Darley in America will have two sensational new additions to its stallion roster for 2022 as Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality and fellow G1 winner Maxfield are set to retire to Jonabell after their final starts.
Darley Sales Manager, Darren Fox, said, “To have both Essential Quality and Maxfield coming to Jonabell is as exciting as it gets. And to have accomplished what they did as homebreds in the colors of Godolphin makes it even that much more meaningful.
“They consistently performed at the highest level and if you add in their outstanding pedigrees and conformation, we feel very confident that their legacy will continue to grow through their future offspring.”
Essential Quality is a son of Tapit out of a G3-placed half-sister to Champion and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Folklore. He has won eight of nine career starts – four at G1 level – and was named two-year-old Eclipse Champion of 2020 following G1 victories in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Breeders’ Futurity. While winning the Juvenile, he recorded the highest Beyer of any two-year-old beyond a mile last year.
In 2021, his victories include the G1 Belmont Stakes in which he recorded a 109 Beyer, becoming the first Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner ever to capture the Belmont. He went on to win the G1 Travers at Saratoga, joining Street Sense as the only Champion two-year-olds in the past 30 years to take the “midsummer Derby.” A G1 winner at eight and a half furlongs, 10 furlongs and 12 furlongs, Essential Quality also lists three other Graded victories to his credit. He was also beaten only a length when fourth in this year’s Kentucky Derby. His fee will be set following the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday, November 6.
Maxfield has never been off the board in 10 career starts and was an outstanding winner of Keeneland’s G1 Breeders’ Futurity as a juvenile, like his future barn mate Essential Quality.
Maxfield’s six other career victories include the G2 Stephen Foster and G2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs. Three additional 2021 G1 placings include runner-up finishes in Saratoga’s G1 Whitney and the G1 Woodward at Belmont and a third in the Santa Anita Handicap.
A son of Darley stallion Street Sense, Maxfield is out of the Bernardini mare Velvety, a half-sister to G1 winner and successful sire Sky Mesa.
Like Essential Quality, Maxfield’s fee will be set following his final race, the G1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Friday, November 26.
Fox continued, “In addition to the excitement of two new stallions, we are hearing from breeders a great deal of optimism especially with the strong sales results this year. It goes without saying that times were tough for the industry last year but ours is a resilient bunch and hope springs eternal for the coming year. All that said, we are still maintaining moderation when setting our fees with only one of our top-tier stallions returning from last year seeing an uptick in price at this time.”
Perennial leading sire Medaglia d’Oro will stand at a fee of $100,000 for the new year. He was the number one yearling sire in North America by both average and median in 2020, and no stallion can match his 20 million-dollar yearlings since 2016.
With over 80 worldwide Group or Graded winners – 26 at the highest level – Medaglia d’Oro’s top-tier performers in 2021 include Golden Sixty, Hong Kong Horse of the Year, who has won 17 of 18 career starts and over $10 million. Medaglia d’Oro is also the all-time leading sire of Stakes winners at Saratoga and of G1 winners at Del Mar.
Street Sense’s fee will be set at $75,000 for 2022. In addition to his soon-to-be-retired son Maxfield, Street Sense’s 2021 top performers also include G2 San Vicente winner Concert Tour and G2 Mother Goose Stakes heroine Zaajel. Since 2017, Only Into Mischief and Constitution can match his four Graded Stakes-winning juvenile dirt colts, a group that includes his four-time G1 winning son McKinzie.
2021 has also been a strong year for Street Sense in the sales ring. His yearlings averaged over $200,000 and he is only one of 11 North American sires this year to be represented by a million-dollar yearling.
Nyquist, 2020’s leading first-crop sire, will stand for a fee of $55,000 in 2022. His juveniles of last year included Eclipse Champion and G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Vequist and G1 Summer Stakes winner Gretzky the Great. Not since Danzig in the 1980s has a stallion had two G1 winners so early in his career.
In 2021, his two-year-old daughter Sequist looks to give her sire his second consecutive Juvenile Fillies win as she is headed to this year’s renewal following a third in the G1 Darley Alcibiades in her last start. He is the cumulative leading second-crop sire by earnings, G1 winners, G1 horses, and Graded Stakes horses.
In the sales ring, he sits third behind only Quality Road and Uncle Mo by two-year-old average. His $2.6 million colt sold at Fasig-Tipton in March is the highest amount paid for any juvenile this year and is equal to a yearling by Into Mischief as the highest price paid for any horse at public auction in 2021.
Hard Spun’s fee will remain at $35,000 for 2022. He will be represented in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile by his son Silver State, winner of this year’s G1 Met Mile and G2 Oaklawn Handicap. His other top 2021 runners include G1 Arkansas Derby runner-up Caddo River and G3 winner Antoinette among 15 Black Type horses in 2021.
Frosted, the record-breaking Met Mile winner, is priced at $20,000 for 2022. Ranked third behind Nyquist on the cumulative second-crop sire list, Frosted’s top performers this year include Travel Column, winner of the G2 Fair Grounds Oaks. She is one of five three-year-olds to run a 90+ Beyer in 2021 for her sire; only Into Mischief and Curlin can top it.
Astern and Midshipman will go into 2022 priced at $10,000 each. Midshipman is having his best year ever and has two Breeders’ Cup prospects in G2 winner Special Reserve, headed to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and undefeated two-year-old filly Averly Jane who is pointing towards the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Midshipman is represented by 11 Stakes winners in America this year - a career high and a list that also includes G2 Californian winner Royal Ship and G3 winner Naval Laughter.
Medaglia d’Oro’s G1-winning son Astern, who shuttles from Australia, is off to a fast start with eight first-crop winners this year. His daughter Sail By will be making her next start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf following an impressive win in the “Win and You’re In” G2 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont.
See below for the complete roster:
