Plainly among the most potent stallions of recent times, at 22, even in the evening of his career Curlin is still working on his legacy as a potential breed-shaper.His distaff influence is naturally evolving only now, through daughters such as those that delivered TO Elvis (Volatile) and Renegade (Into Mischief). But so, too, is the patrimony that will rest with Curlin's sons. For one thing, two of his best, Golden Tempo and Journalism, remain busy enhancing his prolific record as a sire of elite performers, while his speedballs, Cody's Wish and Elite Power, have barely begun their second careers.So there's a long way to go, even now. Just for the time being, however, a couple of his sons–at opposite ends of the price spectrum–find themselves at something of a crossroads.The one currently priced as Curlin's principal heir, Good Magic, produced a Classic winner from both his first two crops and elevated his fee from $30,000 in 2022, when conceiving his current sophomores, to $125,000 in 2024. While he was indebted for both to the same extraordinary mare, those first books also produced Grade I winners Muth, Blazing Sevens and Mixto. But with his mare upgrade yet to cycle through, it must be admitted that Good Magic has been treading water rather nervously.We must remember how Curlin thrived with maturity, true to the Smart Strike brand, and perhaps some of his own sons will channel that inheritance. Vino Rosso is a case in point, having himself peaked at four. Vino Rosso's new star Baby Vino only broke his maiden at the fifth attempt, on May 1, yet has since catapulted himself up the ranks with an 11-length stakes score and now a Grade I breakout in the Haskell Stakes.His emergence comes at a vital moment for Vino Rosso, who was cut to $7,500 this spring after covering just 37 mares at $12,500 in 2025. That represented a giddy fall from the 190 he corralled at $20,000 the previous year, a response to the unexpected precocity of his first juveniles in 2023. That year, he finished a close third in Spendthrift's four-way private contest for the freshman title, surprisingly fielding more starters (92) than his neighbors, despite their speedier profile. Mitole and Maximus Mischief had 83 apiece, and Omaha Beach just 64.That was a historically underachieving class of freshmen, overall, with only Flameaway, Mitole and Solomini producing a juvenile graded stakes winner from their debut books, which for most stallions today will be the biggest and best they ever assemble. But the cream has meanwhile been rising. Omaha Beach has worked his fee up to $75,000 with 29 black-type winners, including nine at graded level, from 343 starters.Vino Rosso | Sarah AndrewMitole and Vino Rosso, from virtually the same number of starters, have reached a relative plateau. Mitole (now $10,000) has 19 black-type winners (six graded) from 348 starters; and Vino Rosso, 12 (three graded) from 346. Their buddy Maximus Mischief ($20,000) has 15, four at graded level, from a slightly lesser cavalry of 300 starters.Albeit one can discern a welcome shift of emphasis at their farm, since the loss of the remarkable man who revived and revolutionized its operation, these four stallions typified the model he made familiar. Playing the numbers game with unproven sires is a double-edged sword and not many come out the other side as prosperously as Omaha Beach, whose 2025 book remained as high as 184; or Maximus Mischief, on 161. Mitole was hanging in there, at 67, leaving Vino Rosso as the one apparently on the slide.As we have seen, however, he has a mega crop of yearlings about to go under the hammer. Moreover, Spendthrift had maintained his volume until his stock was properly tested, which is not something within the competence of every farm. Even his fourth crop of juveniles, now in play, comprised 122 live foals.As a slow burner typical of his sire-line, then, Vino Rosso retains every right to renew momentum. If nothing else, he has shown a useful propensity for making quality count. Three graded stakes winners for now remains an ordinary return, but two have now scored at the highest level. (The other, from the same crop as Baby Vino, is Del Mar Debutante Stakes winner Bottle of Rouge.) Similarly, his 11 graded stakes performers include no fewer than seven on a Grade I podium.Famously foaled the day after Justify, Vino Rosso packs the genetic punch one knows to expect from graduates of their native farm. As you may equally have learned to expect, however, we're not going to let the sire claim absolutely all the credit…Some Discreet DelightOn the face of it, Baby Vino's pedigree makes it look as though Vino Rosso had little to work with here. The only black-type in his first two generations is owed to his dam, Discreetly Grand (Discreetly Mine), as well-beaten runner-up in an off-the-turf stakes for Louisiana-breds at Evangeline Downs. But there's more going on here than meets the eye.Baby Vino is only the second starter out of Discreetly Grand, herself one of just three registered foals (two that made the gate) out of the unraced Autumn Spice (Grand Slam). That creates a lot of compression on the page and, while the blood naturally becomes diluted as we proceed further, it accordingly leaves us a short journey to some illustrious names.Third dam Cinnamon Sugar (Wild Again) (Ire) was runner-up in three Grade Is, while her mother Sugar and Spice (Key to the Mint) was not only a half-sister to Alydar (and therefore to champion Our Mims), but herself won the GI Mother Goose Stakes. This line traces to Calumet foundation mare Blue Delight (Blue Larkspur), via her Hall of Fame daughter Real Delight (Bull Lea). The latter was one of three consecutive daughters delivered by Blue Delight to win the Kentucky Oaks, a five-year sequence interrupted only by a colt and a missed year.We'll never know how much of this class might have survived into Baby Vino's immediate family, granted more opportunity either on the track or in the paddocks. It must be acknowledged that Cinnamon Sugar proved a disappointing broodmare. Two of her first daughters were bought by Sheikh Mohammed as yearlings, for $1.6 million and $2.3 million. The first (by Gone West) was unraced and soon culled, changing hands a couple of times thereafter, eventually for as little as $1,000. The second (by Deputy Minister) won a couple of races, but was an indifferent producer, eventually exported to Japan.But while we must duly allow kudos to Vino Rosso, for fanning these embers back to life, the purchasers of Baby Vino (in a private transaction as a yearling) evidently valued them enough to have acquired the dam at the same time. That has proved an inspired bonus.A Snap DividendThe farm that developed the Blue Delight dynasty nowadays has its own way of doing things and it's not easy, on the face of it, to imagine why it might have recruited an unraced 7-year-old Super Saver mare, Snapdragon, for $80,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November Sale, only to sell her (in foal to Oxbow) in the same ring a year later for $3,000. But while the Calumet team may now regret discarding the mare, that's only because her brief passage has given them a dividend that promises to do far more than merely redress the loss incurred at the time.A few weeks after Snapdragon's arrival, she delivered a Practical Joke colt they retained for the racetrack program. Dragonite has needed patience, managing a single sophomore start last summer, when he won a Monmouth sprint maiden by over six lengths. But he looked worth the wait when resurfacing with a similar performance on the Haskell undercard, in 1:10.35, posting some monster figures.Dragonite | Bill Denver/EquiPhotoRichard Kern, the Indiana-based purchaser of Snapdragon, doubtless noted that she shares a third dam, Fulbright Scholar (Cox's Ridge), with none other than Nyquist. (Moreover, their respective granddams are full-sisters, by the potent distaff influence Seeking the Gold).Fulbright Scholar traces to Moon Star (GB), third in the 1952 Epsom Oaks and imported to Greentree with a double dose of the great mare Serenissima (GB). The latter was granddam of Moon Star's sire, Hyperion (GB), and also mother of Moon Star's damsire Bosworth (GB). Moon Star appears to have produced a single filly, whose granddaughter Matriculation (Arts and Letters) was eventually sold. But Matriculation went on to produce nine winners from nine starters, including Fulbright Scholar. If most were modest, she certainly imparted some teak. Setting aside her daughters, retired for breeding careers, her sons averaged 58 starts apiece! Ah, those were the days…The post Breeding Digest: Baby Shows Vino Still Maturing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.