Black Tie Optional

Not This Time colts were, unsurprisingly, very hard to buy at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. The Taylor Made resident was responsible for the auction’s $3.4-million topper and two other colts who fetched $900,000 or more, but MyRacehorse was able to land one for what felt like relative value at $500,000. Out of a young mare from a very good family, Stylishly ‘23 will be heading West to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

A well-proportioned colt with a deep shoulder and strong hind leg, this handsome chestnut has good bone, a big nostril and a fluid walk. His mental aptitude seems above average, and he stacked up well on the MRH bloodstock team’s depth chart with other Not This Time colts who brought more money.

The precocious and very well-bred Not This Time has had one of the best starts at stud in recent memory, starting at an initial fee of $15,000 and all the way up to $150,000 for the recently concluded 2024 breeding season. He’s already responsible for six Grade 1 winners as well as long-winded millionaire Next, winner of eight of his last nine at the stakes and graded stakes level. One of the most impressive aspects of Not This Time’s impressive run at stud has been the versatility he has shown. He’s had Classic dirt types like 2022’s champion 3-year-old male Epicenter; two-turn turfers like 2023 champion turf male Up to the Mark; speedy dirt sprinters like G1SWs Sibelius and Just One Time; top turf sprinters like Cogburn, who established a North American record time for his smashing win in the G1 Jaipur S. in June; and precocious types like the Baffert-trained Princess Noor, a seven-figure seller on both sides of a win in the 2020 G1 Del Mar Debutante.