Freshman Sires Dominate Labor Day Weekend Stakes

The Labor Day weekend was something of a coming-out party for the freshman sires of 2026. Not only did two of the four juvenile grade 1 events on offer fall to freshman sires, but four more of the current freshman class also added stakes winners to their resumes. The honor of being the first in the group to score at the highest level went to Early Voting (Gun Runner), whose daughter Miss Monica romped in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) Sept. 5. Miss Monica is out of an American Pharoah mare, which means this is a version of the Candy Ride (ARG)/Empire Maker cross, which has produced previous grade 1 winners Separationofpowers and Rock Your World. In this version, we have the additional twist that Gun Runner and American Pharoah are both Fappiano/Storm Cat. Overall, Early Voting has 10 winners, also including Early Encore (out of an Into Mischief mare) who had a runaway win in the I'm Smokin Stakes Sept. 7. A Preakness Stakes (G1) and Withers Stakes (G3) winner, and winner of his only start at 2, Early Voting is out of a Tiznow half sister to Speightstown. He retired to Ashford Stud in 2023, but having developed Anejaculatory Syndrome, or an inability to ejaculate (although he has 96 named first-crop foals), he moved to Taylor Made Stallions, near Nicholasville, Ky., with the goal of giving him a quieter environment. Subsequently, Dr. Padrag O'Casaigh, the New Zealand vet who oversaw Early Voting's (successful) treatment, reportedly purchased a 90% interest in the sire, who stood for just $12,500 in 2026. The day after the Del Mar Debutante Stakes, Life Is Good (Into Mischief) struck via the medium of The Good Life in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. He's out of a mare by Speightstown, a reverse Mr. Prospector/Storm Cat cross to Life Is Good. Life Is Good has 10 other winners, including the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes and Prairie Gold Juvenile scorer Waggley, who is out of the Malibu Moon mare Lunar Empress. A four-time grade 1-winning miler and bred on the Into Mischief/Distorted Humor cross, Life Is Good stood this season for an advertised fee of $60,000 at WinStar Farm, near Versailles, Ky. Early Voting and Life Is Good currently occupy second and seventh positions, respectively, on the freshman sire list by earnings, which is led by Golden Pal (Uncle Mo). A genuine rocket ship, his victories included the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2T) and the 2021 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T). By a champion 2-year-old sire in Uncle Mo, Golden Pal was an obvious leading freshman sire candidate, and so far he has already had 22 winners from 62 starters. Five of his offspring are black-type horses, including Seneca Park (dam by Invasor) who took the $747,488 Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs. As expected, most of his winners are sprinters, but he also has Golden Maiden (dam by Soldier Hollow), a promising-looking maiden winner over 8 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga. Third-placed Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) is another where early speed was expected. Successful in the Champagne Stakes (G1) and Hopeful Stakes (G1) at 2, he earned honors as champion sprinter at 3, and added two more grade 1 events at 4. He has 11 winners so far, including Wood Island (dam by Artie Schiller), who took the Skidmore Stakes on the turf at Saratoga. Olympiad (Speightstown) shot up the table when his daughter Citrus Springs (out of a mare by Tale of the Cat, a reverse Storm Cat/Mr. Prospector to Speightstown) took the $750,000 Juvenile Fillies Stakes. He also has Canadian stakes placed Royal Foxtrot (dam by Congrats). Olympiad wouldn't have been expected to get early runners, although he won at 2 and 3; his black-type wins didn't come until 4, when he won six of eight starts, five black-type, including the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) and a second-place finish in the 2022 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). The horse who defeated Olympiad in that Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) was, of course, Flightline (Tapit). Thirty-one of his eagerly-awaited first crop of 101 foals have already started, with six winners thus far. They include Go for Launch (out of a mare by Indy Wind and inbred 4x3 to A.P. Indy), who took the Bolton Landing Stakes on turf at Saratoga, and also on the turf and in Japan, Shonan Galleon (dam by Full Mast, a son of Mizzen Mast), was an impressive winner of the Sapporo Nisai Stakes (G3). He's also represented by Inshallah, who is out of the 2017 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) heroine Bar of Gold (Medaglia d'Oro). He was purchased for $2.1 million by Pedro Lanz, agent for KAS Stables, at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The son of Flightline sizzled in his debut, earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. Epicenter (Not This Time), whose Travers Stakes (G1) win marked him as best in his class over 1 1/4 miles on dirt, is off the black-type mark already, albeit in a slightly surprising way, as this came when Mid American (out of an Exchange Rate mare) triumphed in the $748,725 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint over 6 1/2 furlongs. Actually, despite his ability on the main track, turf is latent in the pedigree. Not This Time is a superior grass sire, and the dam is by Candy Ride out of a European-bred granddaughter of Sadler's Wells. Overall, he has seven winners and, the sprint stakes winner notwithstanding, one would expect momentum to build over longer distances in the final quarter of the year. Eighth-placed Jack Christopher (Munnings) stands alongside Golden Pal and Epicenter at Ashford Stud. He won five of six starts and was unbeaten up to a mile, with a win in the Champagne Stakes (G1) at 2, and three more stakes, including the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) and H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1) at 3. He has 11 winners to date, and like Epicenter, he's gone against his race record for his first stakes winner, Glycogen (out of a Giant's Causeway mare), taking the P. G. Johnson Stakes at 8 1/2 furlongs over the turf. For good measure, he also has One Number (out of a Ghostzapper mare), who is black-type placed over a mile in Ireland. Next on the table and rounding out the top 10 come the Quality Road pair Roadster and Corniche. Florida-based Roadster—the top regional horse on the list—upset champion 2-year-old Game Winner in the Santa Anita Derby (G1). He already has 12 winners, including Sharp Susan Stakes scorer Hot Rod Honey (dam by Unified) and stakes-placed It's Smoking. Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner and champion 2-year-old Corniche gives Ashford a fourth horse on the list. He has eight winners, and a black-type winning duo in Holmby (dam by Lemon Drop Kid), successful in the Sorrento Stakes (G3) and third in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1), and Fanshell Beach (dam by Unusual Heat), who took the Riverside Rush Stakes, as well as a graded stakes-placed horse Perfect Dream (dam by Nyquist), who was third in the With Anticipation Stakes (G3T). Next are the Spendthrift duo, Cyberknife (Gun Runner) and Greatest Honour (Tapit). Neither would be anticipated to have a lot of early types: Cyberknife won a maiden in three tries at 2, before taking three stakes including the Arkansas Derby (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1) at 3, and Greatest Honor won one of four as a juvenile, then added the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and a third in the Florida Derby (G1) at 3. Despite that, they already have 10 winners apiece, with Cyberknife being represented by the Sorority Stakes second Spectacular Sam (dam by Malibu Moon) and Greatest Honour by Vanta (dam by More Than Ready), who took the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes, and by New York-bred B Yutiful Carly (dam by Indian Charlie), who was third in the Seeking the Ante Stakes at Saratoga. Further down the list, others with stakes winners are Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mandaloun (Into Mischief), who has Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes (G3T) scorer Observed (dam by First Defence, whose grandsire and granddam, Unbridled and Toussaud, are sire and dam of Mandaloun's own broodmare sire, Empire Maker) and Ohio-bred stakes winner Book Value (dam by Speightstown); Carter Stakes (G1) winner Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), sire of Schuylerville Stakes winner and Spinaway Stakes (G1) second Harper's Corner (dam by Speightstown) and stakes-placed Speaker's Speech (dam by Summer Bird); and Florida's Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), a three-time turf grade 1 winner who has With Anticipation Stakes winner Liam's Law (dam by Kitten's Joy) and stakes-placed R One Way (dam by Gottcha Gold).