Perhaps the revelation of the season at the sales of 2-year-olds in training was not that young sires with their first juveniles were highly sought after. Instead, that is the annual rite of spring.

One of the most sought after young sires, however, was the 2021 Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World (by Candy Ride), whose yearlings of 2024 had sold for an average price of less than $30,000. That is a clear indication that the buying market was not strongly motivated to own them.

After some of those yearlings were put into training and prepared for the juvenile sales, the level of demand changed dramatically.

Some of the stallion’s first-crop 2-year-olds brought an immense advance on their yearling prices. For instance, Al Husaam, who had sold for $17,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, brought $180,000 at the 2025 OBS March sale. Yuno, a filly who had sold at Keeneland September for $33,000, resold at the OBS April sale for $230,000.

Those were not the only success stories; some were more modest advances in price, and even allowing for that, not all the resales were profitable. In all this year, 54 juveniles by the sire were offered, and 39 sold for an average price of $55,949. That represents a sizable advance over the sales prices for the Rock Your World yearlings in 2024, when 92 of them brought an average of $28,832.

The reason for the strong change of interest was the performance of the colts and fillies by Rock Your World when they were asked to show speed. They really had some. Many had grown from gawky yearlings who were all frame and angles into young racers of considerable promise.

From Rock Your World’s first crop to race this year, nine have won from a group of 35 starters, according to statistics from Equineline.com, and the stallion has current progeny earnings of $679,406.

That places him in a group of four other freshmen sires who are bobbing noses and heads for second place behind first-crop leader Yaupon (Uncle Mo), who has a big lead with $1.2 million. The cluster of four is currently led by Maxfield (Street Sense), who has a lead of less than $1,000 over Knicks Go (Paynter). The latter has a shade more than $2,000 over Rock Your World, who has a $30,000 lead over Beau Liam (Liam’s Map). Less than $35,000 would cover the quartet; victories and placings in decent maidens move the sires around like chiclets on a racing screen.

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And the big mover over the weekend was Rock Your World. On Saturday, Sept. 13, at Churchill Downs, the stallion’s daughter Taken by the Wind became his first stakes winner and first graded winner with a victory in the Grade 3 Pocahontas Stakes.

Now unbeaten in two starts, Taken by the Wind had won her debut in a seven-furlong optional claiming race for maidens at Saratoga on Aug. 21. The second-longest price on the board, Taken by the Wind battled her competitors early, shied from the whip, was green in the stretch but continued to advance anyway, and won by three lengths in 1:25.37.

A noteworthy fact is that Taken by the Wind was one of three in that maiden who weren’t in for the $75,000 claiming tag. Apparently, the owners expected greater things of the filly than the bettors. Taken by the Wind was given a bit more respect in the Pocahontas, starting as the fourth choice of the seven starters. The filly had learned a lot in between and raced more professionally. She waited for racing room along the rail early, came between horses in the stretch, and kicked clear to win by 5 ¼ lengths in 1:36.50. The favored Miss Complicated (Complexity) finished second.

Bred in Florida by Courtney L. Meagher, Taken by the Wind is not one of the yearlings by her sire who was resold as a juvenile in training. She was presented at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton July sale, where she went through the ring for $70,000; three months later, she was back in the Fasig-Tipton October sale of yearlings.

There, trainer Kenny McPeek snapped her up for $20,000, and the filly races for Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek), Terry Bradshaw, and Graham Leveston. The filly has now earned $180,710.

Taken by the Wind is out of the First Samurai mare Up for Grabs and is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Running Memories (Bahamian Squall). Up for Grabs has a yearling colt by Global Campaign, was not bred for 2025, and was covered earlier this year by the Florida-based stallion Champions Dream (Justify).

As the fourth son of Candy Ride to take a significant position on a leading sire list behind Gun Runner, Twirling Candy (who are second and third on the 2025 leading sires list behind Into Mischief), and leading second-crop sire Vekoma, Rock Your World is part of a trend that seems to be gathering steam, rather than losing it. And the instigator, Candy Ride himself, is currently fourth on the list of leading sires for 2025.

This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Sep 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the Features section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.