IF my maths is correct, between last Friday and Monday in the USA we saw a total of 14 graded or listed races for two-year-olds, and five of these were at the highest level. There were a number of talking points among them, and while ParisLongchamp had the attention of most racing fans and breeding afficionados, there are sure to be many among the US winners who will go on to greater glory and become household names.

Arguably, the weekend belonged to Spendthrift Farm. When the juvenile Brave Deb (Authentic), a homebred, won the Grade 3 Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita on Monday, she was adding to her sire’s great weekend, as on Saturday another daughter, Iron Orchard (Authentic), won the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Aqueduct. However, the Spendthrift colours were also carried to Grade 1 Santa Anita juvenile victories by Tommy Jo (Into Mischief) and Ted Noffey (Into Mischief). The celebrated Into Mischief will stand at Spendthrift again in 2026 at $250,000.

Spendthrift is home to Into Mischief’s son Maximus Mischief, whose fee next year will be $20,000, and on a weekend to remember for the farm he too sired a two-year-old Grade 1 winner, Intrepido becoming his sire’s second top-table winner in the American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita. The farm, managed by Ned Toffey, announced their 2026 fees for 29 stallions, among them Vekoma (Candy Ride). That champion first-crop sire last year has continued to enjoy a stellar season this year, and his rise to prominence included having a Grade 2-winning juvenile last weekend, Bottass. He still awaits his first Grade 1 winner.

Ted Noffey (a play on the name of Spendthrift’s general manager) will be a strong favourite to win a third Grade 1 when he contests the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, as he landed the Hopeful Stakes on his second start. He has been reviewed in this column already, but he has won back most of his yearling purchase price of $650,000, increased his value by many multiples, and probably already has a stallion box mapped out for him in time.

Spinaway winner

Tommy Jo (Into Mischief) is a Spendthrift homebred and she was awarded her second Grade 1 success after Percy’s Bar, first past the post, was demoted following an objection. Tommy Jo previously won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga and remains unbeaten in three starts. She is the second foal and first winner for Mother Mother (Pioneerof The Nile). A stakes winner, Mother Mother was runner-up at two in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes.

It didn’t stop there. Yet another son of Into Mischief who stands at Spendthrift, Authentic had a memorable few days with his juveniles. He will stand in 2026 at $15,000. He sired his first Grade 1 winner when Iron Orchard kept her unbeaten record and landed a second stakes win, this time in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont. Meanwhile, on her second start, Brave Deb (Authentic) won a Grade 3 and took the sires’ tally of stakes winners in his first two crops to seven. He is surely amazing value for breeders.

Iron Orchard was at the sales on four occasions, failing to sell once. A $140,000 foal, she made $78,000 as a yearling, but went to realise a whopping $50,000 in April.

Not This Time keeps them coming

ALREADY sire of nine Grade 1 winners, Not This Time could well have a contender to be number 10 with Repole Stables’ Final Score. This $600,000 Fasig-Tipton yearling is three from four after his second graded stakes win, this time in the Grade 2 Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland.

He gets an automatic Breeders’ Cup berth, and a victory there would be the first at Grade 1 level for any runner in the first four generations of his family. His Grade 3-winning sire Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway) is averaging 10 stakes winners per crop, and has sired two US champions in Epicenter and Up To The Mark.

Another Breeders’ Cup challenger among Not This Time’s juveniles will be the Brendan Walsh-trained filly Imaginationthelady. She is two for two after Keeneland’s Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes, and this win took her earnings to a shade more than her $300,000 sale price at last year’s Keeneland September Sale. Her yearling half-brother by Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song), who himself sired a Grade 1 two-year-old winner at the weekend, was recently sold at Keeneland for $325,000.

Imaginationthelady is a granddaughter of Sightseek (Distant View), winner of 12 of her 20 starts. Half of those dozen victories were in Grade 1 races and she claimed the Beldame Stakes twice. This is a female line full of high-class winners. Two of the 11 victories for Tates Creek (Rahy) were in Grade 1s, from 17 starts, Special Duty (Hennessy) won the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes before landing the English and French 1000 Guineas, while Expert Eye (Acclamation) had his day in the limelight when wining the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Seventh Grade 1 winner for Liam’s Map

LIAM’S Map (Unbridled’s Song) stood at Lane’s End this year for $40,000, and yet he is a sire who consistently gets winners at the highest level.

He is having a very good year, thanks to Burnham Square winning the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes, Deterministic doubling up at Grade 1 level in the Manhattan Stakes and Fourstardave Stakes, and now his juvenile son Napoleon Solo has added the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont to a debut victory at Saratoga.

Perhaps with a long career in mind, connections of Napoleon Solo, who won his Grade 1 by more than six lengths, have decided to swerve the Breeders’ Cup this year. The colt earns his place as bargain of the week having cost just $40,000 as a yearling when sold to Chad Summers, his sire’s present fee.

It is noteworthy that Burham Square and Napoleon Solo are both out of mares by Scat Daddy (Johannesburg). This year’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity winner Brant, a $3 million breezer and a very exciting prospect, is also the first foal out of Tynan (Liam’s Map), and she is out of a Scat Daddy mare too. This is a cross that works really well. Those seven Grade 1 winners by Liam’s Map are among 30 stakes winners he has sired.

Napoleon Solo traces back to Navratilovna (Nureyev), a Group 3-winning half-sister to the Group 1 Prix de la Salamandre winner Maximova who went on to produce a pair of Group 1 winners. Navratilovna had to settle for a single stakes winner, Leo Girl (Seattle Slew), while another of her successful progeny was the French winner Chanteleau (A.P. Indy).

Gallic Chieftain

Chanteleau is the grandam of a couple of group winners, the best being Gallic Chieftain (Tamayuz) who won a Group 2 in Australia and was second in the Group 1 Metropolitan. She is third dam of the Group 1-placed French two-year-old Anodor (Anodin). Chanteleau’s three-time winning daughter Volver (Danehill Dancer) foaled seven winners, the Gulfstream Park stakes winner Atomic Blonde (Scat Daddy) among them. She is the dam of Napoleon Solo, her second produce.