Too Much Bling, a perennial leading sire in Texas, was again the leading stallion with state-sired progeny in 2021. He’ll have more competition moving forward. Texas, which takes the spotlight Sunday with the $1 million Houston Racing Festival, has seen an influx of new stallions in recent years. The state has five newcomers for the 2022 breeding season, including Mr Speaker and Poseidon’s Warrior, both Grade 1 winners who have sired Grade 1 winners. Too Much Bling, a 19-year-old son of Rubiano, stands at Valor Farm in Pilot Point. Led by his statebred multiple stakes-winning daughter Direct Dial, his progeny banked $2,027,435 to keep him atop the list of Texas resident sires with progeny who were conceived in the state. However, the leading state resident regardless of progeny conception area was one of last year’s newcomers, and a new stablemate, Competitive Edge. The Grade 1-winning son of Super Saver moved to Valor Farm from Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky for the 2021 breeding season. His Kentucky-sired runners were led in 2021 by Grade 3 winner and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint runner-up Edgeway, who helped push her sire’s overall bankroll to a state-leading $3,978,764. Meanwhile, Competitive Edge covered 57 mares in his first Texas season, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, making him the busiest stallion in the state. :: For the first time ever, our premium past performances are free! Get free Formulator now! Those mare owners will have a solid number of stallions to choose from in 2022, including the regally bred Mr Speaker, winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Derby and three other stakes. The son of sire of sires Pulpit, from the family of unbeaten champion and blue hen Personal Ensign, began his career at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky and is the sire of seven career stakes winners, led by Grade 1 winner Speech. Last year, the stallion was purchased by Lori and Mark Collinsworth and relocated to their Forks of the Paluxy Farm near Bluff Dale. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to stand a horse of Mr Speaker’s caliber in Texas,” Mark Collinsworth said. “He was a very talented racehorse, and he is off to a great start in his stallion career with a number of stakes horses already to his credit. With the creation of new Texas-sired stakes races this year and the purse increases we have seen recently in Texas, we are thrilled to offer a stallion with his proven credentials to Texas breeders.” Poseidon’s Warrior, by Speightstown, scored his biggest win in Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga in 2012. He began his stud career in Florida and was the state’s leading freshman sire of 2017, then stood in Pennsylvania before moving to Century Acres in Hempstead, Texas, for the upcoming season. Poseidon’s Warrior is best known as the sire of Grade 1 winner and multi-millionaire Firenze Fire, sired during his time in Florida. Firenze Fire won 13 stakes in a five-year career that concluded last fall. Rounding out a trio of Texas transplants is Grade 3 winner Cinco Charlie, who previously stood at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. The Indian Charlie stallion, whose third crop races this year, was purchased by Bob and Tyree Wolesensky’s Leadem Farm of Gainesville. “Texas racing is thriving, and the breeding business is coming back,” said Jay Goodwin, who brokered the deal. “Bob and Tyree approached me about finding a stallion that would fit Texas, and I don’t think we could have found a better one. . . . Cinco Charlie had the speed and precocity that Texas breeders want.” Meanwhile, Valor Farm, which stands the state’s leading stallions, continues to add to its roster with Shoplifted and Gold Double, both new retirees. Multiple Grade 1-placed Shoplifted is by leading sire and emerging sire of sires Into Mischief. The lightly raced Gold Double, by Medaglia d’Oro, is a homebred for Valor Farm owner Douglas Scharbauer and boasts a pedigree with deep ties to the state. His dam is 2014 Texas horse of the year Fiftyshadesofgold, a graded stakes winner by Valor stallion My Golden Song. This is the family of dual classic winner and champion Alysheba, who was campaigned by the Scharbauer family.