MULTIPLE GRADED STAKES WINNER THOUSAND WORDSTO STAND AT HMDC PARTNER DUNCAN FARMS IN OHIO

Sally, Daryl and Rachel Duncan are very pleased to announce their aquisition of Thousand Words from Spendthrift Farm.  Photo courtesy:  Longshot Photos

When HMDC’s cornerstone stallion Dominus passed away earlier this year it left a huge void on the roster of stallions at Duncan Farms. Daryl Duncan has made significant investment in filling that void. It has been announced that the fast, multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words has been relocated from Spendthrift Farm to Duncan Farms in Warsaw, Ohio. The sale to Duncan Farms represents a significant chapter for Thousand Words. His arrival in Ohio positions him as the marquee stallion at a farm building toward regional prominence, taking over the commercial footprint that had been anchored by the late Dominus. His proven record of producing juvenile winners and commercially sound sales horses makes him well-suited to serve an Ohio-based and Midwest clientele with broad reach.

Thousand Words was one of the most intriguing 3-year-olds of 2020 — a horse who embodied both the brilliance and volatility that define the highest rungs of Thoroughbred competition. Purchased for $1 million at the Keeneland September Sale as a yearling, the bay son of Pioneer of the Nile carried enormous expectations into his racing career under Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. What followed was a campaign marked by dramatic highs, stunning lows, and one of the most memorable pre-race incidents in recent Kentucky Derby history.

He was a multiple graded stakes winner who earned victories at Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Los Alamitos, finishing his career with four wins from nine starts and $327,500 in earnings. Despite never completing the Kentucky Derby, his story is one of the most compelling of his generation - a horse defined as much by his mercurial temperament as by the talent that flashed so brilliantly in his best performances.

Throughout his racing career, Thousand Words earned a reputation as a gifted but high-strung colt whose quirks required careful management by the Baffert barn. Known to become agitated and difficult to handle in high-stress paddock environments — a trait that would ultimately lead to his scratch from the 2020 Kentucky Derby after flipping pre-race and breaking the arm of Baffert’s top assistant Jimmy Barnes.

“After researching Thousand Words career and some of his roughish behavior, it doesn’t sound like the horse we have here. The good ones grow out of that type of behavior,” stated Daryl Duncan, who operates the 200-acre farm with his wife Sally. “From the moment the stallion groom led him out at Spendthrift to settling in down in Dominus’ old stall he has been nothing but a sweetheart. He loves being brushed and made over.” What struck Duncan about the $1 million dollar yearling when first laying eyes on him? “Just his mass. He has a beautiful shoulder, wide front and he’s big boned – for a big horse he’s so well balanced.”

Thousand Words entered stud in 2021 at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky and has rapidly distinguished himself as one of the most productive young sires in North America. Across three crops of racing age, he has demonstrated consistent precocity, commercial viability, and the ability to produce black-type performers on both coasts and across all major circuits. The third crop — 2024 foals racing as 2-year-olds in 2026 — has already produced active runners across multiple circuits, earning Thousand Words a national ranking of #16 as a third-crop sire with110 runners, 50 winners, and $1.74 million in earnings through mid-August 2026. Early signs of juvenile precocity are present once again, consistent with the pattern established by his first two crops.

Ranked as a TDN 2026 Value Sire, Duncan believes that Thousand Words will have an early impact on the Ohio program. “His first crop produced 21 juvenile winners and 5 of his 8 black-type runners are 2-year-olds. He has shown a mark of consistency. We’ll be supporting him and already have purchased two mares in foal to him and have a good-looking weanling, and we are looking for others that will fit. In addition to three-time Ohio Champion stallion Dominus, Duncan Farms has been home to two other state champion sires Mobil and Cowtown Cat. They currently also stand Corfu and Air Strike. Thousand Words stud fee for 2027 has set at $3,000 live foal. Duncan Farms is one of the founding members of HMDC and we look forward to the days when foals of Thousand Words will become part of our racing stable. For more information you can contact Daryl Duncan at

(740-502-4549)

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ROGUES A PLOTTING PLANS TO BREAK THE $100,000 MARK ON TUESDAY

Rogues a Plotting, our 3-year-old son of Dominus will take on older competition in the 5th race (2:50 pm) at Thistledown on Tuesday. A win will see him pass the $100,000 plateau and become his fifth lifetime tally in only 10 starts. Jockey Luis Rivera was aboard for all of his career victories and again will pilot the chestnut gelding for trainer Mike Rone. The $35,000 allowance sprint is for Accredited Ohio-breds that will run with a $50,000 claiming tag and it is loaded with frontrunners. Rogues a Plotting is one of those that likes to be near the lead, we’ll see if Luis can reign him in a bit in the early stages. In their last start they encountered a troubled bump at the quarter pole and weakened in the later stages.