SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bucchero stood his first five seasons in Florida before moving to New York beginning with the 2024 breeding season. Thus, his first state-conceived foals will not be yearlings until next year, but there’s a taste of things to come at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale that takes place Sunday and Monday.
Two Bucchero yearlings, out of mares covered in Florida but then shipped to New York to foal, are among the 304 yearlings cataloged for this sale in a marketplace that is feeling bullish. Beginning in 2026, the New York Racing Association will increase purses for maiden New York-bred 2-year-old races on its circuit to be equal to open-company maiden races. Purse parity for other races will follow in the future. The first change will immediately impact foals of 2024, who are yearlings now.
One of Bucchero’s yearlings in this sale is a filly bred by Robert Coltran out of the winning Lemon Drop Kid mare Gypsy Jo. The filly, who is consigned by Denali Stud as agent, is a half-sister to two winners, including Bouwerie Stakes winner Kay Cup.
The other Bucchero yearling is a colt consigned by Taylor Made Sales as agent for Superbad Stables. His dam is the winning Violence mare Beach Girl, who is the dam of two winners, both by Bucchero.
“Both of these, from what we’ve seen, are very nice examples of Buccheros,” said Harlan Malter, managing partner for the stallion. “Gypsy Jo actually has a stakes horse. Both of them look very good, and from what we saw down at OBS, there is a real appetite for New York-breds. So we’re just super excited to be part of the program now.”
Indiana-bred Bucchero raced in nine states and England over five seasons, retiring just shy of millionaire status for Ironhorse Racing. His multiple stakes victories included a pair of graded wins in the Woodford at Keeneland. He made multiple appearances at the Breeders’ Cup and traveled to the Royal Ascot meeting in 2018, finishing a creditable fifth in the Group 1 King’s Stand.
Bucchero retired to Pleasant Acres Stallions in Florida, and from his Florida-sired crops he has 125 winners from 173 career starters through Aug. 5. He has eight stakes winners, led by a pair of graded performers this year.
New Jersey-born millionaire Book’em Danno won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens last year and has continued to show a love for Saratoga, winning the Grade 3 True North and Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt this year. Meanwhile, Queen Maxima is showing the versatility of her sire, which should be a factor in this state as the new Belmont Park will have dirt, turf, and Tapeta racing surfaces. She is the winner of the Grade 3 Monrovia and the Grade 3 Unbridled Sidney sprinting on turf this year.
Bucchero moved to New York to stand at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in 2024. But this year, his owners have hung out their own shingle, establishing Ironhorse Stallions out of Questroyal North in Stillwater, N.Y.
“We owe a lot to the McMahons – they’re obviously a foundation of New York,” Malter said. “They have their own stallions, and I think we kind of went out on our own. They have a great operation – I think we can create one. I’m about 1 percent of the Bucchero thing. He’s 99 percent. I owe everything to him.”
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