Beholder

"We were very saddened to learn of the passing of B. Wayne Hughes, who has left an indelible impact and legacy on our sport as a breeder, owner, and industry innovator for the past 20 years. Foremost of his many achievements was his restoration of Spendthrift Farm to its grandeur and success as an internationally preeminent breeding operation, led by such prolific stallions as Malibu Moon and Into Mischief. Moreover, Mr. Hughes believed that breeders were the 'backbone of our industry,' and created programs that re-established the owner/breeder relationship, such...

B. Wayne Hughes, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist who resurrected Spendthrift Farm and turned it into one of the leading stallion farms in North America, died Wednesday at his residence on the farm surrounded by his family. He was 87 years old. Born Bradley Wayne Hughes on Sept. 28, 1933, in the small town of Gotebo, OK, he was known by his middle name since childhood. The son of a sharecropper who fled Oklahoma's Dust Bowl and resettled in California shortly after he was born, Hughes grew up poor in...

"Leslie's Lady is retired," Clarkland Farm's Fred Mitchell reported. "And she is happy, fat and dappled." The 2016 Broodmare of the Year has produced two fillies following America's Joy (American Pharoah), a now three-year-old half-sister to GISWs Into Mischief, Beholder and Mendelssohn and the highest-priced yearling filly in Keeneland sales history. While Leslie's Lady is now 25, a good deal of thought went into the decision to officially retire her this spring. [Elite_video_player id="2" html5videos_hd="https://player.vimeo.com/external/560131973.sd.mp4?s=dd27449f028dc19beaadfc3f379b7aba219b47b6&profile_id=165" html5videos_videoThumbnails_jpg="" html5videos_title="Fred Mitchell and Leslies Lady" prerolls="https://player.vimeo.com/external/488087819.sd.mp4?s=902aa8d5fc7cddb1f9c4423d869f0f3bd1bc6402&profile_id=165"] "Early on in the season she was all...

Don't get me wrong. I respect Monomoy Girl (Tapizar). She's right up there among the best fillies and mares to compete in any of our lifetimes. But there was something routine about her victory in Sunday's GIII Bayakoa S. at Oaklawn Park. It was the 16th chapter in what has essentially been the same story from the start. In 15 of her 16 races, she has crossed the wire first, always against fillies and mares while winning in a manner better described as professional rather than breathtaking. There were some...

He has yet to race, but Q B One (Uncle Mo) has already been the subject of several stories and a video feature from XBTV. That's the way it is when your dam is one of the best horses of her era. Now, the story of Q B One is about to heat up even further. After the 3-year-old colt worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 Jan. 8 at Santa Anita, trainer Richard Mandella said that Q B One was "a couple of weeks from starting." He will start for her...

It's a sobering fact of life that the act of raising a child is a largely unacknowledged affair. For sure, birthdays, holidays and other celebratory moments garner plenty of photographs and Facebook likes. But beyond the narrow confines of the family nucleus, there's only very limited patience for whether little Billy shoved a battery up his nose, or whether darling Annie, dressed as a lobster, stole the show in her elementary school production of Moby Dick. But rarely--only very rarely--do the formative exploits of individual children garner universal interest. Think...

Abel Tasman (Quality Road), Beholder (Henny Hughes), Stephanie's Kitten (Kitten's Joy), Plum Pretty (Medaglia d'Oro), Stellar Wind (Curlin) and Flower Alley (Distorted Humor). These names are recognizable champions, classic winners, and high-profile Grade I winners. Another common thread they all share is they were bred during their respective sires' third season, on stud fees ranging from $12,500 to $40,000. It took their breeders' confidence, gumption, and desire to not just go with the status quo and avoid young sires that were in their "bubble years." Breeding Thoroughbreds is a long-term...

Four-time champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) delivered a filly by War Front Wednesday night at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington. "Beholder foaled a very nice War Front filly last night on the farm," confirmed Ned Toffey, General Manager at Spendthrift. "This filly is a good-sized, well-made foal, with a great shoulder and plenty of bone. She couldn't be doing any better. The delivery was very smooth and uneventful. It was another beautiful effort by Beholder." The dark bay filly was born at approximately 8:30 p.m. and "stood up within 20 minutes" according...

It was another of those weeks where the action on both sides of the Atlantic threw up some highly noteworthy action. For example, there was another hard-fought round in the battle currently being staged by Galileo and Dubawi, the two heavyweights of European breeding. Dubawi appeared to have landed a near knock-out blow in the battle for the Anglo-Irish sires' championship when his daughter Arabian Queen took the Juddmonte International, to end Golden Horn's unbeaten sequence. Galileo lost his International representative with the withdrawal of Gleneagles, but he staged a...