Darby Dan Farm announces 2023 stallion roster and fees

Darby Dan Farm has set 2023 stud fees for its roster of 14 stallions that will stand the upcoming breeding season, led by Dialed In who will stand for $15,000 S&N, the same fee as a year ago. The roster also features Higher Power and Modernist, who will each stand for $10,000 S&N, as well as Mutasaabeq, who is new for 2023 and will stand his initial season at stud for $7,500 S&N. Tapiture will also stand for $7,500 S&N.

“We are excited to announce the Darby Dan stud fees for the upcoming breeding season,” said Stuart Fitzgibbon, Stallion Director at Darby Dan. “Our goal is to provide breeders with a good value roster of stallions representing commercial and successful sire lines. We are delighted with the initial response to Mutasaabeq new for 2023. By Into Mischief out of a Scat Daddy mare, he has all the commercial attributes for the market. Grade 1-producing sire Dialed In continues to fly the flag for Darby Dan, and our younger stallions like Flameaway, Modernist, and Higher Power have been exceptionally well-received and should ensure memorable moments for the farm going forward.”

Dialed In, Champion Freshman Sire of 2016 and a perennial leading sire of his crop ever since, is the sire of six stakes winners and 14 black-type horses in 2023, topped by Defunded, winner of the $300,000 Awesome Again S. (G1) and runner-up in the $400,000 Hollywood Gold Cup (G1). He is also represented this year by stakes winners Mr. Wireless, Erase, and Gambling Girl, as well as Grade 1-placed Get Her Number. Dialed In is the sire of a new Grade 1 winner each of the last three years: Get Her Number won the 2020 American Pharoah S. (G1), Super Stock captured the Arkansas Derby (G1) in 2021, and Defunded this year.

Tapiture continues to rank among the leading sires once again this season. He is the No. 3-ranked sire by winners in 2022 with 136; only Into Mischief and Munnings have more. Numbered among his five stakes winners and 16 stakes horses this season are stakes winners Li’l Tootsie, Grand David, and Remain Anonymous, and graded stakes-placed Repo Rocks, Valiancer, and Life Is Great.

Higher Power, a Grade 1-winning millionaire by Medaglia d’Oro from a deep Pin Oak family, welcomed first foals this season. He was a dominant winner of the 2019 Pacific Classic (G1) at Del Mar and posted three triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in an outstanding career, including a 107 in the Pacific Classic. Stakes-placed on dirt and turf, Higher Power also placed in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), Hollywood Gold Cup (G1), and the Awesome Again S. (G1) en route to banking more than $1.5 million.

Modernist will stand his second season in 2023. He is a multiple graded stakes winner by Uncle Mo out of the Bernardini mare Symbolic Gesture, a half-sister to both Sweet Catomine, Champion 2-Year-Old Filly and winner of the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and Life Is Sweet, winner of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic (G1). Victorious in the 2020 Risen Star S. (G2) at Fair Grounds and the Excelsior S. (G3) at Aqueduct the following year, Modernist banked $576,300 in his racing career.

Mutasaabeq, a versatile Grade 2-winning juvenile by perennial leading sire Into Mischief, will stand his first season at stud in 2023. A $425,000 weanling purchase by Shadwell Stable at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale, Mutasaabeq broke his maiden in scintillating fashion in his career debut, taking a Saratoga maiden special weight by a dominating 4 ½ lengths and earning a TDN Rising Star designation.

He finished third to future champion Jackie’s Warrior in the Hopeful S. (G1) and won the $200,000 Bourbon S. (G2) on the turf at Keeneland in his first route try. He added the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man S. at one mile on the main track the following year and retired having hit the board in four of six lifetime starts. He hails from the family of this year’s Florida Derby (G1) winner White Abarrio, and graded stakes winners Sam Who and Cool Cowboy.

Darby Dan will once again be offering various incentive programs in 2023 to provide value to breeders, including Profit Protection, Share the Upside, Black-Type Bonanza, and Goldmine 20/20 Match Program. The 2023 Darby Dan roster is as follows: