in belmont stakes victory, mo donegal leads exacta for classic breeders

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ashview farm, Belmont Stakes, colts neck stables, donegal racing, mo donegal, uncle mo

The results of the 2022 Belmont Stakes produced a double of different kinds for both the sire of the winner Mo Donegal (by Uncle Mo) and for the breeders, the Lyster family’s Ashview Farm and Richard Santulli’s Colts Neck Stables, which bred and sold the winner, as well as the runner-up, Nest (Curlin).

With a winner of the Belmont, champion juvenile Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) has his second classic winner. The bay stallion’s first came from his first crop in 2015 champion juvenile Nyquist, who won the 2016 Kentucky Derby.

One of 25 stakes winners (16 percent of foals) from Uncle Mo’s first crop, Nyquist was unbeaten at two, winning all five of his starts, including victories in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, Frontrunner, and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The next season, the well-conformed bay progressed enough to win his first three starts, including the G1 Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby. Nyquist was third in the Preakness, then fourth in the Haskell and sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby before retiring to stud at Darley‘s Jonabell Farm in Lexington.

Mo Donegal comes from the seventh crop by Uncle Mo, who stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud outside Versailles, Ky., where Uncle Mo has sired 1,054 foals aged three and up. From those, the stallion has 768 starters (63 percent), 521 winners (43 percent), and 77 stakes winners (7.3 percent). Had the percentage of stakes winners for subsequent crops been able to match the extraordinary results of the first, Uncle Mo would have the highest stud fee of any sire in the country, and as it is, he stands for $160,000 live foal on a stand and nurse contract.

The 11th G1 winner for Uncle Mo, Mo Donegal was bred in Kentucky by Ashview and Colts Neck, and they sold the bay to Jerry Crawford, agent for Donegal Racing, for $250,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale.

The Belmont Stakes winner is out of Callingmissbrown, a Pulpit mare that the Lysters acquired privately for their breeding partnership, and she “is a beautiful mare who has a beautiful foal,” said Gray Lyster. The quality and balance of the dam no doubt helped when Ashview brought the Uncle Mo colt to the 2020 Keeneland September yearling sale and sold him for a quarter-million, then brought the mare’s 2021 yearling, a filly by leading sire Into Mischief, to the Keeneland sales last year.

By the hot sire but out of a mare who hadn’t at that time produced a black-type winner, Callingmissbrown’s 2021 September yearling brought $500,000 from Frankie Brothers, agent, and Litt/Solis. To bring twice what Crawford paid for the mare’s Uncle Mo colt a year before, this filly was quite nice.

Clearly, being by Into Mischief put a bull’s eye on the filly among discerning horsemen, she looked the part, and she brought a premium for it. Now named Prank, the Into Mischief filly has had a pair of official breezes at Saratoga.

The family that produced Mo Donegal also accounted for Canadian classic winner Niigon (Unbridled), winner of the 2004 Queen’s Plate. He was out of Savethelastdance (Nureyev), who also produced Sue’s Last Dance (Forty Niner), the third dam of the classic winner and dam of Pozo de Luna (Famous Again), champion juvenile colt in Mexico, and Island Sand (Tabasco Cat). The latter earned $1.1 million with victories such as the G1 Acorn Stakes, as well as a second in the G1 Kentucky Oaks.

Island Sand has produced a pair of stakes-placed winners, including Grade 1-placed Maya Malibu (Malibu Moon), second in the G1 Spinaway, and a daughter of leading sire Pulpit (A.P. Indy), Callingmissbrown, who won two of her four starts and is the dam of Mo Donegal.

The second foal of his dam, Mo Donegal has won four of his seven starts, including the Belmont, Wood Memorial, and Remsen, with a pair of thirds. The colt has been out of the money only in the Kentucky Derby, when fifth after a difficult trip.

Callingmissbrown “is a dark bay mare with no white on her legs but has a small star on her forehead like Mo Donegal,” Lyster said, “and she’s by Pulpit, whom we love as a broodmare sire.” Unfortunately, the mare lost a “beautiful Curlin colt four days after the Wood,” he noted, “but is now pregnant at 20 days gestation to Uncle Mo.”

Could there be “Mo” classic prospects in the future for this partnership?

bonanza weekend for breeding partners ashview farm and colts neck stables

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ashview farm, bryan lyster, colts neck stables, mo donegal, nest, rich santulli

Results from the graded stakes for juveniles at Aqueduct on Saturday, Dec. 4, proved a double success for the breeding partnership of the Lyster family’s Ashview Farm and the Colts Neck Stables of Rich Santulli.

In the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, Mo Donegal, a son of champion juvenile and leading sire Uncle Mo (by Indian Charlie), was the victor by a nose from Zandon (Upstart), and in the G2 Demoiselle, Nest (Curlin) won by a neck from the Firing Line filly Venti Valentine.

Both of the Kentucky-bred juveniles were foaled and raised at Ashview, which markets is yearlings as organically grown athletes. The marketplace gave a warm reception to those farm-fresh yearlings: Mo Donegal sold to Jerry Crawford of Donegal Racing Stables for $250,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale; Nest brought $300,000 at the same sale and races for Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Michael House.

As financially and professionally rewarding as those young horses have proven for the farm, Bryan Lyster said that “having bred these two with Mr. Santulli is one of the best things imaginable. He’s been right by our side from the mid-1980s, and it’s very satisfying that we had a day like that together.

“He’s been a longtime client and my dad’s best friend. In the last seven to eight years, we have bought a number of mares together.”

The partners own 12 to 15 mares, and breeding a pair of graded stakes winners from a small group of mares is an exceptional accomplishment. Then again, the mares who produced these young athletes are rather special too.

Nest is the fifth foal out of her dam, the A.P. Indy stakes winner Marion Ravenwood, and the Demoiselle winner is a full sister to Idol, who won the G1 Santa Anita Handicap earlier this year, as well as a half-sister to Dr Jack, who also earned black type this season.

In the space of nine months, Marion Ravenwood has become the dam of a pair of graded winners, both by the 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year, and a multiple stakes-placed racer by Pioneerof the Nile. The three siblings have made their dam a very valuable producer, and the 4-year-old Idol also played a role in Ashview’s acquisition of Marion Ravenwood.

Bryan Lyster said, “We bought Marion Ravenwood carrying the Pioneerof the Nile, and we were impressed with her Curlin foal, which is now Idol. At the time we planned the mating that produced Nest, we were hoping for a yearling who had the look of Idol.”

The partners bought Marion Ravenwood for $400,000 from My Meadowview Farm LLC. The following spring, the mare produced a colt by Pioneerof the Nile, and Ashview sold the resulting foal for $250,000 as a November weanling. Named Dr Jack, the colt has placed third in the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth and the Bourbon Trail Stakes at Churchill, earning $125,857 from seven races in the last eight months.

Lyster noted that neither Marion Ravenwood nor Callingmissbrown, the dam of Mo Donegal, will have a yearling for next year. That’s rotten luck, but the breeders have been on the receiving end of the good luck, especially this year, and Marion Ravenwood “will be going back to Curlin. We’re hoping to get her in foal early and have been big supporters of Curlin, going back to his first year.”

In fact, Callingmissbrown, the dam of Mo Donegal, is in foal to Curlin for next year, and Lyster said, “Since Mo Donegal is only the mare’s second foal, I’d say the win on Saturday would tilt the scales toward a certain sire” for her mating next year.

A Pulpit mare that the Lysters acquired privately for their breeding partnership, Callingmissbrown “is built like a tank. I wouldn’t call her big in height, 16 hands or so, but she has a tremendous hip.”

Those qualities no doubt helped when Ashview brought the mare’s 2021 yearling, a filly by leading sire Into Mischief, to the Keeneland sales a couple months ago.

By the hot sire but out of a mare who hadn’t produced a black-type winner till last Saturday, Callingmissbrown’s September yearling brought $500,000 from Frankie Brothers, agent, and Litt/Solis. To bring twice what Crawford paid for the mare’s Uncle Mo colt a year before, this filly was quite nice.

Bryan said, “The half to Mo Donegal was so smooth and so athletic in every other way that buyers really wanted her.” Being by Into Mischief put a bull’s eye on the filly among discerning horsemen, and she brought a premium for it.

The good work and careful planning that produced a bonus success for Ashview and Colts Neck on the weekend is set to pay off with long-term dividends over the coming seasons from the siblings to these major winners.