The first reported foal by Claiborne Farm’s Grade 1 winner Prince of Monaco – a healthy filly out of the Justify mare Itgetsgreaterlater – was born on Jan. 12 at Serendipity Springs in Lexington, Ky.
This is the third foal out of Itgetsgreaterlater, whose second foal by Gunite brought $160,000 at last year’s Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, topping the session among that day’s weanlings.
The Kuegler family’s Wasabi Ventures Stables bought Itgetsgreaterlater for $80,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November Sale. The extended family is filled with graded black type, including Grade 1 winner Cupid and Grade 2 winner Kathleen O.
“She’s a beast of a filly,” said George Adams, director of stallions and breeding for Wasabi Ventures Stables. “She has tons of substance, and is very correct. The stallion really stamped her. If they all look like her, Prince of Monaco is going to be a star.”
Prince of Monaco (by Speightstown) was a $950,000 yearling before embarking on an on-track career as a blazing sprinter on both coasts.
He won on debut as a 2-year-old by eight lengths at Los Alamitos, the TDN Rising Star rocketed up the class ladder, starting with a 4 ¼-length score in the Best Pal Stakes (G3) at Del Mar where he won the six-furlong race in a stakes-record time of 1:09.19 and earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure against subsequent multiple Grade 1 winners Muth and Raging Torrent. From there, Prince of Monaco earned his next career highlight with a win as the heavy favorite in the Del Mar Futurity (G1).
Prince of Monaco came back at three to once again hold his own against the top sprinters in his class, coming up a half-length short of multiple Grade 1 winner Book’em Danno in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) before finishing second by a neck in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes (G1), both at Saratoga.
A product of the vaunted Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings breeding program, Prince of Monaco is out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Rainier, from the family of Grade 1 winner Adieu. He was welcomed with open arms by breeders in his debut season, breeding 176 mares, of which 25% were black-type horses.
Prince of Monaco will stand for an advertised fee of $30,000 for the 2026 breeding season.