Cover image courtesy of Breeders' Cup
Fourteen Grade 1 races took place at Keeneland over the weekend during the Breeders’ Cup carnival, the grand final of Northern American racing. Thirteen sires had their names in lights as their offspring scored at the highest level, some taking their Breeders’ Cup winners to double digits and others getting their first Breeders’ Cup win on the board.
With Fasig Tipton’s November Sale right around the corner and Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale commencing on Tuesday, thoughts turn to how to breed the next champion and who can be trusted to deliver that dream.
| G1 Breeders' Cup Turf | Benvenuto Cellini | Frankel | Newspaperofrecord | Lope De Vega |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Classic | Sovereignty | Into Mischief | Crowned | Bernardini |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Mile | Deterministic | Liam's Map | Giulio's Jewel | Speightstown |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile | Further Ado | Gun Runner | Sky Dreamer | Sky Mesa |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint | Ways And Means | Practical Joke | Strong Incentive | Warrior's Reward |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf | Kathynmarissa | American Pharoah | La Dalila | Milt's Overture |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint | Bacio | Maclean's Music | Katie's Kiss | Kantharos |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Distaff | Nitrogen | Medaglia D'Oro | Tiffany Case | Uncle Mo |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint | T O Elvis | Volatile | Stopshoppingdebbie | Curlin |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf | Sun Goddess | Sioux Nation | Etoile Bleu | Starspangledbanner |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf | Haffner | Justify | Earth Strike | Zoffany |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile | Hughes | Into Mischief | K P Dreamin | Union Rags |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint | Libertango | No Nay Never | Ein Gedi | Oasis Dream |
| G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies | Emphatic | Nyquist | Convinced | Tiznow |
Table: 2026 Breeders' Cup winners and their breeding
Into Mischief reigns supreme
Only Into Mischief (USA) was able to produce two Breeders’ Cup winners over the weekend, first with G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile victor Hughes (USA) on Friday for Bob Baffert and then on Saturday, his Godolphin-owned son Sovereignty (USA) made his bid for Horse Of The Year honours with victory in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic.
A son of Harlan’s Holiday (USA), descending from the Storm Cat (USA) branch of the Northern Dancer (Can) dynasty, the weekend’s results took Into Mischief to a total of 11 individual Breeders’ Cup winners, which started with Goldencents (USA), back-to-back G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner in 2013 and 2014, from his first crop.
| Into Mischief | No | 2 | 11 | Northern Dancer - Storm Bird - Storm Cat - Harlan - Harlan's Holiday |
| Medaglia D'Oro | Yes | 1 | 5 | Northern Dancer - Sadler's Wells - El Prado |
| Gun Runner | Yes | 1 | 4 | Mr Prospector - Fappiano - Cryptoclearance - Ride The Rails - Candy Ride |
| Nyquist | Yes | 1 | 4 | Caro - Siberian Express - In Excess - Indian Charlie - Uncle Mo |
| Frankel | No | 1 | 3 | Northern Dancer - Sadler's Wells - Galileo |
| Justify | No | 1 | 3 | Northern Dancer - Storm Bird - Storm Cat - Hennessy - Johannesburg - Scat Daddy |
| American Pharoah | Yes | 1 | 2 | Mr Prospector - Fappiano - Unbridled - Empire Maker - Pioneerof The Nile |
| No Nay Never | No | 1 | 2 | Northern Dancer - Storm Bird - Storm Cat - Hennessy - Johannesburg - Scat Daddy |
| Liam's Map | Yes | 1 | 1 | Mr Prospector - Fappiano - Unbridled - Unbridled's Song |
| Maclean's Music | No | 1 | 1 | Mr Prospector - Forty Niner - Distorted Humor |
| Practical Joke | No | 1 | 1 | Northern Dancer - Storm Bird - Storm Cat - Harlan - Harlan's Holiday - Into Mischief |
| Sioux Nation | No | 1 | 1 | Northern Dancer - Storm Bird - Storm Cat - Hennessy - Johannesburg - Scat Daddy |
| Volatile | No | 1 | 1 | Northern Dancer - Sadler's Wells - El Prado - Medaglia D'Oro - Violence |
Table: 2026 Breeders' Cup winning sires and their performance at the meet
His other Breeders’ Cup winners include fellow Dirt Mile winners Life Is Good (USA) and Citizen Bull (USA), Authentic (USA), the winner of the Classic and the G1 Kentucky Derby just like Sovereignty, and Juvenile winner Ted Noffey (USA). In fact, after Citizen Bull and Ted Noffey, Hughes is Into Mischief’s third straight winner in the Juvenile.
Into Mischief (USA) | Standing at Spendthrift Farm
From humble beginnings where his fee dipped as low as US$7500 (AU$10,700), the Spendthrift Farm resident has been the United States Champion Sire seven years in a row. He currently holds the sire earnings record of US$34,607,042 (AU$49,248,312), set in 2024 with the aid of G1 Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River (USA), who now shuttles to Woodside Park Stud, and he currently is well on track for an eighth championship with the weekend’s earnings pushing him US$4 million (AU$5.7 million) clear of his nearest rival.
Into Mischief was also the only sire to have a sire son with a Breeders’ Cup winner over the weekend; Practical Joke (USA) claimed his first winner at the championship with Ways And Means (USA) in the G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
Practical Joke did not win a Breeders’ Cup race himself, but he did show up to the event two years in a row, finishing third in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile behind Classic Empire (USA) and then finishing fourth the following year in Battle Of Midway’s (USA) (Smart Strike {Can}) Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.
The success of Storm Cat and Scat Daddy
The 13 Breeders’ Cup sires can be organised between three root sires; Northern Dancer, Mr Prospector (USA), and Caro (Ire), and from the eight descending from Northern Dancer, five are descendants of Storm Cat. Three of that number are sons of Scat Daddy (USA), whose full influence remains a “what if” after his death as an 11-year-old in 2015.
Justify (USA), Sioux Nation (USA), and No Nay Never (USA) are all Scat Daddy sons to have visited Australia on the Coolmore Stud roster, and all have produced Group 1 winners during their shuttle careers down under, all with fillies; No Nay Never’s daughter Madame Pommery won the 2022 G1 1000 Guineas, Socks Nation (Sioux Nation {USA}) won the 2024 G1 Queensland Oaks, and Spicy Martini (Justify {USA}) took out this year’s G1 Stradbroke Handicap.
Scat Daddy (USA) | Image courtesy of Coolmore, USA
It is fitting, then, that star juvenile Sun Goddess (Ire) - whose damsire is Starspangledbanner - was the first Breeders’ Cup winner for Sioux Nation, stretching her winning streak to six in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Both of Justify’s prior Breeders’ Cup winners had been fillies, delivering a double in 2023; Just F Y I (USA) took out the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies while Hard To Justify (USA) won the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on the same card. Meditate (USA) won the Juvenile Fillies Turf the year before for No Nay Never, whose daughter Libertango (USA) won the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday.
None of Scat Daddy’s trio of sons ran in a Breeders’ Cup race, but the G1 Champagne Stakes winner finished fourth in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile himself at his fifth start as a 2-year-old.
Storm Cat’s influence in Australia remains particularly potent; at least 30 active sires feature him in their pedigrees and his direct sireline is carried on by nine stallions, including three sons of his Triple Crown-winning descendant Justify. City Of Troy (USA) and Storm Boy welcomed their first foals this spring, while City Of Troy’s full brother Unbelievable (USA) stands his first season at Larneuk Stud.
City Of Troy (USA) | Standing at Coolmore, Australia
Shamardal (USA) has been another powerful descendant of Storm Cat, with four sire descendants in Australia including the shuttlers Pinatubo (Ire) and Lucky Vega (Ire). He is also the damsire of young stallions Devil Night, Doull, and Move To Strike.
Twelve stallions feature the Storm Cat sireline as their damsires, with Tale of The Cat (USA) - who shuttled to Coolmore’s Jerry Plains locations for eight seasons - being the damsire of four. Forest Wildcat (USA) and his son Var (USA) are the damsires of Foxwedge and In The Congo respectively.
Storm Cat's presence is less close in the pedigrees of a further nine, including the likes of Schwarz, Switzerland, Diatonic (Jpn), and Tagaloa.
Digging for gold with Mr Prospector
Four Breeders’ Cup 2026 winners descend from Mr Prospector, and three from his son Fappiano (USA). Gun Runner (USA), American Pharoah (USA), and Liam’s Map (USA) all share a common ancestor with Maclean’s Music (USA), the latter two of whom were striking at the Breeders’ Cup meet for the first time.
Gun Runner’s Further Ado (USA) became his sire’s fourth winner at the championships when taking out the G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, while American Pharoah produced his second with G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf victress Kathynmarissa (USA). Gun Runner has produced two Juvenile Fillies winners with Echo Zulu (USA) and Super Corredora (USA), plus 2024 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone (USA).
Both Gun Runner, American Pharoah, and Liam’s Map were all Breeders’ Cup winners in their own racetrack careers. Third to Goldencents in the 2014 Dirt Mile, Liam’s Map returned the following year to claim the race, missing a clash with American Pharoah in the Classic - perhaps a good call, as the latter won the Classic, marking his sixth Grade 1 win of the year.
Gun Runner (USA) | Standing at Three Chimney Farms, USA
Gun Runner contested the Dirt Mile the following year, finishing second to Tamarkuz (USA), another descendant of Mr Prospector via his grandson Speightstown (USA) - but he would return in 2017 to win the Classic in his penultimate start. Of the quartet, he holds the most current excitement for Australians, with a handful of offspring imported in utero in recent years, including multiple Group-performed Genesis Runner.
Whilst not quite as ubiquitous as Northern Dancer, Mr Prospector continues to cast a long shadow over Australian breeding, with over 170 active sires featuring him in their pedigrees, although only 23 are direct descendants of the sireline.
Dubawi (Ire) remains one of his most influential descendants in both hemispheres, represented by 10 sire sons or grandsons in Australia, led by Too Darn Hot (GB) - whose son Hotazhell (GB), winner of the G1 Irish Champion Stakes in September, ran in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Hotazhell will shuttle to Widden Stud next spring to add to the contingent of Dubawi descendants standing at stud on Australian soil.
Dubawi (Ire) | Standing at Darley, Europe
Street Cry (Ire) is the other descendant of Mr Prospector to have his presence felt strongly in Australia, with six sire sons and grandsons at stud, headed by Anamoe and Tentyris. He also has several representatives from the branches created by Wootton Bassett (GB) and Lord Kanaloa (Jpn).
Unusual lineages
The only sireline other than Northern Dancer and Mr Prospector to be present amongst the Breeders’ Cup winners was through Nyquist (USA), a descendant of Caro, whose lineage splits from Nearco (Ity) at his son Nasrullah (Ire). Caro, whose principal wins include the now G1 French 2000 Guineas, has plenty of presence in pedigrees through his daughters, but Nyquist and his sire Uncle Mo (USA) remain the most active branch of male descendants.
Nyquist replicated his sire’s feat in winning the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, before going on to win the G1 Florida Derby ahead of the Kentucky Derby. The victory of his daughter Emphatic (USA) in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies handed him his fourth individual winner at the championship.
Nyquist (USA) | Standing at Darley, America
Two of those previous wins have been in the same race, courtesy of Vequist (USA) in his first crop and Immersive (USA) in 2024. The other victory was in the 2025 Dirt Mile courtesy of Nysos (USA), who enters stud at Coolmore America in 2027, having won seven Graded races across four seasons of racing.
Uncle Mo also appeared at the Breeders’ Cup as a damsire to G1 Breeders' Cup Distaff victress Nitrogen (USA) (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}).
Emphatic’s damsire Tiznow (USA) is the only damsire this year not to be descended from Nearco. Tracing his lineage to Man O’ War (USA), Tiznow is a descendant of the Godolphin Barb. Aside from his own Breeders’ Cup winners, Folklore (USA) and Tourist (USA), Emphatic is his first winner at the event as a damsire.
| Lope De Vega | Northern Dancer - Storm Bird - Storm Cat - Giant's Causeway - Shamardal |
| Bernardini | Bold Ruler - Boldnesian - Bold Reasoning - Seattle Slew - AP Indy |
| Speightstown | Mr Prospector - Gone West |
| Sky Mesa | Bold Ruler - Boldnesian - Bold Reasoning - Seattle Slew - AP Indy |
| Warrior's Reward | Northern Dancer - Sadler's Wells - El Prado - Medaglia D'Oro |
| Milt's Overture | Hail To Reason - Roberto - Dynaformer |
| Kantharos | Northern Dancer - Storm Bird - Storm Cat - Tale Of The Cat - Lion Heart |
| Uncle Mo | Caro - Siberian Express - In Excess - Indian Charlie |
| Curlin | Mr Prospector - Smart Strike |
| Starspangledbanner | Northern Dancer - Danzig - Danehill - Danehill Dancer - Choisir |
| Zoffany | Northern Dancer - Danzig - Danehill - Dansili |
| Union Rags | Northern Dancer - Dixieland Band - Dixie Union |
| Oasis Dream | Northern Dancer - Danzig - Green Desert |
| Tiznow | In Reality - Relaunch - Cee's Tizzy |
Table: Dam sirelines at the 2026 Breeders' Cup
A late champion continues to deliver
Medaglia D’Oro (USA), who passed away at Jonabell Farm last month aged 27, sired his fifth career Breeders’ Cup winner at the weekend with the feat of tough mare Nitrogen in the Distaff. However, it was not his only touch on the weekend’s card.
A son and a grandson of Medaglia D’Oro produced their first winners at the meeting; grandson Volatile (USA) produced the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner T O Elvis (USA) for visiting trainer Daisuke Takayanagi, while his son Warrior’s Reward (USA) was the damsire of Practical Joke’s Ways And Means.
The late Medaglia D’Oro (USA) | Image courtesy of Darley
Medaglia D’Oro delivered 29 stakes winners and a further 17 stakes performers in his years shuttling to Australia, headed by the Group 1 scorers Flit, Vancouver, Astern, and Crown Prosecutor, plus Hong Kong’s champion Golden Sixty. While he has no commercial sons left in Australia, his daughters continue to deliver with a further 22 stakes winners, headed by G1 Flight Stakes winner Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice), G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Campione D’Italia (Snitzel), and G1 VRC Derby winner Goldrush Guru (American Pharoah {USA}).
Last season and this spring, they have also turned out dual Group 2 winner Bangkok Hottie (Too Darn Hot {GB}), G2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup winner Onesmoothoperator (USA) (Dialed In {USA}), and G2 Callander-Presnell Stakes winner Ohope (I Am Invincible), plus the Group 3 winners Hidrix (Extreme Choice) and Band Of Brothers (Omaha Beach {USA}).
Medaglia D’Oro’s daughters remain plentiful and prosperous in both hemispheres, sealing his presence in the breeding world for quite some time yet. Connections of multiple Grade 1 victress Nitrogen, from his third to last crop of foals, have vowed to return next year to extend his record.
