Upstart Leads Airdrie Roster at $40,000

Anchored by the ascending Upstart, whose 2026 stars include Ashland Stakes (G1) heroine Percy's Bar and the undefeated Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1)-bound Manuka Honey, Airdrie Stud has announced their fees for the 2027 breeding season. The aforementioned Upstart will see his fee increase to $40,000 for 2027, having stood the 2026 season at an advertised rate of $25,000. In addition to his headlining fillies, Upstart is currently the second-leading active sire in America by 2-year-old winners and stands within the top 10 on the overall juvenile sire list—an accomplishment made more noteworthy given his 2026 juvenile crop are the product of his strongest-bred mare book to date. With a history of dramatically improving his mares, the rising quality of his books in every subsequent season since has him exceptionally well positioned for the future. Airdrie also boasts two Kentucky Derby (G1) winners on the 2027 roster in Mage and Mystik Dan. Coming off a very strong initial yearling sales season that saw 25 of his first yearlings realize six-figure prices, Mage will have his first runners hit the track in 2027. Having bred 171 mares in his first year at stud, there will be no shortage of opportunity for the incomparably bred son of Good Magic and the legendary Puca. Mage will maintain his 2026 fee of $15,000. An earner of more than $4.8 million on the racetrack and standing for $12,500 in 2027, the popular Mystik Dan was a leader of his generation at 2, 3, and 4 and remarkably defeated the winners of 17 individual $1 million races during a career marked by uncommon accomplishment, quality, and resolve. He will be represented by his first foals in 2027. Third-crop sire Complexity, who trails only Vekoma by percentage of stakes winners to foals in a class that includes Tiz the Law, McKinzie, and Honor A. P., will stand for $15,000. His 2026 Keeneland yearling average was $75,350 and his best-bred crop to date will be yearlings of 2027. The ultra-consistent Cairo Prince, long a fixture among the top 30 of the general sires list and represented in 2026 by the $1.6 million earner My Boy Prince, will maintain his $10,000 fee for the upcoming season. Airdrie now stands each of the first two sons of the brilliant young sire Vekoma to be retired to stud in Colloquial and Jonathan's Way. The recently announced Colloquial will stand his first season at stud in 2027 following a career that was cut short by injury but marked by brilliance. Finishing just a nose second on debut behind Mentee, who bested a 61-year-old New York track record, in his first start, the former Book 1 yearling recorded a sensational 106 Beyer Speed Figure in his second trip to the post in a jaw-dropping 7-length score. At the time, it was the highest figure of any horse of his generation, and his 3 3/4 Ragozin number would only be outpaced by Sovereignty among all grade 1-winning 3-year-old colts throughout 2025. In his third, and ultimately final start, Colloquial sprinted away with Keeneland's historic Lafayette Stakes in dominant fashion. The 110 Equibase Speed Figure he received for that April 2025 contest would prove higher than any number earned in that season's Triple Crown races. It was a life-threatening illness that kept the likewise-talented Jonathan's Way from competing in his sophomore season, but his exploits at 2 showed more than enough promise to make him a popular first-year sire in 2025. Romping in his Saratoga Race Course debut, the $290,000 weanling purchase blew away an exceptionally deep field in his second start to take the Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs. Behind him that day were future grade 1 winners Magnitude and Sandman. Both Colloquial and Jonathan's Way will stand for $7,500 for the upcoming season. Also at $7,500 is another exceptional talent in Beau Liam. Owner of the fastest recorded 6-furlong maiden in the history of Churchill Downs, Beau Liam won his first three career starts while posting 106 and 107 Beyer Speed Figures. More importantly, he has shown the ability to pass on that brilliance through his first-crop son Crude Velocity. Also a winner of his first three starts in 2026, Crude Velocity is the only horse to defeat the brilliant multiple grade 1-winning Englishman, having bested that rival by 3 3/4 lengths in the Pat Day Mile Stakes (G2) in a final time of 1:33.87. In addition to producing an elite talent, Beau Liam has signaled that his best may still lie ahead as he has produced Keeneland yearling averages of $173,357 and $110,200 over the last two years. Both Highly Motivated and Happy Saver entered an extremely competitive freshman class, but both continue to punch well above their weight with their first-crop juveniles. The two-time track-record-setter Highly Motivated is currently a top five Kentucky freshman sire by both percentage of winners and stakes horses from a stellar class that includes Life Is Good, Flightline, Golden Pal, Jackie's Warrior, Early Voting, Epicenter, Olympiad, Corniche, and Jack Christopher, among others. And while Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) winner Happy Saver does not have the numbers of many of his contemporaries due in part to early back issues in the breeding shed that have since been resolved, he is already represented by an undefeated first-crop stakes winner in the talented Brittany Russell trainee Piggybunz. Highly Motivated and Happy Saver will stand for $7,500 and $5,000 respectively. Rounding out the Airdrie roster is the venerable Divisidero. A multiple grade 1 winner on the track, Divisidero sports a hugely impressive $91,547 average earnings/starter, making him an exceptional breed-to-race value at just $3,500.