The First Housatonic Recommended Mating for 2026 -- Twelveo'clockrock

Our first mare expected to foal in 2026 is also the first to get a write-up for her next match.

After staying local and kicking off her broodmare career with a visit to leading Maryland stallion Blofeld in 2025 — which is expected to result in an early January foal of ‘26 — Twelveo’clockrock will head to Kentucky and be bred back to the promising young Coolmore stallion Tiz the Law for her second mating.

Being that Twelveo’clockrock is a half-sister to the black-type placed, six-figure earner Mr Jefferson by Constitution, and under her 3rd dam (his 2nd) is the multiple G1 winner of ‘25 Mindframe, who is also sired by Constitution, it makes perfect sense to send Twelveo’clockrock to a son of WinStar’s perennial leading sire — which Tiz the Law is. Since Mindframe’s dam and Twelveo’clockrock herself are both by Street Sense and thus quite closely-related, that alone would be a good reason to try and mimic the mating that produced this brilliant potential Horse of the Year candidate. But there are plenty of other factors that also point to this being an excellent match.

Tiz the Law last week at Ashford.

Not least is the fact that Tiz the Law is a young stallion very much on the rise. A G1 winner at 2YO, and a triple G1-winning 3YO (Florida Derby, Belmont and Travers) who would’ve been the likely winner of the Kentucky Derby in a normal year where that race wasn’t pushed to September by Covid (as it was, he finished 2nd to the later-maturing Authentic as the favorite), Tiz the Law finished less than $20,000 behind Vekoma and McKinzie for 2024 Leading Freshman Sire honors, despite those two having 50% more runners than he did. Tiz the Law had five black-type winners in 2024 to match Vekoma — but his percentage was far superior given his lower number of runners — and his two graded winners from the crop was also best of the group. He is now up to eleven black-type winners from his first two crops (plus eleven additional black-type horses), with six of those being graded winners. His 1.71 AEI is well above his mates’ 1.51 CI (a ratio that we put much stock in), and he already has nine black-type runners from his second 2YO crop.

Having originally received a fee hike to $30,000 for the 2026 season, after putting up a Saturday graded stakes double at Aqueduct during the Keeneland November Sale with Fully Subscribed and Tiz Dashing (one on dirt, the other turf, highlighting his versatility which is also demonstrated by his progeny’s success over a range of distances), Tiz the Law’s fee was increased again to $40,000 by the sharp folks at Ashford. (We’re very excited to have put our season request in before that increased fee was announced!)

All of which is indicative of that ascendant trajectory that we referenced earlier, as are Tiz the Law’s weanling ($115k) and yearling ($118k) sale averages in 2025, both well above his 2024 numbers.

Of Tiz the Law’s eleven black-type winners, one is out of a mare by Street Sense and another out of a mare by his sire Street Cry, from just four runners bred on this cross — which is good for an “A++” rating on TrueNicks and makes this pedigree pairing look even stronger.

Physically, Twelveo’clockrock is a big, strapping, almost coarse mare, and Tiz the Law ought to pretty-up her foal a bit given his own medium-size physical.

Twelveo’clockrock this past spring at St. Omer’s Farm.

With three of her younger sisters still active at the track and looking potentially stakes quality (2YO Day To Day has competed in three straight stakes, including the G1 Spinaway; 3YO Late Nite Call was 4th in the Weber City Miss and 5th in the G3 Delaware Oaks this year; and 5YO Waittilmidnitehour has five wins and five more placings to her credit and looks likely to factor in next year’s Colonial and Laurel turf sprint stakes that have been home to her former stablemate and female family relative Hollywood Walk the last few years), Twelveo’clockrock’s pedigree could look even better than it already does a year from now, and taking a shot with a rising star like Tiz the Law will give us a chance to capitalize on that possibility commercially if it comes to pass — and even if it doesn’t, this mating should still produce a foal with a huge future on the racetrack!