Publications Name Mindframe Top Midlantic-Bred of 2025

Dual Grade 1-winning Maryland-bred Mindframe has been named the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz Top Midlantic-bred in a year that saw four Midlantic-breds win Grade 1 races. After a year that saw him win two consecutive Grade 1 contests and three graded stakes overall while earning $1,407,220, Mindframe has been named the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz Top Midlantic-bred of 2025. Mindframe, a 4-year-old in 2025, was the only older horse based in the U. S. to win two Grade 1 races on dirt. He took the seven-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes in a four-horse photo in May and the mile and an eighth Stephen Foster eight weeks later, the latter by a length over Sierra Leone. After losing rider Irad Ortiz Jr. at the start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup-G1 at Saratoga in August, Mindframe would finish fifth in his final start, the Breeders' Cup Classic-G1. Runner-up for Top Midlantic-bred honors was Book'em Danno. The New Jersey-bred gelding won three graded stakes in 2025 and earned the Eclipse Award as champion sprinter. The son of Bucchero is trained by Derek Ryan for Atlantic Six Racing and became the first horse to finish second in the voting in consecutive years. Maryland-bred Splendora, an Eclipse Award finalist in two categories, was third in the voting after winning the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, while another Maryland-bred Grade 1 winner, Seismic Beauty, was fourth. In all, six of the top 10 won at least one graded stake. "It was a remarkable season for horses bred in the Mid-Atlantic," said Frank Vespe, owner and publisher of The Racing Biz. "With four Grade 1 winners and an Eclipse Award champion to choose from, our voters had a tough task, but Mindframe proved himself a deserving winner after another stellar campaign." "With seven of the top 10 Midlantic-breds, it was a banner year for Maryland-breds," added Cricket Goodall, executive director of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, which publishes Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. "It's exciting for all of us in this industry to see such great horses from our region go out and compete at the highest levels. Maryland-bred Mindframe will stand at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, the farm announced in the summer, taking over the farm's coveted first stall, past home to Bold Ruler, Secretariat, Easy Goer, and Unbridled. "It's the pinnacle of my dad's breeding success, and to see it happen, to see him reach what he reached, it's mind-boggling. That's what my dad always dreamed of. It's pretty surreal," said Tracy Mulroy, daughter of the late R. Larry Johnson, Mindframe's breeder. "It's a dream, it's just an absolute dream." Larry Johnson passed away early in 2025. He also bred Future Is Now, who won two graded stakes in 2025 and finished sixth in the final voting. Both stem from the same family dating back 40 years to Johnson's initial forays into breeding with a mare named Ran's Chick. Mindframe, a son of Constitution out of the stakes-winning Street Sense mare Walk of Stars, was sold by his breeder at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, through the Betz Thoroughbreds consignment, for $600,000 to Mike Repole's Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stables. He was conditioned by Todd Pletcher. "Mindframe has an undeniable presence about him. He is strong, powerful, athletic, and intelligent and most of all, he truly loved his job," said Danielle Bricker, Assistant Racing Manager of Repole Stable. "He trained like a monster, his strength was impossible to ignore. He was one of those horses people would simply stop and stare at as he went past." Mulroy hinted that Legacy Farm will continue to support Mindframe's own legacy in the Mid-Atlantic in his next career, sending mares to breed to him for this year. "We are breeding two horses to him this year, which is just a complete full-circle moment that my dad bred this horse," said Mulroy. "Now we're bringing two mares to him, and we are gonna have two baby Mindframes. It's really cool." Bricker also confirmed that Repole Stable is incredibly excited for Mindframe's next chapter at stud in Kentucky, sending mares to him this year as well. "He is everything you want in a racehorse, great size, an excellent physicality, and proven versatility across distances. All of these qualities make him extremely appealing to breeders," Bricker said. "Repole will be supporting Mindframe with some of his own mares, and we are all eager to see his first foals. We're truly looking forward to a bright future for Mindframe. Mindframe retires from the racetrack with five wins from nine starts, finishing second twice. In 2024, he finished second in the Grade I Belmont and Haskell Stakes. He ends his racing career with a total bankroll of $2,054,580. The February issue of Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred will have profiles of what comes next for several Top Midlantic-bred horses. Seven of the top 10 were bred in Maryland, while two were bred in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey. Five were males and five were females. For more, please click here.