Puca Named 2025 Broodmare of the Year

Another year, another grade 1 winner for the remarkable mare Puca, who has been named 2025 Broodmare of the Year by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. The 14-year-old daughter of Big Brown was represented by her third consecutive grade 1 winner by birth order and racing year when Baeza (McKinzie) won the 2025 Pennsylvania Derby (G1). Baeza was preceded by his siblings Mage, who won the 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1), and Dornoch, who won the 2024 Belmont Stakes (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1). Both Mage and Dornoch are by Good Magic. Puca was named the 2024 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association. Robert Clay's Grandview Equine got Puca's broodmare career started after buying her for $475,000 in foal to Gun Runner out of Denali Stud's consignment at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale in 2018. Clay subsequently bred her to Good Magic the next two years and caught lightning in a bottle—twice. Mage won the Kentucky Derby, ran second in the Florida Derby (G1) and Haskell Stakes, and was third in the Preakness Stakes (G1) on his way to earning $2,507,450. Next came Dornoch, who won the 2023 Remsen Stakes (G2) at 2 and followed at 3 with wins in the Belmont, Haskell, and Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2). He retired with $2,427,275 in earnings. Mage is a first-crop yearling sire who stands at Airdrie Stud, while Dornoch stood his second season at Spendthrift Farm this year. Like his siblings, Baeza excelled at 3. He came close in the American classics with third-place finishes in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, and then proved he belonged among the best of his generation with a 2 1/4-length win over Magnitude in the Pennsylvania Derby. This year, Baeza ran third in the Alysheba Stakes (G2) and second to Magnitude by 1 1/4 lengths in the Stephen Foster Stakes (G1). Grandview eventually sold Puca for $2.9 million to Resolute Racing's John Stewart at the 2023 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale through Case Clay Thoroughbred Management as the consignor. Puca was back on the auction stage in 2025 at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale, where a packed sale pavilion watched her sell for $5 million to Ace Stud under the name Raging Torrent Syndicate. ELiTE consigned Puca at the Fasig-Tipton sale. "We thought she was going to make a lot more money than she did," said Paul Curran, Ace Stud's bloodstock and racing manager at the November sale. "We were sitting inside (near) the sales ring, and we saw a price that we thought was a little bit weird. So we got involved, and we got her pretty quick. We are very happy we bought her." Puca was bred in 2026 to Spendthrift Farm's multiple leading sire Into Mischief. Tickets to the 2026 TOBA National Awards are now available and can be purchased at https://toba.org/awards-2026/.