Who Is Shisospicy? The Champion Sprinter Retired to Be a Broodmare

Who is Shisospicy?

Shisospicy is the champion turf sprinter who won the 2025 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and the 2025 Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter, and she has now been retired to become a broodmare. Owner Morplay Racing announced it on Instagram on Nov. 3, 2026, and Rich Mendez of Morplay confirmed to BloodHorse that she will be bred to leading sire Not This Time.

The Shisospicy racehorse story is a fun one for fans: a $200,000 yearling who became the first 3-year-old filly to win the Turf Sprint. She retires with 6 wins from 11 starts and earnings of $2,095,270.

For now she stays at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky. Mendez recently bought a farm near Ocala, Florida, but hasn't decided whether she'll go there after she's bred.

Why Shisospicy retired after the Fasig-Tipton sale

The retirement came one day after a public test of her value. On Nov. 2, 2026, she went through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale and the bidding stopped at $2.4 million, below the reserve Mendez had set.

That makes her an RNA ("reserve not attained"): the owner keeps the horse. Mendez told the Paulick Report she was "a big part of our brand," since Morplay rose to prominence at the same time she did.

A year earlier, at the same sale, Mendez paid $5.2 million to buy out Qatar Racing, which had owned part of her during the second half of 2025. So keeping her at $2.4 million wasn't a surprise to people who followed the story.

What happened at 4

Her 4-year-old season was hit by what BloodHorse called several untimely illnesses. Here is what was reported, and nothing more:

• An infection made her miss a planned trip to the Middle East, where she was to run on the Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup cards.
• She finished last of seven in the Unbridled Sidney Stakes (G2) on May 1.
• After five months off, she finished last of 14 in her Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint title defense.

The Shisospicy racehorse career at a glance

She was bred in Kentucky by Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt. She is by Mitole, the 2019 champion sprinter, out of Mischief Galore, a winning daughter of Into Mischief.

A few details worth knowing:

• Trainer: Jose D'Angelo.
• Surface switch: She began on dirt and moved to grass in February 2025. She was then unbeaten on U.S. turf at 3.
• Her only unplaced run of 2025: 15th in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, England.
• The big day: At Del Mar in 2025 she beat males and older horses by 2½ lengths, running 5 furlongs in :55.24, just 0.49 off the course record.
• A first for the award: TrueNicks reported she was the first turf runner to win the female sprinter Eclipse since that category was created in 2007.

If you're new to the race terms, our glossary explains furlongs, graded stakes and more.

How a champion racemare's broodmare career works

For a top filly, the racetrack is only the first act. Her value now depends on what her foals do, and that takes years to show.

Why keep her instead of selling below reserve

A reserve is the lowest price an owner will accept. When bidding stops short of it, the owner has three options: keep racing, sell privately later, or breed the mare.

Owners keep champion mares for a few common reasons:

• Upside: A champion's first foals, by an expensive sire, can sell for big money as yearlings.
• Flexibility: A mare in foal to a top stallion can be sold later, possibly for more.
• Partners: Mendez mentioned the possibility of a syndicate, where several owners share costs and foals.
• The personal side: Some owners simply want the family line to stay with them.

How a stallion like Not This Time gets picked

Not This Time stands at Taylor Made Stallions, which lists his fee for the 2027 breeding season at $300,000, payable when a foal stands and nurses. His 2026 fee was $250,000. BloodHorse called him North America's second-leading sire by 2026 progeny earnings as of Nov. 3.

Breeders weigh a match like this on several points:

• Sire record: How many graded winners and top yearlings he produces. Taylor Made lists 15 Grade 1 winners from his first seven crops to race.
• Pedigree fit: Whether the cross has worked before. Mating services compare families for a mare's "nick."
• Physical fit: Matching size, bone and build so the foal is balanced.
• Market: What buyers pay for that sire's yearlings. Not This Time led all sires in seven-figure yearlings at Keeneland September in 2025, per Taylor Made.

The Paulick Report said Gun Runner was also under consideration; BloodHorse's later report named Not This Time. For how fees and contracts work, see how stud fees work.

Timeline to a first foal

Thoroughbreds registered with The Jockey Club must be conceived by live cover, with no artificial insemination. Here's the typical path:

1. Let down from training (now): A few weeks to months of turnout and a change of diet as she leaves race fitness behind.
2. Breeding season (early 2027): The Northern Hemisphere season usually runs from about mid-February into early summer. Every Thoroughbred's official birthday is Jan. 1, so breeders like early foals.
3. Pregnancy checks: Vets confirm pregnancy by ultrasound in the first weeks after cover.
4. Gestation: About 335 to 340 days on average, with a normal range of 320 to 370 days, per the land-grant university extension network.
5. First foal (2028): If she conceives in spring 2027, a foal would normally arrive the next year. That foal couldn't race until it turns 2, in 2030.

Want the basics behind all this? Browse our learn section and see our care guide for mare management basics.

What to watch next

Nothing about her first foal is decided yet, so keep expectations to what's been announced.

• Her move: Whether she stays at Taylor Made or goes to Mendez's Ocala farm after breeding.
• A syndicate: Whether Morplay brings in partners, which was mentioned only as a possibility.
• Pregnancy news: Owners often share in-foal confirmations in spring.
• Not This Time's form: How his runners keep performing will shape how breeders value a foal from this cross.
• This year's Turf Sprint: See our Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint 2026 coverage for the race she ran in last.

Want more retirement stories? Gstaad's move to stud shows how the same decision plays out for a colt. Share your take on Shisospicy in our community.