McKinzie came to Saratoga in 2019 to win the Grade 1 Whitney and left with his career-high Beyer Speed Figure, one of seven official graded stakes triumphs in a career in which he demonstrated both precocity and durability, speed and stamina. Four years later, a sizeable group from his first crop of yearlings will come to Saratoga for the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, which provides the opportunity for a star-making turn commercially for popular young sires. The sale is set for the Monday and Tuesday following this year’s renewal of the Whitney. McKinzie, who stands at Gainesway, put together a race record of 18-8-6-0 over four seasons of racing, earning more than $3.4 million. After winning his debut, he was promoted to victory in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity on the disqualification of Solomini after crossing the line less than a length behind. Early the following year, McKinzie won the Grade 3 Sham, then was involved in another controversial race. He bested Bolt d’Oro by a head in the Grade 2 San Felipe but was disqualified to second. McKinzie put all controversy aside with a pair of Grade 1 wins later in the year, taking the Pennsylvania Derby around two turns and the Malibu around one. His solid 4-year-old campaign was highlighted by his win in the Grade 1 Whitney, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 111. He also captured that year’s Grade 2 Alysheba and was second in his five other starts, all graded stakes. The seconds included a nose loss to Gift Box in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, a runner-up effort by less than a length to champion Mitole in the stallion-making Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, and a second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The following year, McKinzie added one more win around one turn, taking the Grade 2 Triple Bend. “McKinzie is a big, 16.3-hand horse that showed he had speed while winning at seven furlongs, but also could carry that speed winning at distances all the way to 1 1/8 miles,” Gainesway stallion director Ryan Norton said. “McKinzie had 11 triple-digit Beyers and had the lowest Ragozin figures of any stallion that retired in his crop. You generally do not see a stallion of his size with that much speed be as sound as he was. You can be big, fast, sound, but generally speaking, most racehorses will only be two of those, but McKinzie is that rare stallion that encompasses all three traits.” McKinzie, by Street Sense, had a relatively large group of 12 yearlings selected for the boutique Fasig-Tipton Saratoga catalog, trailing only Horse of the Year Authentic by number chosen for first-crop stallions. McKinzie’s group of yearlings includes a filly out of stakes winner Renda, the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Rock Fall; a half-brother to stakes winner Koala Princess; a half-sister to stakes winner Sky’s Not Falling and two other stakes horses; and a colt out of stakes winner Violent Times. “McKinzie is consistently producing foals with long legs and a big body,” Norton said. “If breeders have a mare that they are looking to add size and substance to, McKinzie would definitely be a stallion to consider for her. He’s also stamping his foals with very pretty heads and a large shoulder. “He has 12 yearlings entered in the upcoming Saratoga sale, which speaks volumes to the quality of foal that he has produced,” Norton continued. “I think the highest praise for how his foals have looked are the number of mares he has bred. Something that is very uncommon is that in his third year, he bred 168 mares, which was equal to the amount he bred in year two, and that is a direct correlation to how good-looking his first foals were in November.” McKinzie averaged $135,118 from those 26 weanlings sold last year. He averaged $106,667 from six yearlings sold at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale, with that group led by a $260,000 colt. Authentic, by leading sire and emerging sire of sires Into Mischief, won four Grade 1 races, highlighted by the 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic, and was never worse than second. He has been the commercial leader of this class thus far, starting when he averaged $242,692 from 13 weanlings sold last fall. Authentic, who stands alongside his father at Spendthrift Farm, proceeded to sire the sale topper at Fasig-Tipton July, as his only yearling in the catalog sold for $475,000. Big things are expected from Authentic at Saratoga, where he has a number of yearlings with strong pedigrees among his 16 cataloged. His offerings are highlighted by a half-brother to Eclipse Award champion Shamrock Rose, and half-siblings to Grade 1 winners Casa Creed and Silver State. He also has half-siblings to graded stakes winner Flat Out Speed and stakes winner Miss Mischief; a colt out of multiple graded stakes winner Wine Princess (daughter of Horse of the Year Ghostzapper and Horse of the Year Azeri); and a colt out of multiple graded stakes winner Southern Ring. Joining Authentic as classic-winning first-crop sires with multiple offerings at Saratoga are 2019 Preakness Stakes winner War of Will (Claiborne Farm) and 2020 Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law (Coolmore’s Ashford Stud). This is a home game of sorts for four-time Grade 1 winner Tiz the Law, a New York-bred. War of Will demonstrated the versatility of his sire, international success War Front, by also taking the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on turf among his four graded wins. “War of Will is about as good-looking a horse as you’ll find,” Housatonic Bloodstock principal George Adams said. “Turf and dirt, and Claiborne obviously knows what they’re doing there.” Other first-crop yearling sires with progeny cataloged in the Saratoga selected sale are Eclipse Award champion Improbable (WinStar Farm); Grade 1 winners Complexity (Airdrie Stud), Global Campaign (WinStar), Honor A. P. (Lane’s End Farm), Tom’s d’Etat (WinStar), Vekoma (Spendthrift), and Volatile (Three Chimneys Farm); and graded stakes winners Gunnevera (Pleasant Acres Stallions) and Instagrand (Taylor Made Farm). Sarah Sutherland of consignor Indian Creek put praise on a number of these first-crop sires, including champion Improbable. “For a son of City Zip, they seem to have a lot of stretch, and they’re very nice movers,” she said. “Vekoma, as well. I think that kind of freaky athleticism, people respond so there’s no surprise there [in his commercial popularity]. “We have several Authentics on the farm we like a lot. They’re going to September or they’re being kept to race by the owners, because they’re so nice.”