Bill Farish

Urban parks are well-loved destinations in America's most developed and highly-populated cities. Of course Central Park is the first that comes to mind, as well as perhaps Lincoln Park in Chicago or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. These beautifully-designed pieces of landscape architecture serve as gathering places for the city's community and are often stopping points for those visiting a bustling metropolis. In a few years Lexington, Kentucky--with a population of less than 400,000--will get a state-of-the-art park of its own in the heart of downtown. Ground is set...

Grade I winner Lexitonian (Speightstown--Riviera Romper, by Tapit) will stand the 2022 breeding season at Lane's Farm and will command a fee of $10,000. Winner of the GIII Chick Lang S. as a sophomore in 2019 and beaten a nose I the 2020 GI Bing Crosby S., the Calumet Farm homebred defeated the likes of next-out GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. winner Special Reserve (Midshipman) and 2020 champion sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) in the prestigious GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga this July. "He's a horse who fights",...

Lane's End Farm helped raise nearly $50,000 for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) with the auction of 20 hand-crafted surfboards, each individually designed to highlight the nursery's stallion roster. The surfboards were created in partnership with the Cornett advertising agency and the Torrance, California-based Chili Surfboards. Prior to being auctioned off to the highest bidders, the surfboards were on public display at Breeders' Cup partner hotels in the Del Mar area as well as the racetrack over Breeders' Cup weekend. John Velazquez, Mike Smith, Drayden Van Dyke and Victor...

By Emma Berry and Kelsey Riley NEWMARKET, UK--Watership Down Stud's signature family of Darara (Ire) brought yet more success for breeders Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber when their Sea The Stars (Ire) colt out of So Mi Dar (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) sold to Bill Farish for 1.2 million gns at Tattersalls. As the bidding progressed, Andrew Lloyd Webber appeared in the ring seconds before Anthony Stroud and the Godolphin team gave way to Charlie Gordon-Watson, who was bidding on behalf of the American owner of Lane's End Farm. "We don't...

by Brian DiDonato, Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - If Monday's first session of the Keeneland September sale was solid, Tuesday's second day of selling and final Book 1 session was very strong. Three yearlings hit the seven-figure mark during the opener, and another eight brought that amount or more on Tuesday, led by the current sale-topping $1.6-million Quality Road colt. Consigned by Eaton Sales, agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised, the well-related hip 300 was purchased by Woodford Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds. "It was a great...

When a horse carries a name like this, there can be no evasion or equivocation. With due honesty, then, let us admit that Honor Code is not yet converting his transparent eligibility as a stallion--apparently so watertight in pedigree, physique and performance--in quite the fashion that seemed likely when he produced the luminous Honor A.P. from his very first crop. Not yet. Small, agonizingly flexible words, in the context of a suffocatingly impatient marketplace. By any rational measure, it should still feel like early days in Honor Code's stud career....

While there are certainly some strong contenders vying for this year's Champion 3-Year-Old Colt title, it's still possible that the future recipient hasn't yet had his breakout win. Perhaps, he wasn't even seen in a Triple Crown race. In the past 20 years, two colts have managed to earn the crown for Eclipse Champion 3-Year-Old Male despite having skipped the Triple Crown trail. The first was Arrogate, who did not make his graded stakes debut until his famed 13 1/2-length, record-setting GI Travers. The second came the following year. [Elite_video_player...

By the time a stallion's fourth book opens, the team behind him is usually pulling out all their stops to fill those pages. But perhaps no marketing technique in their repertoire can have quite the same effect as just one big price tag when the stallion's first crop of juveniles go to market. At last week's OBS March Sale, three first-crop juvenile sires were represented by youngsters that surpassed the $500,000 mark in the sales ring, and representatives from each of their respective farms said the phone has been ringing...

Lane's End Farm's William "Bill" Farish, who serves on the boards of numerous Thoroughbred industry and Central Kentucky organizations, has been appointed a Keeneland Trustee. Farish succeeds Claiborne Farm co-owner Seth Hancock, who is retiring as a Keeneland Trustee after having served since 2015. "I am thankful for the opportunity to have served as a Keeneland Trustee for the past several years," said Hancock, "and I know that Keeneland is in very capable hands." Hancock will remain on Keeneland's Board of Directors. "On behalf of Keeneland, I want to extend...

Chance Timm has been named Executive Director of the Don Alberto Corporation, the farm announced Sunday morning. He takes over in that new role March 1. With over 100 broodmares, Don Alberto, based in Lexington, was a top 15 breeder nationally last year. Timm succeeds Fabricio Buffolo, who has been the Executive Director for the past four years. Both are graduates of the prestigious Godolphin Flying Start program. Beginning with the purchase of the former Vinery Stud in 2013, Don Alberto has subsequently expanded its holdings in America to occupy...

A wise man changes his mind, but a fool never will. Such is the association between the commercial market and Daredevil (More Than Ready-- Chasethewildwind, by Forestry). Luckily for the third-crop sire, the market was quick to change its opinion and Lane's End jumped on the opportunity to bring him back. After Daredevil failed to attract mares to fill his fourth book in 2019, WinStar Farm accepted an offer from the Jockey Club of Turkey and the son of More Than Ready boarded a flight abroad for last year's breeding...

Lane's End Farm brought their stallion roster up to 21 members this year as they welcomed several new additions for the 2021 season in Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}), Gift Box (Twirling Candy), Honor A. P. (Honor Code) and Daredevil (More Than Ready). We sat down with Bill Farish and spoke with him on Game Winner and Gift Box, both Grade I-winning millionaires who will join Twirling Candy and Unified in carrying on the Candy Ride (Arg) legacy at Lane's End. Now a perennial leading general sire, Candy Ride began...