Maysam Highlights Strong Hill 'n' Dale Offering

Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa strides into the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale with a large draft, featuring quality from top to bottom. Among those entries is 2025 Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) winner Maysam. The 4-year-old daughter of Game Winner is set to be offered as Hip 294 is a broodmare prospect. "She's one we're very excited about," said Hill 'n' Dale director of bloodstock Jes Sikura. "She was a graded stakes winner, comes from the Candy Ride line, and she really embodies the physical traits of a nice mare. I was really impressed when I saw her at the farm, and then here at the sale." Maysam was campaigned by Michael Lund Petersen, who purchased the filly for $500,000 in 2024 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. She broke her maiden on debut for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita Park by 6 lengths, and followed that effort with a victory in the 2025 Santa Ysabel six weeks later. "She's good-looking, fast, and comes from a good broodmare sire line," Sikura said. "She's a big, pretty, strong filly. In addition to being a runner, she's very good-looking." Quality broodmare prospects have been in high demand throughout the breeding stock sale season, and Sikura predicts this sale will be no different. "I expect that trend to continue for a long time," he said. "Everyone wants a graded stakes winner, everyone wants a high-end filly. There will always be demand for that. I think the market will be strong, especially for a quality prospect like (Maysam)." Another offering Sikura is excited about is grade 1-placed winner Ava's Grace (Hip 126), and her yearling filly (Hip 127) by Into Mischief. The 8-year-old daughter of Laoban is offered in foal to two-time Horse of the Year and leading sire Curlin. "Ava's Grace is exciting," Sikura said. "She has a nice Into Mischief filly at the sale. To buy her, you're getting the product in which you could sell and do well with, which is a well-bred Curlin foal, bred on that great Curlin/Uncle Mo cross. Anytime you've got a mare in foal to Curlin, they're going to be popular." The multiple graded stakes-placed daughter of Laoban earned more than $350,000 on the track and is a half sibling to stakes winner Ichiban, by Street Sense. Another mare offered in foal to Curlin and bred by the same entity, Southern Equine Stables, is Elle Sueno (Hip 193). The 14-year-old daughter of Street Cry is out of the grade 1-winning Pulpit mare Mi Sueno. Elle Sueno is a half sister to three graded stakes winners and is a graded stakes producer herself, being the dam of 2021 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) winner Dream Lith. "Two mares in foal to a high-end sire, a lot of people have been by to see them, and they will get a lot of attention when they go through the ring," he said. Moonlit Lady (Hip 302), a 5-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon, is another mare sure to attract some attention. She is out of grade 1 winner Diplomat Lady, and offered as a broodmare prospect. "She's good-looking, another one that is well bred, made $229,000, she was tough," Sikura said. "She was a runner, and once again by another attractive broodmare sire line being by Malibu Moon." Hill 'n' Dale brings a large and diverse draft of 49 to the sale, including broodmares, broodmare prospects, and short yearlings. Ten of the broodmares offered are in foal to Hill 'n' Dale's Charlatan, who Sikura hopes will see a successful 2026. Noting that the son of Speightstown didn't debut until he was 3, and Speightstown didn't win a graded stakes until he was 6, Sikura is optimistic the best is yet to come. "He's been off to a good start in 2026," Sikura said. "I think we're going to see a good 2026 from him, and we'll see if people take a shot on him—that he's going to come on—which he should. We are still excited about him." As for the group as a whole, Sikura offered plenty of excitement about the final breeding stock sale in North America until the fall. "We have one of the few graded stakes winners not in foal at the sale, which provides a little bit of a highlight for the consignment," he said. "We've got a much bigger consignment than we usually have here, so we're excited to have a big group, and we were busy today, we're going to be busy tomorrow, and hopefully have a good sale Monday."