Darley America will stand Nyquist for $225,000 in 2027, at the head of a 14-stallion roster at Jonabell Farm, the Godolphin-owned stud announced on 14 October. Darley said Nyquist would once again top the Jonabell roster.

Two days later, on 16 October, Darley said its pensioned stallion Medaglia d’Oro had died at Jonabell Farm at the age of 27.

Two champions join, fees held back

The 2025 Horse of the Year Sovereignty, by Into Mischief, and the Grade 1 Pacific Classic winner Knightsbridge, by Nyquist, join the roster for 2027. Darley said fees for both will be announced after the Breeders’ Cup, as will the fee for Speaker’s Corner, a first-season sire represented by the Grade 2 Oak Leaf winner Domain Expansion, who is expected to run in the Juvenile Fillies.

Darley described Sovereignty as the only horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Travers and Whitney. Knightsbridge is a half-brother to Speaker’s Corner, out of the Bernardini mare Tyburn Brook. Darley said Nyquist is the sire of 13 career Grade 1 winners, with Knightsbridge and the Grade 1 Met Mile winner Nysos among his top performers this year, and that he is expected to have several Breeders’ Cup runners.

Elsewhere on the roster, Maxfield stands for $75,000. Darley said he has 18 first-crop stakes horses, including the multiple Grade 1 winner Englishman. Cody’s Wish, whose first two-year-olds race in 2027, will stand for $55,000. Essential Quality, sire of the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby winner The Puma, will again stand for $25,000.

The full list on Darley’s 2027 fee card, on stands and nurses terms, is: Nyquist $225,000; Maxfield $75,000; Cody’s Wish $55,000; Street Sense $35,000; Essential Quality $25,000; Hard Spun and Midshipman $15,000 each; First Mission, Highland Falls, Mystic Guide and Proxy $7,500 each; Speaker’s Corner, Knightsbridge and Sovereignty to be announced.

Medaglia d’Oro’s record

Darley said Medaglia d’Oro sired 31 Grade 1 winners and more than 100 graded stakes winners, among them the champions Rachel Alexandra, Songbird and Nitrogen and the three-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty. At the peak of his stud career, after seven individual Grade 1 winners in 2017, he commanded a fee of $250,000. He also sired three Kentucky Oaks winners, which Darley called a record, and his runners included five graded stakes winners in 2026, among them the Grade 1 winners Nitrogen and Tam Tam.

He retired to stud at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in 2005 and moved to Stonewall Farm in 2006. Darley bought a majority interest in June 2009 and moved him to Jonabell, where he stood in partnership with Colts Neck Stallions. He was pensioned at the end of the 2025 breeding season. On the track he won eight of 17 starts, including the Travers, Whitney and Donn Handicap, and was second in the Dubai World Cup.

“Medaglia d’Oro leaves a legacy that will not be forgotten. He achieved greatness on the track and in the stallion barn.”

Dan Pride, COO, Godolphin America

Darley has not disclosed book sizes or any changes to breeder incentives for 2027.

Equanine’s reading

  • For Gulf owners and breeders, Darley’s American roster is a direct read on how Godolphin values its own stallions. Setting Nyquist at $225,000 while holding back fees for two new champions keeps its pricing open until after the Breeders’ Cup.
  • Maxfield’s $75,000 fee rests on an early first-crop record of 18 stakes horses. Breeders paying it are buying into results from one crop of runners.
  • Medaglia d’Oro’s death does not change 2027 coverings, since he was already pensioned. His remaining stock is now a fixed supply, a point vendors of his daughters are likely to press at the autumn breeding stock sales.