From the Magazine: Dynasty Builders

The following feature appeared in the October 2026 edition of BloodHorse Magazine The two brothers are not close, a product of circumstance rather than strife. There are the 25 miles that separate their respective residences across Central Kentucky. But even if the 40 minutes in traffic weren't a tangible barrier between the pair, the nature of their lives is such where their paths simply are not destined to cross. They've always been competitive, though their battles were with others rather than each other. While they didn't grow up together, the older boy left sizable shoes behind for his younger sibling to try and fill, only to see his kid brother become a headliner in his own right. Mom is no longer with them, having died in the winter of 2025. She did, however, live long enough to be properly feted as her dutiful sons filled the family album with so many milestones, its seams are in a constant state of threatening to burst. Their successes have always been independent of one another. Yet, in their second careers, the ties that bind Not This Time, the flagship sire in the Taylor Made Farm stallion complex, to Liam's Map, his older half sibling residing in the front stud barn at Lane's End, have united in cable-strong fashion to create a familial influence likely to be felt for generations in a sport that counts its age in centuries. Technically, there is some level of competition that exists between the two. Collectively, they are using the 2026 Thoroughbred racing season to assert the aptitude of their bloodlines over some of the industry's most ambitious contests. When Not This Time made his career debut in the summer of 2016, the Albaugh Family Stables homebred was often referred to as "the half brother to multiple grade 1 winner Liam's Map," a shadow that got cast when the second foal out of the Albaugh clan's blue hen mare Miss Macy Sue capped his career with a tour-de-force victory in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland. In the decade that has followed—specifically over the last 12 months—both siblings have accrued fresh prefixes to their monikers while adding another layer of heritage to their already heralded sire lines. This past May saw Liam's Map anointed with the title of classic-producing sire when his son Napoleon Solo hit the wire first in the Preakness Stakes (G1). With fellow grade 1-winning offspring Deterministic—a future Lane's End stallion—and Burnham Square also residing at the forefront of their divisional ranks this season, the Albaugh-bred son of Unbridled's Song, who stood the 2026 season for $50,000, is poised to finish in the top 10 on the general sires list for the first time since entering stud at Lane's End in 2016. In the top position on said sire list is none other than little brother himself, Not This Time, the son of Giant's Causeway who has been on a meteoric ascent since joining the Taylor Made stallion roster in 2017. Already labeled an industry standard by virtue of his $250,000 stud fee, co-highest for 2026, Not This Time is positioned to dethrone the seven-time reigning king that is Spendthrift Farm's breed-shaping stallion Into Mischief and go into the annals with the legacy-stamping banner of leading North American general sire should his offspring such as multiple grade 1 winner Magnitude hold their form over the final few months of the year. "A lot of times I have to pinch myself because I think I'm in a dream," said Jason Loutsch, racing manager and co-owner of Albaugh Family Stables and son-in-law to owner Dennis Albaugh. "Never did I ever imagine, or Dennis imagine, we would have one of the top stallions in the world, and that is where (Not This Time) is progressing to quickly. It's unbelievable really. You always dream that you could have a horse like this and to have two of them in the top 10 right now, that is something, again, that we never dreamed could happen. And it's happening." The concept of half siblings having simultaneous success in the breeding shed is not a new one for the Thoroughbred industry, as Lane's End itself can attest. In addition to standing the legendary A.P. Indy, who twice led the general sires list, William S. Farish's operation was also home to his half brother and fellow classic winner Summer Squall, who finished eighth on the general sires list in 1999 with his younger sibling two spots back that year in 10th. More recently, from 2014-20, the late City Zip and his half brother, champion Ghostzapper, were regular fixtures in the top 20 on the general sires list with the former standing at Lane's End and the latter carving out his impact first at Adena Springs before heading to the Hill 'n' Dale roster. With one the color of polished steel and the other an obsidian-shaded specimen, Liam's Map and Not This Time don't offer much in the way of a physical family resemblance. Their on-track stats also sit on opposite ends of their spectrum as Liam's Map won six of eight starts in his late-bloomer career, including victories in the Woodward Stakes (G1) and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, while Not This Time was retired after four starts with a soft-tissue injury just weeks after his brave runner-up effort in the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). The formula that has made each a force to be reckoned with in the breeding ranks, however, has been an analogous one. Each descends from a sire line known for its dominance with Not This Time a doppelganger of his incomparable grandsire Storm Cat and Liam's Map redefining how the Thoroughbred marketplace views sons of the late commercial stalwart that was Unbridled's Song. A glance at their respective top progeny also reveals a shared versatility, with both stallions boasting top performers on all manners of surfaces and distance. Any discussion about the commonalities between the two kinsmen, however, starts with the fact they were each produced from the dark bay daughter of Trippi Dennis Albaugh purchased for $42,000 at the 2005 Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale. HOW IT STARTED The initial goal for Albaugh's fledgling racing operation two decades ago was to find horses who could give the Iowa-based patriarch bragging rights of seeing his colors prevail at his homebase of Prairie Meadows. The long-term result of consignor Tom McCrocklin signing the ticket for Hip 182 that June is the Albaugh clan can no longer look at a major racecard without being knocked over from the reverberations of Miss Macy Sue's impact. "Every weekend, you see these grade 1 (races) and you see a Liam's Map or a Not This Time in there," Loutsch said. "We thank them, but we also thank Miss Macy Sue. She started this program and it's just been tremendous excitement for our family to see the progress they've made. Every day we thank her because we wouldn't be where we are today in the racing business without her." Herself a graded stakes winner and third-place finisher in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, Miss Macy Sue was a hickory sort who embraced every dance trainer Kelly Von Hemel brought her to. Included in her 11 victories from 25 career starts was a triumph in the 2007 Winning Colors Stakes (G3) going 6 furlongs at Churchill Downs and a score over the all-weather track in that year's Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes. The spoils of that race record allowed the Albaugh family to follow the simplest creed of the Thoroughbred marketplace: breed the best to the best and hope for the best. Not only did she provide an injection of speed to complement the bloodlines of her elite-level mates, but Miss Macy Sue sent her boys into the racing world carrying forth key intangibles that have repeatedly shown up in their best offspring. "She tried hard every time and that's what I see in her progeny," Loutsch said. "You see it with the Not This Times and the Liam's Maps, they just try. They're hardcore horses that give it their all. You can look at all the pedigrees and the appearance of them all but one thing you can't really know is their heart. She's really passed that gene on where they run hard and they try hard." There are some actions, well-meaning as they are, one never lives down. Fourteen years after the fact, Loutsch jokes that the business decision he still catches the most grief over is the fact he greenlit the choice to sell the second foal out of Miss Macy Sue for $800,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. "I still hear about it from (Dennis)," Loutsch deadpanned. At the time, it was a sound financial choice, one that rendered a bittersweet verdict when owners West Point Thoroughbreds and Teresa Viola Racing Stables sent the colt to Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher to be developed into one of the top talents of his generation. THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY With eight Eclipse Awards on his mantle and more than 6,000 career victories to his immaculate credit, the task of parsing the best moments from Pletcher's decades spent conditioning horseflesh is one with no end date. Among the professional moments he would like to have back, however, is the first race on the Aug. 23, 2014, card at Saratoga Race Course. "He had some niggling issues as a 2-year-old that kind of slowed him down from getting to start... and probably one of my worst training jobs was getting him beat in his debut on Travers day," Pletcher recalled of Liam's Map's runner-up effort in his initial outing. "From there, it was pretty much really top-level performances after that." That maiden start would go down as one of just two times in his career Liam's Map failed to make a winner's circle appearance following a competitive outing. After notching his first career win by 9 1/2 lengths next time out, the gray or roan horse kept stepping up in class en route to his graded stakes debut in the 2015 Whitney Stakes (G1), a litmus test he nearly aced when he set a blistering pace only to have his future Lane's End barnmate Honor Code uncork an improbable rally to nail him at the wire. There would be no such catching Liam's Map during his front-running 4 3/4-length triumph in the Woodward a month later. And despite having every prerace game plan go out the window when he broke tardily in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, then had to steady near the five-eighths pole, he made sure to give breeders an all-encompassing preview of the brilliance, handiness, and mettle he would pass on when he swept past Lea—on the wrong lead, no less—to score a 2 1/2-length career-capping victory. Though he possessed the attributes typically boasted by the best sires—speed that could hold over two turns, a physical presence that beautifully touted the elite bloodlines coursing through him—Liam's Map entered the stallion barn with an albatross around his well-muscled neck due to the stigma that followed offspring of Unbridled's Song regarding their perceived soundness and durability. Nothing quiets speculative chatter quite like deafening results. After getting grade 1 winners Basin and Wicked Whisper from his first crop, Liam's Map has gone on to produce whatever the market has demanded, from precocious two-turn dirt standouts such as grade 1 winner Juju's Map, to turf sprinters such as graded stakes winner Roses for Debra, to Deterministic and Burnham Square cornering the market this year when it comes to turf excellence. "Unbridled's Song was such a brilliant horse and a brilliant sire. And I think Liam's Map has really carried on his legacy probably more so than any one horse," Pletcher said. "There was a little bit of a knock on sons of Unbridled's Song when Liam's Map went to stud, and I think he's the horse who put that to rest." A hallmark of any top stallion is the ability to move mares up, something Liam's Map has done with multiple sire lines put before him. His affinity with Bernardini mares has yielded such runners as multiple grade 1 winner Colonel Liam and Wicked Whisper but a look down the spectrum also shows successful crosses with the likes of Scat Daddy, Indian Charlie, and Speightstown. "He's showing us so much versatility and it's so gratifying to see, because he's the only son of Unbridled's Song we ever had and to see him be arguably his most successful son at stud," said Bill Farish of Lane's End. "To see his versatility and his steady ascent, he's getting better and better each year. He really reminds me in some ways of (fellow Lane's End stallion) Twirling Candy the way he just keeps progressing." If the decision to let Liam's Map change hands is one Loutsch never hears the end of, the choice to hold onto and race the dark bay colt Miss Macy Sue foaled April 26, 2014, ranks as a judgment call for the ages. ENTER NOT THIS TIME The field for the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile was as star-studded as any edition of the race in recent years with the likes of grade 1 winners Practical Joke, Klimt, Gormley, and Classic Empire all going to post seeking a championship-clinching effort. Yet when the gates sprung forth in the 1 1/16-mile test, it was the Dale Romans trainee who had cantered to an 8 3/4-length triumph in the Iroquois Stakes (G3) that September who bore the full confidence of the betting public. And had the wire been located a tad further down the Santa Anita Park stretch, the neck margin that separated Not This Time from victory over eventual Eclipse Award winner Classic Empire may well have ended up flipped. The record books don't regard the rally Not This Time put forth that day as a winning effort, but the lens of hindsight has deemed the fortitude he showcased beneath the San Gabriel Mountains to be a portend for the aptitude that would soon come breathing down the breeding industry's neck. Retired to stand at Taylor Made weeks later for a $15,000 stud fee, Not This Time had the benefit of a stallion's pedigree and the precocity breeders often earmark when trying to make babies destined for the short lists of pinhookers and end users alike. What he didn't have was a large sample size of race results. Hence, his early days hinged largely upon one's ability to look into the crystal ball and trust that ambitious predictions would materialize. "We thought he was a Kentucky Derby-type horse," Loutsch said of Not This Time. "I think he showed that as a 2-year-old and he probably would have gotten even better over time and distances. When you take him to the stud barn, obviously breeders want grade 1 winners, right? He was a grade 3 winner... so basically, we had to sell on hope. Taylor Made did a great job and I think what sold people was getting breeders out to the farm and showing them what he looked like." Most of Taylor Made's enduring clients are those looking for a stallion who will sharpen the long-term vision for their respective programs. Once his offspring started hitting the track, Not This Time became an obvious choice for those seeking runners who could answer any query put before them in a fashion that renders the question moot. After finishing third on the freshman sires list for 2020, Not This Time broke the levees and began flooding racetracks and sales rings with progeny that have yet to find a ceiling to their ability. He was the leading second- and third-crop sire and was honored with his first Eclipse Award winner in 2022 when Travers Stakes (G1) hero Epicenter earned the hardware for champion 3-year-old male. Like his older sibling, versatility and capability with a multitude of sire lines has become Not This Time's calling card. His second champion would come when multiple grade 1 winner Up to the Mark was feted as the champion turf male of 2023, highlighting a year that also saw Not This Time boast Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) winner Sibelius, multiple graded stakes-winning marathoner Next, and the emergence of future grade 1 winner and record-setting turf sprinter Cogburn. By 2025, he had run right up on Into Mischief's legendary heels, finishing second on the general sires list on the strength of such offspring as Cy Fair, who became Not This Time's first Breeders' Cup winner when she beat males in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T). With Magnitude taking a field that included reigning Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Forever Young (JPN) to task in this year's $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1), Not This Time is poised to begin what could be a years-long reign as his top runners are still from crops bred on $45,000 and $40,000 stud fees. "I think to me, he's the only horse in North America that has that kind of versatility at the top, top level," said Travis White, president of Taylor Made Stallions. "You have top grade 1 horses on the dirt like Magnitude going two turns, you get horses like Rhetorical, Up to the Mark... and then a filly like On Time Girl who is a top 3-year-old going short on the dirt. He'll take you wherever you want to go. "What he has done with various broodmare sires, it's another level that he can take your mare to. If he wasn't as versatile as he is, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation with him at least having the opportunity to be the No. 1 general sire." Ironically, one of the Not This Time's biggest commercial highlights came with an assist from the ruler he is looking to overthrow as Streak of Luck, dam of champion Ted Noffey, a son of Into Mischief, topped the 2025 Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale when she sold for $6.2 million in foal to the headliner of the Taylor Made roster. If he indeed becomes 'The man,' Not This Time will have beaten the man while that one is still at his peak as Into Mischief continues to fire on all cylinders this season with offspring such as reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty and grade 1 winners Commandment and Renegade. "It's something I never thought would happen in my time," White said of potentially besting Into Mischief. "Obviously credit goes to the horse, credit goes to the breeders who supported the horse, and the shareholders who supported the horse along the way. I think at the end of the day, his versatility wins out as far as what separates him from the rest of them, and it gives us a chance to compete." Bonded forever by blood, Liam's Map and Not This Time are now linked by individual ascents that have allowed them to share space in the industry's highest echelon. The 2026 season will go down as the year the two brothers flexed their muscles in unison. And with their best books still to come, an even larger collective show of strength figures to loom on the horizon. "It's just been so much fun with these two. I only own a share of Liam's Map... but I think he's one of the best bargain stallions in the world right now for what he's accomplished," Loutsch said. "I'm so proud of the success he's had. We're proud of both of them, obviously. "Tremendous respect for Into Mischief; he'll always be one of the best of all time. We're trying to get to that level. But for Not This Time to even be mentioned in that category is something we take a lot of pride in." Subscribe Now to the magazine.