss a race for one by Not This Time. My wife will ask, 'How many racehorses do we have?' I'll tell her, 'Well, this isn't ours, it's a Not This Time.' I know how hard and rare it is to have a stallion of this degree. I'm enjoying it because anything can change daily in this business. BH: Not This Time had a remarkable Keeneland fall meet. What was seeing all his stakes winners like for your team? JL: It started really at the Kentucky Downs meet, the success he had there, and then the Keeneland meet was something we'll remember forever, just in the 2-year-old division, with winning those stakes. We would all be sitting together around the TV, watching and just hoping we could win and then he'd hit the superfecta and the trifecta. The whole meet was just crazy. BH: Sunday was a good day to be running in Kentucky, where purses are stronger, right? JL: Absolutely, two maiden special races and an allowance for $100,000, and then you win all three of those, and then he got the exacta at Gulfstream (Wine On Sunday and Nonconsecutivetrms). It was quite the day for Not This Time, a lot of fun. BH: Have you been surprised at how well Not This Time's runners have performed on the turf? JL: Not really. Giant's Causeway was one of my favorite horses growing up and one of the reasons we went to Giant's Causeway with (Miss Macy Sue) was because his runners are so diversified. I think that is one of the things that is so special about Not This Time. You don't want to get labeled as just one or the other, but the special ones get you runners on all surfaces, and I think that's what he's proven. With Miss Macy Sue, we took her around the dirt and then she ran on the poly at Presque Isle (winning the 2007 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes). The surface didn't matter to her. Trainer Kelly Von Hemel said she'd run on glass. She's all heart and that got transferred to Not This Time. With his runners, if they don't run on dirt the first time, then you have got to try them on turf, because you'll find a surface they like. BH: And maybe a runner like Giocoso, who likes both? JL: That's been the case with some of them. Right now, we're real excited about the future. I think this next crop of 2-year-olds is going to be tremendous, and the book of mares that Taylor Made has put together for us next year is really exciting. Knock on wood that he continues to throw great horses. It would be nice to get one of those classics eventually and win one of those. That's the next goal. He also has a great opportunity to become a sire of stallions. Epicenter and Up to the Mark got some early success at the yearling sales, so I'm excited to see how their babies turn out. That Epicenter beat (second in the 2022 Kentucky Derby, G1) was a tough one to take. He was so close. We thought he had it, but it wasn't meant to be. We think he'll get one. For now, it's just been a dream come true for us to have a stallion like this.