Known Agenda earns the Gold on Chris McGrath’s 2022 ‘Value Podium’ for new stallions

Known Agenda at Spendthrift Farm | Autry Graham photo

GOLD: KNOWN AGENDA (Curlin–Byrama (GB) by Byron {GB}) 

Spendthrift $10,000

There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since, but it’s definitely worth rowing back to the spring and remembering how unequivocally blinkers had confirmed Known Agenda’s place among the sophomore elite. He would hardly be the first good horse to derail in the Triple Crown series–and the Derby definitely didn’t set up for his strengths anyway–and fortunately he had shown the commercial sense to win what is nowadays treated as an almost automatic signpost to stallion stardom, the GI Florida Derby.

A trend like that should not be embraced too literally, of course, but in this case his success corroborated a breakout 11-length romp in blinkers on his previous start. His raw talent had never been in doubt, after the Aqueduct maiden in which he dragged Greatest Honour–to me, still the most flamboyant talent in the crop–21 lengths clear of a colt that subsequently proved his own graded-stakes caliber.

Known Agenda has a most attractive shape to his pedigree, combining a two-turn big hitter on the main track with first and second dams of mutually contrasting profile: respectively a Grade I winner by a sprinting grandson of Danzig, and a daughter of a Classic distaff influence in Europe, Darshaan (GB), himself a son of the copper-bottomed stamina tap Shirley Heights (GB). If the damsire is unfamiliar, Europeans will recall the speed he inherited from both parents; and his bloodlines are regal. There are seams of gold along Known Agenda’s bottom line, too: it gave us the redoubtable European influence Pharly (Fr), for instance; the third dam beat an aggregate 59 rivals in winning three consecutive sprints as a juvenile; and among the strands of the indispensable Princequillo are both Round Table and his full sister.

Known Agenda did enough on the track to suggest that he was blending the best of both worlds: speed and stamina, dirt and turf. That, to me, is the foremost commodity we should be seeking in new blood.

He has reliably been priced to have every chance at Spendthrift. That clearly means you are unlikely to be offering the only Known Agenda, at any given sale, but if our priority is value, this is the guy in this intake best equipped to multiply his yield. While you might not always agree with the principles that drive the market, we know how it functions and a breeder can only put bread on the table by anticipating demand. Call it… knowing the agenda! He graduates from an exemplary program and, while there are more accomplished rookies available, they will have to work a lot harder to move up their fees from where they are starting.

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