Looking ahead to 2026: exciting first-year bulls

As Thoroughbred racing enters a new year, it faces the inevitable challenge of learning from the past twelve months and applying those lessons to a new year.

With 2026 just around the corner, BloodHorse has repeated its year-end online survey to ask some of the sport’s leading figures for their views on relevant issues facing the sport.

Through January 2, a select group of panelists will discuss issues such as field size, what competitors tell newcomers they like most about the sport, fixed-odds betting, colt size, the Breeders’ Cup and the Triple Crown in the BloodHorse Daily and at www.bloodhorse.com. We continue the series today with a question about 2026 first-year bulls.

While we realize there are countless other voices, we hope these answers will spark meaningful discussion within the industry.

Anyone wishing to share their views is encouraged to submit them in writing to Editorial@bloodhorse.com for inclusion in our letters to the editor. Longer pieces may be considered for an Industry Voices column.

To access our 2023 year-end survey, click the following link for a pdf version.

Responses have been edited for style and clarity.

Ask: Which freshman dad are you most looking forward to seeing his two-year-olds race in 2026 and why?

Liz Crow, ELiTE Sales: I’m looking forward to it the most Jack Christopher The two-year-olds are running for obvious personal reasons (she was the purchasing agent for the stallion as a yearling), but we have also purchased a few that look very nice in Florida. He was a precocious 2 year old himself and I’m excited to see his babies running. The other freshman dad I really liked is Life is good . We have a few and have been very happy with them from the start. They seem to enjoy their work on the job and are nice movers. This is a loaded class of first year bulls on paper and it will be a fun group to watch play.

Bill Oppenheim, blood analyst and journalist: I have to rephrase the question and add, “Besides Flight line ?” because how can you not be excited to be the first 2 year olds of “America’s Frankel ,” 6-for-6 longevity with Beyer velocity figures of 126 and 121?

But I’m also excited to see the first runners passing by Golden Friend described by Wesley Ward as “the fastest horse I ever trained” and by rocket grass sprinter Uncle Mo Lady Shipman, by Midshipman . Uncle Mo was a large but beautifully balanced horse who was a record-breaking first-year sire in 2015 and may have written a new branch of the Nasrullah line with Nyquist Laoban, Mo city And Jaap – and also looks very good as a broodmare sire.

But Golden Pal inherited his tremendous speed from Lady Shipman, who won 10 stakes on the lawn. Golden Pal won four Grade 2s at 5 1/2 furlongs at Keenelandincluding the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (now a Grade 1), and also won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at 5 furlongs at Sea in 2021. He went 0-for-3 during his trips to England, so okay, he didn’t travel.

As a racehorse, Golden Pal showed the size and class of Uncle Mo and the rocket speed of Lady Shipman; if he can reproduce himself to stud, “Katie closes the door.”

By the way, I think this is the strongest group of rising first-year bulls in recent history, so I’m looking forward to the entire group, which also includes Life Is Good. Not this time ‘S Epicenter , Corniche , Jackie’s warrior Jack Christopher, Rifle runner sons Early voting And Cyber ​​knife , Olympiad And Mandaloun all of which went to stud in 2023 for $25,000 plus stud fees.

Ramiro Restrepo, bloodstock agent and owner: I got Life Is Good for myself. He’s just an Adonis of a physical specimen. I even went back to see it during the November sale. He’s just an athletic bodybuilder. I mean, he reminds me of (former NFL wide receivers) David Boston, Terrell Owens. Just ripped, muscular and athletic. What a unit of an animal. His forearms and shanks just got jacked. What a monster of an animal.

My sleeper choice is Early Voting. Selfishly, I underbid it at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, when as a bloodstock agent I was really wet behind the ears and procrastinating on a number that if it had happened today… Because back then you couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

Mike Ryan and Klaravich Stables are very strong and super intelligent buyers. It personally gave me a lot of confidence after, when he became a classic winner, I saw something in horses that were going to do something.

Early Voting is a son of Gun Runner, great family and a really strong and tough horse. His babies were something of a sleeper and were quite well received. I think he surprised a lot of people in the sales ring this year. The babies look a lot like him. I just think when you put all those pieces together, there should be a lot of excitement for Early Voting.

Tom Ryan, managing partner, SF Bloodstock and racing manager, SF Racing: Corniche is the first-year sire whose first crop of 2-year-olds in 2026 excites me the most.

Corniche meets all the criteria to be a stylish, ready-made freshman sire: a champion 2-year-old, undefeated at 2 years old, with brilliant speed that lasted through two rounds, culminating in his 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) win. Horses only need to show brilliance once to know it’s in their blood; he reproduced it several times on 2.

Watching him train in California, he did things that only truly elite youngsters can do, and his stock has backed that up in the sales ring, where his first yearlings have repeatedly exceeded his fee.

As for Flightline and Life Is Good, they have every chance of becoming globally important sires, and their first crop yearlings have already dominated the top of the market, reflecting extraordinary expectations.

Their brilliance and the depth of the mares they have covered could be very much on display in 2026. Still, their profiles and the type of mares they’ve attracted suggest many of their best runners could be even better at age 3, while Corniche feels a tad more immediate in terms of widespread youth impact.

Steve Young, bloodstock agent: This is probably one of the deeper crops of first year bulls entering their 2 year old year that I can remember. There are literally more than 10 horses that are first-year sires and have the kind of credentials you like to see.

There are too many to name, but I think Flightline is a generational talent. I loved him as a yearling at Saratoga and I think he is as talented a horse as he has been in the past decade. John Sadler trained him very well.

That said, he’s a virgin again, like all freshman bulls.

I thought his babies at the auction looked as good as could be expected and then some. They had tremendous power. They had poise and they had great athleticism. I think his babies will run before he does and I could tell from the looks of his horses that he is capable of throwing summer 2 year olds and just about anything else.

Nashville also.