Airdire Stud

If you didn't know the sophisticated people behind the mating, you might imagine that Puca went to Good Magic on no better premise than to double down on the alchemy implicit in both names. Because a puca (or pooka) in folklore is a shape-changing sprite, capable of bringing good or bad fortune. Shakespeare named Puck accordingly in A Midsummer Night's Dream, but my favourite example is Elwood P. Dowd's invisible drinking buddy Harvey, a rabbit standing just under six feet four inches. Perhaps you've noticed his silhouette at Harvey's Bar...

Now we're really entering nosebleed altitudes for most breeders, between $30,000 and $50,000: a zone where you should feel that you're improving the odds of coming up with an elite horse. It tells you a lot about our business that the majority of the two dozen stallions operating at this level can only do so because they have yet to send a single runner into the starting gate. A quarter of these we immediately set to one side, as absolute beginners, because those received separate consideration in the opening instalment...

5th-Presque Isle Downs, $29,900, Msw, 8-23, 2yo, 5 1/2f (AWT), 1:04.41, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. VOTE NO (g, 2, Divisidero--Sistas Ready, by More Than Ready) became the first winner for his Airdrie Stud-based freshman sire (by Kitten's Joy) with this debut win. The 5-2 chance forced the issue in an outside third, set his sights on the leader on the far turn and powered clear in the stretch to graduate by 1 1/2 lengths. Sales history: $7,500 Ylg '22 KEEJAN; $11,000 Ylg '22 OBSOCT; $50,000 2yo '23 OBSOPN. Lifetime Record:...

No getting away from it, the young stallions we assess today have already completed their service to many breeders. They've processed a debut crop of yearlings, often on an industrial scale, and many have obliged with the kind of averages that vindicate the familiar, self-fulfilling commercial cycle that so favors new sires: demand generating supply, and the quality incidental to that increased supply in turn increasing demand. That leaves us with another tricky podium. You can't just congratulate those who have "won" on this system, topping out the first-crop yearling...

Bret Jones is the vice president at Airdrie Stud located in Midway, KY, a 2,500-acre breeding operation founded in 1972 by his parents, Governor Brereton Jones and his wife, Elizabeth. He is a graduate of the University of the South (Suwanee) and has formally been a member of the team at Airdrie since 2006. He also serves on the Board of the Breeders' Cup, a position he's held since 2011, and was a commissioner on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission from 2016-2020. He currently serves on the board of trustees...

Officials at Keeneland announced it will offer a share in Upstart (r, 10, Flatter-Party Silks, by Touch Gold), sire of leading classic prospects GISW Zandon and MGSW Kathleen O. in his second crop, at its April Horses of Racing Age Sale, to be held following the races on closing day Friday, Apr. 29 . The share will be the final offering of the sale. Shareholder involvement will begin with the 2023 breeding season. Upstart, who stands at Airdrie Stud in Midway, Kentucky, is a graded stakes-winner who earned $1.7 million....

Even if most racing is delayed, we're all hoping it will get underway sometime this spring or early summer, if for no other reason than so we can all find out the answer to our annual favorite question. We surveyed some top judges on who their leading first-crop sire is, and to give us some under-the-radar picks as well. I want to disclose my opinion by saying that most of it is based on the two-year-olds I have seen this past week at the OBS sale. Most of my clients...