A filly from the first crop of Up to the Mark gives West Point our first opportunity with an exciting young sire, paired with a female family rich in stakes success. Purchased at the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale, she will be trained by John Sadler, with West Point joining another client of his barn. Availability is limited.

The filly was selected by bloodstock agent David Ingordo, who has knocked it out the park with fillies for West Point, securing last year’s champion two-year-old filly Super Corredora and this year’s leading candidate for champion 3-year-old filly, Counting Stars. 

This mating earned an A++ TrueNicks rating, a strong pedigree angle to a filly whose family has already produced a Grade 1 winner by Up to the Mark’s sire, Not This Time.

Up to the Mark earned the Eclipse Award as champion turf male after demonstrating brilliance across a range of distances. He won six races and more than $2.5 million, including three consecutive Grade 1 victories in the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, Manhattan Stakes at Belmont, and Turf Mile at Keeneland, before finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1). Although best known for his grass accomplishments, he began his career with a 4¼-length debut victory sprinting on dirt at Saratoga.

His first yearlings have made an immediate impression. Up to the Mark led first-crop sires by average price through Books 1 and 2 at Keeneland September, led by a $1.65-million colt.

This filly is out of Top Performance, a daughter of City Zip, and is a half-sister to Violent Runner, a six-time winner who earned more than $212,000 and finished second in the Desert Stormer Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita. 

An appealing connection comes through Top Performance’s half-sister Into Trouble, a stakes-winning juvenile who has produced three stakes winners, led by Troubleshooting, winner of the Franklin-Simpson Stakes (G1) and Bryan Station Stakes (G3). Troubleshooting is by Not This Time, providing an example of that sire line succeeding at the highest level with this immediate family. 

She will join John Sadler’s Southern California program, which has developed West Point champions Flightline and Super Corredora, along with champions Accelerate and Stellar Wind.

Price includes acquisition, training, veterinary, and insurance expenses until January 1, 2028.