**The following narrative was authored by Lauren Floyd, the Bloodstock Intern for Wasabi Ventures Stables, to explain why Dominus was chosen as a mate for Almyra.  You can find out more about Lauren here.** Maiden special weight winner, Almyra, who raced for Wasabi Ventures Stables in her 4yo year, has been retired and will be… [Read More]

**The following narrative was authored by Lauren Floyd, the Bloodstock Intern for Wasabi Ventures Stables, to explain why Demarchelier was chosen as a mate for Settle It.  You can find out more about Lauren here.** Settle It, a full-sister to a stakes winner and another still-active stakes-placed winner, who raced for Wasabi Ventures Stables in… [Read More]

Magical Point, a daughter of Horse of the Year Point Given and from the fantastic Maryland female family of our favorite veteran sire Include, was the first mare to check in-foal this spring to new Maryland stallion Force the Pass, in a Housatonic Recommended Mating. The cross of Gone West-line stallions with Thunder Gulch-line mares… [Read More]

The versatile and hard-knocking 11-time winner Littlemissperfect has produced a pair of fillies by the Storm Cat-line stallion Imagining to kick off her broodmare career, but will be switching it up in 2020 when she visits Maryland’s newest Grade 1-winning millionaire Force the Pass in the latest Housatonic Recommended Mating. The Speightstown/Street Cry cross looks… [Read More]

This Housatonic Recommended Mating features the first match for the hard-knocking young mare Mission Good Karma, for whom we have chosen the precocious, versatile and well-bred newcomer Flameaway — and she is actually already pregnant to Darby Dan’s son of Scat Daddy on a February cover.  We are fans of Flameaway because he was extremely… [Read More]

Above is a link to the lovely TDN piece telling the story of Force the Pass, Wasabi and Anchor & Hope. Having helped Wasabi get Force the Pass is one of my proudest accomplishments, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity afforded me by TK Kuegler and Wasabi, and very happy to get to work with great… [Read More]

A hard-knocking, versatile racemare who won 8 races and earned $191,027, Justgimmeakiss will meet a similarly tough, “blue collar” type in the breeding shed this spring, as we have chosen the Pennsylvania stalwart Weigelia as her first Housatonic Recommended Mating. Whereas Justgimmeakiss finished in the top three in 29 of her 70 starts from 2YO… [Read More]

The latest Housatonic Recommended Mating of the Not For Love mare No More Excuses to Imagining features 3×2 inbreeding to full-siblings out of the “Blue Hen” Phipps mare Dance Number, with a cross that has already produced a stakes winner and another winner from Imagining’s first crop of 2YOs in 2019. When we prepared Mating… [Read More]

This past year has been a big one for Housatonic Bloodstock, and we want to thank all of the amazing clients who made that happen! Among the highlights of our 2019: We helped our friends at Wasabi Ventures Stables acquire their first stallion, the Grade 1-winning millionaire Force the Pass, and are helping manage his… [Read More]

The latest Housatonic Recommended Mating features the recently-acquired Two Punch mare Miss Charlotte, who will visit the brilliant Met Mile-G1 winner Mor Spirit at Spendthrift Farm in 2020. An $85,000 yearling-turned $650,000 2-year-old in-training purchase, Mor Spirit broke his maiden in his second start at 2 for Bob Baffert.  He then shipped to Kentucky where… [Read More]

We have stated repeatedly our agreement with the notion that proven stallions make the best choice for maiden mares in the breeding shed, and as such we are excited that the stakes-placed, quarter-million dollar-earner Ritzy Lass will have Midshipman as her first mate (pun intended!) in a Housatonic Recommended Mating. Ritzy Lass won 13 of… [Read More]

Regular readers of these write-ups will remember that we have been big fans of Airdrie’s veteran stallion Include for some time, and we are excited to have been able to recommend that I’m Engaged visit him in 2020. Include’s appeal as a mate for I’m Engaged is, firstly, that at his advertised fee of $7,500,… [Read More]

Last year for her first breeding shed match-up, Super Mama was sent to the highly-proven veteran turf sire Mizzen Mast.  In 2020, she will be a member of the first book to visit the brilliant young prospect Demarchelier at historic Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. As we mentioned last year, Super Mama’s female family has a… [Read More]

After two foals by Imagining to start her breeding career, Littlemissperfect will visit another representative of the Storm Cat sire-line in 2020 as she is booked to Darby Dan’s versatile new son of Scat Daddy, the multiple Graded stakes winner Flameaway. As we’ve laid out here before, Littlemissperfect’s dam, Admirer, is a Phipps-bred full-sister to… [Read More]

Given the success of Wild For Love’s first foal this year, her 2020 mate will be a speedy member of the same Storm Cat sire-line which produced that promising 2YO Dreaming of Love — she will visit the exciting first-year stallion Maximus Mischief at Spendthrift in a Housatonic Recommended Mating. Dreaming of Love went (5)… [Read More]

With Force the Pass retiring to stud in Maryland for Wasabi Ventures Stallions, LLC beginning in 2020, Wasabi will be supporting the horse heavily with many of its own broodmares. In this post, we will outline which Wasabi mares will visit Force the Pass, and why we have decided that each of these mares will… [Read More]

Our initial pair of Housatonic Recommended Matings of 2020 both feature one of our top value stallions for the season in Spendthrift Farm’s up-and-coming Jimmy Creed, who will be the mate of the young mares Kuznetsov and Rockport Dancer. Jimmy Creed is a son of the leading sire Distorted Humor, out of the Grade 1-winning… [Read More]

Our initial pair of Housatonic Recommended Matings of 2020 both feature one of our top value stallions for the season in Spendthrift Farm’s up-and-coming Jimmy Creed, who will be the mate of the young mares Kuznetsov and Rockport Dancer. Jimmy Creed is a son of the leading sire Distorted Humor, out of the Grade 1-winning… [Read More]

Come check out the Mid-Atlantic’s most accomplished, best-bred and best-looking new stallion, and register for a chance at a free season.

Grade 1-winning millionaire Force the Pass has been retired from racing and will enter stud in Maryland in 2020 as the property of T.K. Kuegler’s Wasabi Ventures Stallions, LLC, who recently acquired the son of Speightstown from his owner/breeder Richard Santulli.  Force the Pass will stand at Louis & Grace Merryman’s Anchor & Hope Farm… [Read More]

This most recent Housatonic Recommended Mating features the maiden mare Intrepid Forest, a seven-time winner by the solid broodmare sire Forestry, who is now set to visit A.P. Indy’s last Grade 1-winning son to retire to stud, Long River. We had initially picked Buffum as Intrepid Forest’s mate this year, and in that write-up we… [Read More]

We started our last Mating Recommendation post dealing with Starr Gate by commenting that it’s always a good idea, during breeding season, to have a back-up plan in mind, and we are now on to our “Plan C” with Starr Gate after our first two choices didn’t pan out for a variety of reasons.  But… [Read More]

One of our favorites at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale, when he was simply known as “Hip 109,” was a colt by War Front out of Visions of Clarity, by Sadler’s Wells.  Now known as War of Will, he’s our pick in tomorrow’s Kentucky Derby off of a 15/1 morning-line. War of Will started his… [Read More]

It’s always a good idea, during breeding season, to have a back-up plan in mind, and we’ve been forced to switch to our “Plan B” with Starr Gate this spring — she’ll now be part of the first book of the brilliant classic-placed Curlin son Irish War Cry. Curlin is one of — if not… [Read More]

Last year, Littlemissperfect was bred to Imagining only after she returned from Kentucky and lost the pregnancy she’d been carrying to Fed Biz.  This year, we’re even more excited to send her back to Imagining in the latest Housatonic Recommended Mating. Since their matchup last year, we have only become more bullish on Imagining’s chances… [Read More]

The latest Housatonic Recommended Mating will see the multiple stakes-placed, 12-time winner Broad But Nice visit our favorite Maryland stallion, the gorgeously-bred and gorgeously-built Imagining. Imagining’s 54 first crop foals are now 2-year-olds, and before we have even gotten into May, he already has five of his offspring on official worktabs, with several others earning… [Read More]

Our latest Housatonic Recommended Mating sends Tiz Emily and Jill to Curlin’s classic-placed son Irish War Cry as a member of this brilliant new Maryland stallion’s first book. Although there are not yet any stakes winners by Smart Strike’s sons out of mares by Tiznow or his sons (Tiz Emily and Jill being a daughter of… [Read More]

The latest first-time broodmare being bred in a Housatonic Recommended Mating is Animal Kingdom’s daughter Animalistic, who heads to WynOaks Farm for a date with their thoroughly-proven stalwart Weigelia. The definition of “blue collar,” Weigelia won 13 of 48 starts from 2- through 7-years-old, including the Grade 3 Kenny Noe Jr. Handicap and the Grade… [Read More]

Our latest Housatonic Recommended Mating features the recent acquisition Intrepid Forest, a seven-time sprint winner by top sprinter Forestry, who visits Bernardini’s very fast son Buffum at Northview this spring for her maiden mating. Buffum was a $1.2 million yearling who debuted at 2-years-old with a win at one mile, but his biggest career victory… [Read More]

The latest Housatonic Recommended Mating is another that features a maiden mare heading to a proven stallion in an attempt to give her the best possible start to her breeding career — in this case, the big, beautiful, former $150,000 auction yearling Super Mama will visit Juddmonte Farm’s versatile stalwart, Mizzen Mast. Mizzen Mast was… [Read More]

In the latest Housatonic Recommended Mating, we are throwing the “nick” rating out the window — for some very good reasons — and will be sending the recent acquisition Starr Gate to the intriguing young sprinter Buffum. Despite being by Mineshaft, who himself crafted a Horse of the Year campaign at 4 with seven two-turn… [Read More]

Our latest Housatonic Recommended Mating features the recent acquisition Rockport Dancer, a precocious and hard-knocking mare from a deep and talented female family, who will visit the Eclipse Champion 2-year-old and leading veteran sire Macho Uno in Kentucky this spring. As a young black-type runner just beginning her breeding career, we were anxious to send… [Read More]

The five-for-five winner-producing mare Rough Water features in the next of our Housatonic Recommended Matings, and she will be another to visit the promising freshman sire Irish War Cry. New to stud in 2019, Irish War Cry is a son of Curlin, one of the top handful of sires in the country, and probably the… [Read More]

The latest Housatonic Recommended Mating features Boston Mine, a half-sister to a Puerto Rican champion by Eskendereya, who will visit Eskendereya’s brilliant first-year son Mor Spirit at Spendthrift Farm. In addition to that Puerto Rican sensation named Pure Lemon, Boston Mine (by Horse of the Year Mineshaft) is a half-sister to stakes winner Crafty Unicorn… [Read More]

Weigelia might have a bit of an off-beat pedigree, but he was a stone cold runner and he has sired nothing but the same in his limited opportunities as basically a house stallion at WynOaks Farm in Pennsylvania — we believe he will make a fantastic first partner for Kuznetsov in the latest Housatonic Recommended… [Read More]

Our favorite tactic in planning matings for a mare is to find something that has already worked with her female family and find the best option for trying to duplicate that — for Winning Bet, that means a 2019 visit to Giant’s Causeway’s fantastically-bred son Imagining in a Housatonic Recommended Mating. It is somewhat shocking… [Read More]

We purchased Kitten’s Peak for a client last January while she was in foal to the promising young stallion Fed Biz, and the mare was subsequently bred back to popular first-year sire Cupid for 2018.  In 2019, Kitten’s Peak will head to another son of Tapit when she visits the classic winner Tonalist in a… [Read More]

Magical Point, a daughter of Horse of the Year Point Given and from the fantastic Maryland female family of Illeria, will visit the impeccably-bred, incredibly-fast Redesdale this year during his first season at stud, in a Housatonic Recommended Mating. Magical Point is a half-sister to the stakes winner Candida H., both of them out of… [Read More]

Our latest Housatonic Recommended Mating is one of our favorite kind, when the “nick” is a good one and the mare’s female family has also worked with horses related to the stallion.  In this case, both of those factors will be present when Miz Magician visits the impeccably bred and incredibly fast incoming New York… [Read More]

In 2019, Tuxedo Annie will visit the court of Blofeld in a Housatonic Recommended Mating, for many of the same reasons that we set out a year ago, before we had to switch her at the last minute to Imagining.  Most interestingly, this mating will result in 8x7x5 line-breeding to Tuxedo Annie’s fourth dam, the… [Read More]

Our latest Housatonic Recommended Mating features Pinkprint, a daughter of Maryland’s legendary stallion Not For Love and a half-sister to last year’s Breeders’ Futurity-G1 winner Knicks Go, who will visit the veteran leading sire Tiznow. Given his long-standing record of success as a sire, Tiznow would make sense as a mate for just about any… [Read More]

The big, beautiful, hard-knocking race mare Smile Big will be mated with the epitome of a slam-dunk stallion prospect when she visits Mendelssohn in the latest 2019 Housatonic Recommended Mating. Smile Big’s looks can be inferred from the fact that, despite being a daughter of Big Drama out of a mare with no black-type, she… [Read More]

As the calendar turns to 2019 and all Thoroughbreds turn a year older, we want to say thank you to all our clients and friends who made 2018 the best year yet for Housatonic Bloodstock, and best of luck in 2019! We are looking forward to a big crop of 2019 foals bred from Housatonic… [Read More]

One of the more intriguing young stallions in the Mid-Atlantic region at the moment is Buffum, a son of Bernardini at Northview Maryland, and we are excited that the stakes-winning La Wildcat will be bred to him in 2019 in a Housatonic Recommended Mating. La Wildcat is a multiple stakes-winning sprinter by the similarly quick… [Read More]

For a set of owners looking to maximize their chances of having a commercially sale-able foal on a limited budget, we are excited that they have chosen the exciting first-crop stallion Mor Spirit for their young Speightstown mare Innyminniemineymoe, in our latest Housatonic Recommended Mating. An $85,000 yearling-turned $650,000 2-year-old in-training purchase, Mor Spirit broke… [Read More]

Perfect Gleam, a granddaughter of Broodmare of the Year Anne Campbell, will be our sixth Housatonic Recommended Mating for 2019 featuring the outstanding value sire Munnings at Coolmore America. Perfect Gleam’s dam, the Halo daughter Halo’s Gleam, is a half-sister to a pair of Grade 1 winners that both finished 2nd in the G1 Kentucky… [Read More]

First-year Kentucky stallion McCraken was a brilliant racehorse and is the most precocious son of Ghostzapper to come along, which we think makes him an excellent candidate for sire success — he will be the first mate for the two-time winner Another Secret in our latest Housatonic Recommended Mating. McCraken started his unbeaten juvenile campaign… [Read More]

The fifth Housatonic Recommended Mating for 2019 that features our favorite Kentucky value sire Munnings is for the five-time winning Successful Appeal mare Thicket. We have made it quite clear numerous times how highly we think of Munnings as a stallion, and with his stud fee reduced to $20,000 in 2019, he has to be… [Read More]

Having previously been bred to Mr. Prospector-line stallions from the Unbridled, Forty Niner and Smart Strike branches, the stakes-placed Rock Slide mare Lucy Boo will try the Gone West branch of the Mr. P sire-line in 2019 when she visits Munnings in a Housatonic Recommended Mating. Rock Slide is a full-brother to Horse of the… [Read More]

Given that he is probably the most accomplished racehorse to retire to stud in Maryland in some time, we are excited that the six-time winning Flatter mare Not Me But U (whose seventh dam is none other than the foundation broodmare La Troienne) is going to visit Dortmund in 2019 in a Housatonic Recommended Mating…. [Read More]