Godolphin land third consecutive title as leading North American breeder

Sheikh Mohammed's international breeding and racing operation Godolphin easily captured its third consecutive title as leading individual North American breeder with more than $20.9 million in earnings. 

In addition to being the fourth breeder since 1998 to achieve at least three consecutive leading breeder titles, Godolphin reached a milestone by becoming the first breeder in that time period to earn more than $20m in prize money in the United States and Canada.

Godolphin were represented by 18 black-type winners in 2023, of which 16 were raced as homebreds. The stable's most successful runners included millionaires Proxy ($1,793,750), Cody's Wish ($1,773,900), Pretty Mischievous ($1,703,250), Master Of The Seas ($1,673,558), and Wet Paint ($1,160,775).

Master Of The Seas: Breeders' Cup Mile winner was another big contributor Credit: Edward Whitaker

Cody's Wish and Master Of The Seas helped the stable achieve another significant milestone by delivering two Breeders' Cup victories. Godolphin are now the leading owner by number of Breeders' Cup wins with ten. Cody's Wish contributed with a second consecutive win in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, while Master Of The Seas won his second Grade 1 for the year in the Breeders' Cup Mile. Second in the Mile was Godolphin homebred Mawj.

The quality of the Godolphin-bred stakes winners was extraordinarily deep, with 16 Graded stakes winners among the 18 total stakes winners for 2023. Eight of the Graded stakes winners were Grade 1 winners that, besides Cody's Wish and Master Of The Seas, included Atone, Matareya, Mawj, Pretty Mischievous, Nations Pride and Wet Paint.

Pretty Mischievous crossed an item off the Godolphin goal sheet by becoming the stable's first Kentucky Oaks winner. The daughter of five-time leading sire Into Mischief won four of her six starts in 2023 and was second in her other two outings. In addition to the Kentucky Oaks, she won the Acorn Stakes, Test Stakes and Rachel Alexandra Stakes. 

For the year, Godolphin had 175 wins in North America from 201 starters they bred in their name alone, according to statistics compiled by The Jockey Club Information Systems. TJCIS also maintains a list of leading breeders as individuals with partnerships and Godolphin leads that list as well with 260 wins from 315 starters and $24,338,099 in earnings. With partners, Godolphin were represented by 21 black-type winners.

Pretty Mischievous won the Kentucky Oaks for the boys in blueCredit: Matt Wooley

Brad Kelley's Calumet Farm continued to be runner-up to the Godolphin juggernaut among the leading individual breeders of 2023, just as it was in 2021 and 2022. For last year, Calumet was represented by 510 wins from 534 runners and earnings of $16,660,472. Calumet was represented by eight black-type winners.

The late Brereton C. Jones ranked as the third-leading individual breeder with $12,372,560 and was the second-leading breeder by number of black-type winners with 16. Horses bred by the founder of Airdrie Stud won 228 races.

Rounding out the top five individual breeders for last year were fourth-ranked Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings with $11,770,430 in purses from 163 starters who won 148 races and included 13 black-type winners; and, WinStar Farm finished in fifth place with $9,449,289 in purses from 209 starters who won 202 races and included 11 black-type winners.

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“That is one of the most noteworthy factors in Mehmas's early success as a stallion – three of his four top-level winners have achieved their best victories at three and older, even though Mehmas himself was retired to stud at the end of his juvenile career.”