Ashford Stud

Long-time Ashford Stud sire Lookin At Lucky (Smart Strike--Private Feeling, by Belong to Me) will be staying in Chile at Haras Don Alberto for the next season and will not be available to cover mares in Kentucky in 2024, officials at Coolmore America confirmed Thursday. A champion at two and three, as well as winner of the GI Preakness S. and four other Grade I events, Lookin At Lucky's first foals were born in 2012. Among his 74 black-type winners and 49 graded winners worldwide are champion and GI Breeders'...

Coolmore's late super sire, Galileo, added his sixth Breeders' Cup winner with Tuesday just last year. He is a joint second by winners, but stands alone as the leading Breeders' Cup sire by money won with nearly $16 million in purses--more than $4.5 million more than his closest pursuer. Tuesday, who also captured the G1 Cazoo Oaks in 2022 and now holds the 1 3/16-mile course record at Keeneland after her Breeders' Cup win, was retired shortly after the race and bred to Into Mischief this spring. "She was such...

Early Voting, who was not on the roster of stud fees when Coolmore America announced their 2024 lineup Tuesday, has been "removed from covering duties at Ashford Stud for the 2024 breeding season due to an inability to breed, according to veterinary experts," Coolmore said Wednesday. The farm said that the stallion, a son of Gun Runner, was subject to an ongoing insurance claim. Early Voting got off to a successful start at stud in 2023, and did get mares in foal, but experienced problems midway through the season. Those...

Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy), currently North America's leading second-crop sire in stakes horses, will stand for a fee of $200,000, live foal, at Ashford Stud in Kentucky in 2024, Coolmore America announced on Tuesday. The 9-year-old's fee represents a jump of $100,000 from the figure of $100,000 that he stood for in 2023. Justify's 2024 fee is the fourth-highest of the stallions announced so far for 2024, placing him behind perennial leading sires Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday) and Curlin (Smart Strike), and third-crop standout Gun Runner (Candy Ride...

The time Corniche, a $1.5-million OBS topper and 'TDN Rising Star', spent on the track might have been brief, but it was bright. Undefeated in three starts at two and a dual Grade I winner, he was simply better than the rest. "Corniche was always a dominating colt on the farm and so good looking as a foal," said Leah O'Meara of Stonehaven Steadings, who co-bred the Juvenile winner. "We always had high hopes for him. He gave us the first round of excitement when he breezed so well and...

The horse that doesn't get tired. The most unusual of all the Rosegreen "unusuals". By the time TDN Rising Star City Of Troy (Justify--Together Forever {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) hit the line with his trademark force in Saturday's G1 Native Trail's Dewhurst S., we were dealing with a colt who prompts excitable talk. The kind not heard in these parts since 2010, when a certain local legend continued his irresistible trajectory in this very prize. After Frankel (GB) put an unreachable star in racing's heavens, here we have one who...

If ever there was a horse whose CV matches his pedigree, it is Mendelssohn. He topped the Keeneland September sale on a bid of $3 million from Coolmore in 2016, the year before he captured the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. And that pedigree? When he won the Breeders' Cup, he pushed his dam, the reigning Broodmare of the Year Leslie's Lady, into rare territory: she became what was then one of five mares to produce two Breeders' Cup winners. The year prior, her multiple champion daughter Beholder had captured...

When Indian Charlie died prematurely from cancer at the age of 16 in 2011, the loss was palpable. He had perennially been among the nation's leading sires, while his prowess as a broodmare sire had yet to fully emerge. He had several sons already at stud, but waiting in the wings was his top successor and one who would ultimately put him on the map as a sire of sires. At the time of Indian Charlie's death, Uncle Mo had just closed out his racing career and was preparing for...

Classic winner Magician (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has been purchased by Chinese interests and will continue his stallion career in that jurisdiction for the 2024 season. The deal was brokered by Mattia Cadrobbi, who had been steward of the stallion in 2021 with Renew Italian Breeding during his single season at Allevamenti della Berardenga in Italy. Dr. Bernard Stoffel handled the veterinary clearance and Marco Bozzi acted as agent followed by Kevin Ren, who is now trustee of Magician. A winner of both the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas and the GI...

Klaravich Stables homebred Ways and Means wowed the crowd in her 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy debut on Sunday at Saratoga, but for the connections who have worked with the daughter of Practical Joke leading up to that 12 3/4-length romp, her impressive performance came as no surprise. Out of the Klaravich-campaigned stakes winner Strong Incentive (Warrior's Reward), Ways and Means was a standout at Dell Ridge Farm since the day she was foaled. Sent to Nick de Meric's in Ocala to go through her early training, again she was one of...

Lion Heart (Tale of the Cat--Satin Sunrise, by Mr. Leader), a Grade I winner at two and three and runner-up to Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality) in the 2004 GI Kentucky Derby, has passed away in Turkey, where he stood stud since 2011. He was 22 years of age and died from a circulatory disorder caused by heart failure. A $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling turned $1.4-million Fasig-Tipton Florida juvenile, the Sabine Stable-bred Lion Heart was trained for the Coolmore connections by Patrick Biancone and capped a perfect 2-year-old campaign with a...

There were a lot of "firsts" associated with Fusaichi Pegasus, the 2000 GI Kentucky Derby winner who was euthanized at Ashford Stud May 23 due to old-age infirmities that had accumulated over his 26 years. As the first Derby winner of the 2000s decade, this high-spirited, headstrong son of Mr. Prospector had commanded a $4-million price tag at Keeneland July, then the highest price paid for a yearling at that sale in 13 years. And to this day, that auction price remains as the highest ever paid for any starter...