He was a debut winner at 2, then won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity in just his second start, displaying the precocity and class highly valued in the American marketplace. He went on to win multiple additional graded stakes, including at the Grade 1 level. He retired as a homebred to one of Kentucky’s leading stallion operations as a multimillionaire and having never missed the board.
Yes, this describes Essential Quality, Godolphin’s Eclipse Award champion 2-year-old male of 2020 and 3-year-old male of 2021. But it also describes his stablemate under the Darley Stallions banner, Maxfield. Both stallions will have their first 2-year-olds at the sales and on the racetrack this year – and Maxfield, in particular, has made a big impression in the commercial marketplace to this point.
Maxfield won the Breeders’ Futurity in his second start and added the Grade 1 Clark as a 4-year-old in his career finale. In between, he won four other graded stakes and was on the board in three major Grade 1s as an older horse. He retired to Darley to stand alongside his sire, Street Sense, himself an Eclipse champion juvenile and Kentucky Derby winner. The sireline is on the rise. In 2024, Street Sense’s son McKinzie, who stands at Gainesway, finished a close second on the freshman sire earnings list, with Grade 1 winners Chancer McPatrick and Scottish Lassie in his first crop.
“The sireline is on fire with McKinzie, and this guy looks like the next installment,” Darley sales manager Darren Fox said as the strapping Maxfield walked by him at a stallion show.
Maxfield, whose broodmare sire is Darley classic winner and champion Bernardini, first showed his hand at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale, as he was represented by a $500,000 colt who was the most expensive weanling sold for this first-crop sire class. That colt, a half-brother to champion turf horse Up to the Mark, was pinhooked for $1 million to Coolmore at the Keeneland September yearling sale, where Maxfield also was represented by a $1 million half-sister to Grade 1 winner Randomized, purchased by John Stewart’s Resolute Racing. Led by those two, Maxfield averaged $197,589 from his 84 yearlings sold at public auction last year – more than 4.9 times his advertised stud fee of $40,000 in his first season.
“They’re all such good walkers,” Fox said of Maxfield’s progeny. “Big, pretty horses with a great walk.”
Meanwhile, Essential Quality gives Darley a powerful one-two punch. The dual champion was represented by 68 yearlings averaging $180,591 last year – well more than twice his introductory stud fee of $75,000, the most expensive in his class. He was led by $510,000 and $500,000 yearlings at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale and a trio of $500,000 yearlings at Keeneland September.
Essential Quality won 8 of 10 career starts, following his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile win and championship in 2020 with scores in the Belmont and Travers stakes the following year to earn another title. He was third in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Classic to that year’s Horse of the Year Knicks Go and was promoted to third in that year’s Kentucky Derby on the disqualification of Medina Spirit.
Knicks Go, standing at Taylor Made Farm, also is part of this year’s freshman sire class. He also won the Breeders’ Futurity at 2 before finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. His seven career graded stakes wins included additional Grade 1 triumphs in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Pegasus World Cup, and Whitney.
Charlatan, a Grade 1 winner around both one and two turns, joined Maxfield in siring multiple seven-figure yearlings from his first crop last year, resulting in a high return on investment on his stud fee. He averaged $248,627 for 106 yearlings sold at public auction last year, more than 4.9 times his advertised fee of $50,000.
Charlatan was bred by Stonestreet Farm, which kept a piece of him in a large racing partnership, and he now stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm. The support of both those outfits’ major broodmare bands was evidenced with his well-bred yearlings, who drew high prices last year. Charlatan was led by a $1.5 million half-brother to Grade 1 winner and prominent young sire Complexity at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, sold to Resolute; a $1.4 million colt out of Grade 1 winner Guarana at Keeneland September, sold to Coolmore and Peter Brant; and a $1 million colt out of Grade 1 winner Midnight Lucky at Keeneland September, sold to Pin Oak Stud.
This year’s freshman class includes a winner of the stallion-making Metropolitan Handicap in 2021 victor Silver State, standing at historic Claiborne Farm. Since the turn of the century, the race has continued to live up to its reputation with prominent sires such as Ghostzapper and Quality Road capturing it. The last two leaders on the freshman sire earnings list, Mitole and Vekoma, were both Met Mile winners.
Mitole and Vekoma both stand at Spendthrift Farm, which has launched the stallion careers of three consecutive freshman sire leaders, with Bolt d’Oro preceding those two. Spendthrift has five freshmen to chase the title this year, with Grade 1 winners Basin, Known Agenda, Rock Your World, and Yaupon, and the hard-knocking multiple graded stakes winner By My Standards, from its premier sireline.
Grade 1-winning sprinter Yaupon, by sire of sires Uncle Mo, tipped his hand that he might be an outstanding young sire when he attracted a strong first book of mares, including Eclipse Award champion and prominent broodmare Folklore; Canadian classic winner and champion Holy Helena; and Grade 1 winners Belle Gallantey, Downthedustyroad, and Got Stormy. He averaged $165,349 from his 129 yearlings sold last year, more than 5.5 times his introductory fee of $30,000.