Instagrand a Product of Stoneway Farm Dedication

When Instagrand makes his seasonal debut in the $300,000 Gotham Stakes (G3) March 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack, owner Larry Best won't be the only one watching the reappearance of the Into Mischief  colt with bated breath.

The Jerry Hollendorfer trainee's abundance of natural speed was envisioned by his breeder—Jim Stone of Stoneway Farm—when a stallion was selected for the Lawyer Ron mare Assets of War. And Saturday's one-turn mile appears ideally suited to Instagrand, who used his speed to his advantage while posting dominant victories in his most recent start, the Aug. 11 Best Pal Stakes (G2) going six furlongs at Del Mar, and in his maiden voyage sprinting five furlongs June 29 at Los Alamitos Race Course. 

"(Into Mischief), we hoped, would add speed to Assets of War's offspring. He didn't disappoint," said Terri Burch, Stoneway Farm's racing manager.

After Assets of War produced her first foal, a strong filly named Aerial Assets, Stone and Burch decided to go right back to the Spendthrift Farm sire with the mare. Instagrand was the result.

After Stoneway sold Instagrand in 2017 for $190,000 to Quarter Pole Enterprises through Paramount Sales' consignment to The July Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select sale of yearlings in Kentucky, Aerial Assets went on to place in the 2017 Spendthrift Juvenile Filly Stallion Stakes at Churchill Downs. The following year, Eddie Woods consigned Instagrand to The Gulfstream Sale, Faisg-Tipton's 2-year-olds in training sale in Florida, where he sold for $1.2 million to Best's OXO Equine. 

"We are very proud to have bred such an incredible horse," Burch said. "He was full of himself from an early age, and to see him develop as a 2-year-old and to win so impressively is a credit to his owner and his trainer for letting him develop on his (own) time. His body has continued to develop in strength and power. The time off (has) allowed him to blossom at 3."

Why is Instagrand so special to Stone and Burch? The colt hails from a female line represented by the pair's first interest together in the sport—Added Time, a Gilded Time mare out of the Stutz Blackhawk mare Added Elegance. Added Time was a $170,000 purchase by Stoneway at the 1999 Keeneland April 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

"We looked at the depth of her female family and purchased her," Burch said. "She was a useful race filly after overcoming a freaky accident on the track as a 2-year-old when a horse got away from its rider and collided with her. She had the grit and will to survive and returned to the track and won. She passed that grit to her foals and was the first improvement to Stoneway's small band of mares."

Added Time produced Irish Smoke (Stoneway's first grade 1 winner), King Puma, Measured, and Clever Babe (the dam of grade 1 winner Book Review).

Stoneway Farm sold Added Time's first three fillies. After that, the mare had only colts. So Stone and Burch began to look for a way to get back into the family. That opportunity arose with Instagrand's dam, Assets of War, a very balanced and stretchy granddaughter of Added Elegance. Stone went to $165,000 to buy her from The July Sale in 2011.

Following Instagrand's success on the racetrack, his half brother by Cairo Prince  sold for $450,000 to Martin Schwartz at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Assets of War produced a Noble Mission  colt in 2018 and was bred to Creative Cause  for 2019.

"Breeding horses together for Stoneway is very special and very much a team effort," Burch said. "It is also a challenge to find those deep female families we seek as broodmares, as we feel those are the families that will reward us with top-class racehorses to provide the marketplace or race ourselves.

"It is always exciting when those babies start coming in the spring each year and you watch them take those early romps in the paddocks with their dams. It is the most hope-filled feeling a breeder can have. Those foals are always the next chance for greatness. It's a challenge to breed when you think of all the storied breeding farms, and to think Stoneway—the team, the land, the broodmares—have the opportunity to catch lightning every now and again."