By admin 
The first Grade 1 races for juveniles were offered over the weekend at Saratoga and Del Mar, and the results were split by members of the old guard and racers representing freshmen sires of 2026.
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Perennial leading national sire Into Mischief (by Harlan’s Holiday) is the sire of Hughes, who proved a powerful victor by 4 ¾ lengths in the G1 Del Mar Futurity, and City of Light (Quality Road) is the sire of Summer Starlet, who won the G1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga. Both sires have racers from earlier crops who have been voted champion juveniles.
On the other hand, the freshmen sires are doing everything for the first time. Life is Good, an exceptionally fast son of Into Mischief and winner of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, was on nearly everyone’s list among the top freshmen sires. Presently, Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) is the leading freshman, with Life is Good second over Jackie’s Warrior (Mclean’s Music), Olympiad (Speightstown), and Flightline (Tapit).
A winner in nine of 12 starts, Life is Good was beaten only once at distances of nine furlongs or less, when second to champion sprinter Jackie’s Warrior in the G1 Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga. Among his most significant successes, Life is Good won the G1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Pegasus World Cup Invitational, Whitney Stakes, and Woodward Stakes at eight or nine furlongs. When tried at 10 furlongs in the G1 Dubai Cup and Breeders’ Cup Classic, the dark bay racer was unplaced.
So, with his trump card being speed, Life is Good seemed ready made as a leading sire of progressive yearlings and potentially high-quality juvenile racers. He has to date an average sales price for yearlings and 2-year-olds of more than $300,000 on an initial stud fee of $100,000.
Per Equineline statistics, Life is Good has a first crop of 133 foals, and of those, 42 have made a start, with 11 winners so far. Two have won stakes (The Good Life and Waggley), and three others have placed in stakes. Waggley was her sire’s first stakes winner, and The Good Life became the first G1 winner for Life is Good with a four-length victory over Mystrix (Good Magic) in the Hopeful.
Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm LLC, The Good Life races for that entity, First Go Racing, and CHC Inc. (China Horse Club). The good-looking dark bay colt is out of the Speightstown mare First Hour, an 8-year-old who was bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock LLC.
Consigned to the 2018 Keeneland November sale as a foal, First Hour sold to Maverick Racing for $250,000, which put her into a WinStar Stablemates Racing partnership. Debuting at three, First Hour made three starts in January and February, finishing second in a maiden special weight at Gulfstream in January. She was soon thereafter retired to be a broodmare, and the Hopeful winner is the mare’s third foal.
Unbeaten in two starts, The Good Life did not sell at auction. The mare’s two previous foals are both winners, and her first foal, Hereforagoodtime (Justify), has finished second in the G3 Pucker Up Stakes, as well as getting third in a pair of other G3 events. Hereforagoodtime is currently racing and training.
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Across the country from Saratoga, Miss Monica (Early Voting) remained undefeated in two starts with her victory in the G1 Del Mar Debutante, and she became the second stakes winner and first G1 winner for her sire, Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting, the only classic winner to date for Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride).
Just like the dam of The Good Life, the dam of Miss Monica, Lipstikliesnlovers (American Pharoah), did not win a race. In fact, she raced three seasons in pursuit of the elusive maiden victory, and the closest that Lipstikliesnlovers came was a pair of third-place efforts as a 3-year-old.
From the first crop by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Lipstikliesnlovers was bred in Kentucky by Doug Branham and Felicia Branham, and they bred her foal by Early Voting in partnership with Pippa’s Hurricane LLC. The partners consigned the foal later named Miss Monica to the Keeneland September sale in 2025, where she sold for $45,000 to Hoppel.
Broken and put into training for the 2-year-old breeze-ups, Miss Monica flew down the stretch at the OBS April sale through a quarter-mile breeze over the synthetic in :20 3/5, which was the fastest work at that distance, and she sold out of the Hoppel consignment for $850,000 to Three Amigos (Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman).
Before Miss Monica lit up the track at OBS, the filly’s dam was sent through the sales ring at the Fasig-Tipton February mixed sale in Kentucky. Cataloged as “not pregnant” in 2025 and 2026, Lipstikliesnlovers sold for $4,000 to Michael Slezak, agent.
Lipstikliesnlovers was bred to Drain the Clock (Mclean’s Music), and she is in foal on single March 7 cover.
With her second foal now a G1 winner, any further sale of Lipstikliesnlovers will be accompanied by several more zeroes.
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This story was originally published September 9, 2026 at 4:58 AM.