Page 50 - Speedhorse December 2019

We need to make more of an effort to reintroduce Thoroughbred bloodlines back into our breed to increase endurance, longevity and a badly needed out-cross for our Quarter Horse mares. Into Mischief and Mitole are two once in-a-lifetime opportunities to do that.”
Mitole TB will stand to Quarter Horse mares for $4,000, frozen semen only, while the fee for Thoroughbreds is $25,000.
Into Mischief TB will be offered to Quarter Horse mares for $10,000, frozen semen only, and will stand for Thoroughbreds for $175,000.
“It’s going to be fun,” he says. “This is a new venture for us, not anything we’ve ever done before. We’re learning as we go, too. We reached out to one of the most successful Quarter Horse operations, and we’re relying on Ryan to lead us through the process.”
Ryan Robicheaux, for his part, is all in.
“It’s been very welcoming,” he says. “This all started at a supper that I was invited to by my friend Jake Delhome,
the NFL quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. Jake was born and raised in Breaux Bridge and kind of grew up
with Quarter Horses, but moved to the Thoroughbred industry. Jake asked me to have supper with 10 or 12 Thoroughbred people, and mentioned that Spendthrift was thinking about offering Mitole to Quarter Horse mares. And I have to thank Danny and Eddie Guidry, who are friends of mine in the Thoroughbred business. For the past three or four years, they’ve taken me to Thoroughbred farms and the
Keeneland sale and introduced me to quite a few influential Thoroughbred people.”
Wait a minute....
“But then I started wondering if it could be a joke,” Robicheaux says. “There used to be a show on MTV called ‘You Just Got Punked.’ I’ve been waiting for them
to jump out and say, ‘Hey, Ryan, you just got punked!’ It’s kind of hard to believe that Spendthrift Farm, with all those high- powered Thoroughbred stallions, are going to offer those two to the Quarter Horses
at a discounted rate – and they chose me to do it. It’s still hard to believe, but we’re going with it.”
Folks on the other side of the fence found it a little hard to believe, too, notes Toothaker.
“We’ve had some people scratch their head and say, ‘Why in the world are y’all do- ing this?’” he says. “Thoroughbred breeders tell us, ‘Well, you’re getting so much money from Into Mischief, why would you mess with this?’ But Mr. Wayne Hughes, who
owns Spendthrift, loves doing things out of the box. He shook up the Thoroughbred breeding business in Kentucky by doing things different from the way they’d always been done, and when Mr. Heiligbrodt brought this to him – ‘Would y’all consider the opportunity?’ – he loved it. Mr. Hughes said, ‘This is something we need to be do- ing more of.’ We don’t know what Mitole’s going to throw, whether he’s going to be a success or not, but considering how fast he was, he’s sure worth taking a shot. And Into Mischief is a generational stallion. It’s unbe- lievable what he’s done in the Thoroughbred world, and there’s no reason in the world that he can’t throw the absolute elite of Quarter Horses. Who knows what the suc- cess could be, but if we don’t try it, we are never going to know. These are two tremen- dous prospects to start out and try with.”
For the record, Mark Toothaker comes from a background that allows him to speak from experience.
46 SPEEDHORSE, December 2019