BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Leinster, who stands in Florida at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, has already proven fashionable among first crop sires at yearling sales this year and is well represented again in the Ocala Breeders’ Sales October Yearling Sale to be conducted Tuesday and Wednesday.
The son of Majestic Warrior out of Vassar, by Royal Academy stood the 2024 season for $5,000 and had a healthy book of 101 mares in 2022 according to statistics published in The Jockey Club’s Mares Bred Report.
A dozen yearlings by Leinster, all registered Florida-breds, have been cataloged in the OBS Yearling Sale.
Six fillies by Leinster have averaged $54,667 at yearling auctions this year, topped by a $150,000 seller at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearling Sale conducted in August in Saratoga.
Cataloged as Hip 450 from the Vinery Sales as agent consignment, the filly is out of the stakes-placed Florida-bred mare Day by Day, by Awesome of Course and is from the family of multiple Grade 1-winner Shackleford.
His seven yearling colts have averaged $23,714, led by a colt that went to Machmer Hall for $43,000 at the OBS Winter Mixed Sale in January. Consigned by Beth Bayer as agent, he is out of the winning Grand Reward mare Greatest Reward, a half-sister to stakes-placed Fine Impression.
Leinster was a four-time graded stakes winner on the track, including a victory in the 2019 Troy (G3) in which he set a turf course record of 1:00.23 for five-and-a-half furlongs. The next year, he set another turf course record while winning the five-and-a-half-furlong Shakertown (G2) at Keeneland in 1:00.86.
Leinster is another who exemplifies Florida’s stronghold as a stallion launchpad, a concept explored in the September 2024 issue of The Florida Horse magazine.
The stallion launchpad concept is attracting more breeders to Florida-based stallions, recognizing the state’s ability to launch successful sire careers. This trend confirms Florida as a formidable alternative to Kentucky in the Thoroughbred breeding landscape, offering a combination of quality, value and proven success.
