Irish Hill Century Farm and Dutchess Views Farms fully stocked for success

King for a Day lived up to his name earlier this month when his progeny, Prince Valiant and Soontobeking, ran one-two in the $200,000 Times Square division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

King for a Day [7-3-1-1, $260,550] stands for $5,000 at Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions, a unique partnership owned and operated by Rick Burke [Irish Hill] and Michael Lischin [Dutchess Views] overseeing a talented and varied group of studs that also includes Mind Control, Peace and Justice, Lookin at Lee, Petulante, Warrior’s Charge, Waiting and the recent addition of 2022 Kentucky Derby-winner Rich Strike.

“We have a stallion for every mare,” Irish Hill and Dutchess Views’ business manager Moe Scavullo said. “The stallions all stand on location at Irish Hill Century Farm in Stillwater, which is a 10-minute drive from Union Avenue in Saratoga.”

The stars aligned for King for a Day in the NYSSS Times Square as Prince Valiant completed a three-race win streak with a gate-to-wire 3 1/2-length score over Soontobeking, who had become his sire’s first winner, in May, and first stakes winner by taking the state-bred Gander in March at the Big A.

“King for a Day is doing amazingly well. The interest in him is exploding as he proves himself to be a very good New York sire,” Scavullo said. “He’s getting the right mares for the right owners and his horses are getting the job done. He’s making hay on small numbers right now, but they’re coming.

“Right now, he’s second nationally as a second-crop sire on average earnings per runner,” Scavullo added. “That shows you not only the success of King for a Day but also of NYRA and where the money is for New York-breds and New York-sired New York-breds.”

The earning potential for New York-breds is set to increase with a two-part plan to provide purse parity for Empire State-breds on the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit.

In October 2023, NYRA announced that beginning January 1, 2026, all New York-bred overnight races for 2-year-olds [foals of 2024] on the NYRA circuit will offer purse amounts matching their open-company counterparts.

On December 30, NYRA further announced that effective January 1, 2027, all New York-bred overnight races will be run for purse money equal to their open-company counterparts, allowing the New York-bred foal crop to benefit from the financial reward of purse parity throughout their racing careers.

New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. (NYTB) Executive Director Najja Thompson commented on the importance of the increased incentives for New York-breds on the NYRA circuit.

“We’ve established unprecedented incentives for New York-breds working in partnership with our fellow stakeholders including NYRA, The New York State Thoroughbred Breeding & Development Fund, and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Inc., highlighting the increased value to breeding, owning, and racing New York-breds in New York,” Thompson said. “Combined with the improved quality of stallions standing across the state at operations such as Irish Hill and Dutchess Views, with national television coverage thanks to NYRA’s partnership with FOX Sports and a new state-of-the-art Belmont Park which is expected to be completed in 2026, there is no better time to participate in New York breeding and racing.”

Peace and Justice [8-3-1-0, $137,448], a talented turf miler by War Front, was brought to New York in December after standing in Pennsylvania, but Empire State breeders are sure to be familiar with his now 5-year-old progeny Dontlookbackatall, who captured the Grade 3 Caress presented by Albany Med Health System on turf last summer at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Christophe Clement, Dontlookbackatall has banked $659,565 via a 16-6-6-0 ledger and is working towards a title defense in the Listed $150,000 License Fee in May at Belmont at the Big A.

Scavullo noted that the construction of the new Belmont Park, which will re-open in 2026 and offer a fully renovated main dirt track, two turf courses and a new one-mile Tapeta oval, provides new opportunities for breeders - in particular, the Tapeta course, which will become the exclusive winter racing surface on the NYRA circuit.

“There are multiple opportunities here for horses that have a little bit of that turf pedigree that seems to translate well to the synthetic but also can get you a great dirt runner as well,” Scavullo said. “The breeders and stallion awards that are available in New York in combination with the three surfaces that are coming our way gives Peace and Justice a great year-round chance to be a good sire. If you look up and down his lines, what I found most surprising with him is you find horses that have won hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Among the big earners for the now 15-year-old Peace and Justice, who stands for a $7,500 fee, are the stakes-winner Like a Saltshaker [41-18-9-1, $604,311] and Summary Judgment [44-13-7-5, $334,578].

“They run for a long time, have good speed and do it the right way,” Scavullo said of Peace and Justice progeny. “We’re hoping he’ll be successful when synthetic opens up in New York. He’s got that War Front sire line and he’s out of a Smart Strike mare which screams grass and synthetic.”

Mind Control [29-11-3-6, $2,071,834] enjoyed tremendous success on dirt in New York, posting Grade 1 scores in the 2018 Hopeful and 2019 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga before completing his career with a typically gritty head score in the 2022 Cigar Mile Handicap at the Big A. He entered stud in 2023 and stands for $8,000.

“Dutchess Views, Irish Hill and Rockridge put a group of people together to purchase him because he was such a now racehorse – retired off a win and was just the right horse,” Scavullo said. “He’s from the family of King for a Day as well, so it was natural for us to get involved as well.

“He was a multiple Grade 1 winner, and he just checked all the boxes to stand in New York for the right amount of money,” Scavullo added. “He bred 190 mares first year and 122 mares his second year. That’s a testament to his partners that supported him. We’re really looking forward to his first runners in 2026.”

Mind Control is by another strong New York runner in Stay Thirsty, who, in 2011, captured the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and Grade 1 Travers around two turns at Saratoga, and completed his career with a victory in the 2012 Cigar Mile.

Scavullo said the family’s Empire State success bodes well for Mind Control’s stock.

“Mind Control was a great one-turn horse and that’s where we write most of our races. He’s going to have the numbers to make a good run at being a really good sire,” Scavullo said.

Rich Strike [14-2-1-3, $2,526,809], by Keen Ice, picked up the majority of his Kentucky Derby qualifying points with a strong rail run to finish third in the 2022 Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks over the Turfway Park synthetic. Dismissed at odds of 80-1 after drawing into the Kentucky Derby, he closed from 17 lengths off the pace to post an unlikely three-quarter length score over eventual Grade 1 Travers-winner and Champion 3-Year-Old Colt Epicenter.

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, Rich Strike, a half-brother to Grade 2-winning turfer Llanarmon, is out of the graded stakes winning Smart Strike mare Gold Strike, who was named Canada's Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in 2005.

Originally slated to stand at Mountain Springs Farm in Pennsylvania, the 6-year-old was purchased by a group that includes his former trainer Eric Reed and moved to the Empire State.

“Our stallion manager Bill Leak said, ‘he’s a big, good-looking horse. He carries himself like a Kentucky Derby winner,’” Scavullo said. “By Keen Ice and out of a Champion mare, the team thought New York was the right place for him.”

Each of the stallions currently standing at Irish Hill & Dutchess Views offers something a little different and the potential for prospective breeders to enjoy their own ‘King for a Day’ experience in the lucrative New York marketplace.

“It’s a diverse group of stallions from a pedigree standpoint to an economic standpoint,” Scavullo said. “We do the best we can for breeders and help them to take advantage of breeders’ awards when these horses start running in New York. We try to be a very service-oriented group.”