Mitole, Omaha Beach Representing Third-Crop Sires
The natural reaction to any sort of ranking is to look at the top to check out who is leading and look at the bottom to see who might be new.
Take the latest Associated Press Top 25 college football poll as an example. Ohio State is still No. 1. But at the tail end there are two teams that were not ranked a week ago: No. 24 Texas Christian University and No. 25 Brigham Young University.
In horse racing, there isn’t always a lot of movement among the top 25 sires based on progeny earnings, because, unlike college football, these results are not head-to-head. But just like college football, Saturdays are big in horse racing. Weekend success leads to recruitment—top high school players in football and top mares when the horse begins his stud career.
The current standings among North America’s general sires list show a new entry: Mitole .
He breaks through at No. 25, and there are plenty of indicators that say he should be a regular in the rankings in the years to come.
A champion sprinter for trainer Steve Asmussen, Mitole has four grade 1 victories, including the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) in his finale. He finished his racing days with more than $3 million in earnings and no worse than third in any of his 14 starts (10-2-2).
He began his stud career in 2020 at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington, where he still stands. He stood this year for $10,000.
Mitole was the top first-crop sire in 2023 with 34 winners and one graded stakes winner. V V’s Dream was his top earner, banking $433,105 of the $2,578,108 earned by the sire’s offspring. His second crop had Mitole third in the class. That year saw 98 winners, which was best among third-crop sires. His progeny earned $6,681,649 with Halina’s Forte his top earner at $311,350.
This year, Mitole is second among third-crop sires and leads his classmates with 105 winners and four graded stakes winners. His top earner is the leader among all third-crop progeny. That honor belongs to 3-year-old filly Shisospicy , winner of the Music City Stakes (G2T) and the Mamzelle Stakes (G3T). She’s pocketed more than $1.5 million this year.
“Obviously, he had tremendous speed,” said Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey. “I don’t know if we have a horse here that is put together better than Mitole. He’s so well put together from a conformation standpoint. Then, just as a sire, he’s a horse who has shown the ability to get very high-end talent, and he’s a really good, hard-knocking racehorse sire.”
Toffey said that a hurdle Mitole faces is that the sire’s offspring tend to be “smaller to medium-sized horses.” But should his runners continue to perform, Toffey thinks that Mitole will have greater appeal.
Mitole is not alone among third-crop sires in the overall top 25. He is joined by Omaha Beach , who also stands at Spendthrift. Four of the top five third-crop sires call Spendthrift home. Omaha Beach is No. 15 in the overall general sire’s list, as of Sept. 22.
Omaha Beach’s racing career saw him finish with five graded stakes (four grade 1s) and four wins and a second to show for it. The chronology is missing any of the Triple Crown races that he missed as a result of an entrapped epiglottis discovered ahead of the 2019 Kentucky Derby (G1), a race in which he was favored.
Omaha Beach at Spendthrift Farm
Even with those glaring omissions from his résumé, Omaha Beach’s second chapter was highly anticipated. So much so that he might not have ever lived up to the expectations.
He came out of the gate his freshman sire year ranked fourth by progeny earnings but tops with 11 black-type runners. Then he became the leading second-crop sire for 2024 with the most black-type winners, black-type runners, graded stakes winners, grade 1 winners, and more than $8 million in progeny earnings.
“There was such great expectations with him, and even though he didn’t necessarily live up to those in the first year or two, he did enough that the combination of his race record, his conformation, and his pedigree kind of carried him the rest of the way,” said Toffey.
This year has really been a continuation for Omaha Beach. He leads the third-crop sires with more than $9 million in earnings and again has the most black-type winners and most black-type performers year to date.
His leading offspring each campaign have been Hot Beach , Caitlinhergrtness , and multiple grade 1 winner Kopion in years 1-3, respectively.
“He started out solidly, but this year, I think he’s taken it to another level,” Toffey said of Omaha Beach. “And you’re starting to see people like Bob Baffert, people like that, aggressively go after the Omaha Beaches at yearling sales and 2-year-old sales, because he is really getting it done at the highest levels on the track.”
Some of those runners getting it done are Neom Beach , Freedom’s Not Free , EJ Won the Cup, Kehoe Beach , and Beach Gold .
Omaha Beach stood this year for $35,000.
Success on Saturdays has led to more good fortune for these third-crop sires. Whether they end up with the sustained success of the very top sires or something just short, there is plenty of reason for optimism. That optimism extends beyond Mitole and Omaha Beach, but also for other third-crop sires such as Maximus Mischief , Flameaway , and Vino Rosso .
| TOP SIRES BY PROGENY EARNINGS | |
| Sept. 22 ranking | Sept. 8 ranking |
| 1. Into Mischief | 1 (–) |
| 2. Not This Time | 2 (–) |
| 3. Gun Runner | 3 (–) |
| 4. Twirling Candy | 6 (+2) |
| 5. Candy Ride (ARG) | 4 (-1) |
| 6. Constitution | 7 (+1) |
| 7. Curlin | 5 (-2) |
| 8. Practical Joke | 8 (–) |
| 9. Justify | 9 (–) |
| 10. Nyquist | 10 (–) |
| 11. Medaglia d’Oro | 11 (–) |
| 12. Vekoma | 14 (+2) |
| 13. Munning | 12 (-1) |
| 14. Quality Road | 15 (+1) |
| 15. Omaha Beach | 13 (-2) |
| 16. Mendelssohn | 16 (–) |
| 17. American Pharoah | 17 (–) |
| 18. Liam’s Map | 18 (–) |
| 19. Uncle Mo | 19 (–) |
| 20. Ghostzapper | 20 (–) |
| 21. Goldencents | 22 (+1) |
| 22. Bolt d’Oro | 21 (-1) |
| 23. Street Sense | 24 (+1) |
| 24. City of Light | 23 (-1) |
| 25. Mitole | NR |
