A new full-service farm opening its gates northeast of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., will launch a new stallion venture with top 10 freshman sire Leinster and grade 1 winner Fire At Will on its roster so far for the 2026 breeding season.
Mountain View Farm, on 300 acres near Gansevoort, N.Y., will be an expansion of the Willow Brook Stables operation owned by owner/trainer David and Carolyn Cannizzo. Mountain View is the former site of Jeffrey Tucker's breeding business called Stone Bridge Farm and is now owned by a partnership, which closed on the property this week.
"We were full service at our other farm but we ran out of room and this farm had a stallion barn with it, so we could add the only thing we didn't have," David Cannizzo said. "We wanted to add stallions because the farm allowed for it and our main clients that take up 90% of our business have talked about purchasing a few stallions. It just all came together."
Mountain View currently has a six-stall stallion barn and a 40-stall broodmare barn. Cannizzo said the plan is to add several broodmare barns, a training barn, and a training track.
"We want to have everything in one location," he said.
Cannizzo said bringing Leinster to New York is part of Mountain View's bigger goal of upgrading the Empire State's stallions. Leinster will stand for $7,500.
The multiple graded-stakes winning son of Majestic Warrior ranks eighth on the North American leading freshman sires list, as of Nov. 20, and despite being represented by the fewest number of foals among the top 20 first-crop sires was the only member of his sire class to be represented during the Breeders' Cup World Championships. Leinster's group-placed, stakes-winning daughter Lennilu was unplaced in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T).
"We have seen the success he has had his first year with winners on dirt, turf, and poly, and getting stakes performers already," Cannizzo said. "Plus he has that early zip, getting fast 2-year-olds. Those early runners really get a stallion going early on, and he did it with a small first crop. He has his foot on the pedal and with a couple of pushes he could easily go to the next level."
Cannizzo said the versatility Leinster's progeny have shown fits well with New York's racing program going forward, particularly with the renovation of Belmont Park adding an all-weather Tapeta track.
"He is an interesting horse for New York with the poly coming in and in a state that runs 40% turf all summer. He should really fit the New York criteria," he said. "You see a horse like Bucchero come to New York and breed 192 mares this year. They are the same type of horse. It was a no-brainer to catch a horse like (Leinster) on the rise. If he had a few more winners, he might have ended up in Kentucky."
Leinster entered stud at Pleasant Acres Stallions near Ocala, Fla. Cannizzo said his partners bought a majority interest in the stallion and allowed existing partners to stay involved.
"With the New York breeder and stallion awards, it is a no-brainer to bring a good horse to New York. There are not many states that generate the kind of awards for stallion owners that New York does," he said.
Fire At Will, who will be represented by his first runners next year, was raced by the Wycoff family's Three Diamonds Farm. The 7-year-old son of Declaration of War won the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), Pilgrim Stakes (G2T), and With Anticipation Stakes and after being retired entered stud at Sequel Stallions New York.
Cannizzo said the Wycoffs have been longtime clients who are already boarding most of their mares with him, so he said it made sense to add Fire At Will to the roster. Fire At Will will stand next year for $2,500.
Cannizzo said ideally he would like Mountain View to stand four or five stallions.
"We want to find some flashy, high-market stallions that can take New York to the next level," he said. "Everything else is in place that we need to grow the industry here as a whole."
