Brody's Cause

In a deal that came about unexpectedly for Rodney Eckenrode's Equistar--the training and breeding operation east of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that stands Smarty Jones and Brody's Cause--GSW Zozos (by Munnings) will join the farm's stallion roster for 2025 with a stud fee of $2,500 in the offing. The dark bay who was bred and campaigned by Minnesotans Barry and Joni Butzow recently retired from trainer Brad Cox's shedrow after a career which began at three. Zozos's career highlights include a runner-up finish in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds...

Veteran jockey Corey Lanerie posted the 5,000th victory of his riding career Wednesday at Keeneland, coming with a patented move up the fence to guide the Chris Hartman-trained I Feel The Need (Keen Ice) in race three. He is the 38th jockey in history and is the 12th winningest among active riders behind the ageless Perry Ouzts. "It's beautiful," he said. "I have been waiting a long time and it seems like I got right on it and I could never get over the hump, but today we got over...

Multiple Grade I winner Brody's Cause (Giant's Causeway--Sweet Breanna, by Sahm) will stand the 2023 breeding season at Equistar Training and Breeding in Pennsylvania after formerly standing at Spendthrift in Kentucky. The third-crop sire has been acquired by Rodney Eckenrode and will stand for $3,500. A winner of both the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and the GI Blue Grass S., Brody's Cause is the sire of three black-type winners, including GI La Brea S. winner Kalypso and GIII Iroquois S. winner Sittin On Go. He is currently ranked in the...

David A Bernsen, LLC, Gainesway Stable, Rockingham Ranch and Chad Littlefield's Kalypso (Brody's Cause) became her sire's first Grade I winner with a stylish victory in the GI La Brea S. at Santa Anita Sunday. The 8-1 shot, making her first start since April, stalked the pace of Livingmybestlife (The Big Beast) through fractions of :22.11 and :44.92. Longshot Brilliant Cut (Speightstown) collared the pacesetter as they approached the stretch, but her advantage was short-lived as Kalypso ranged up three wide at the top of the lane and strode confidently...

This is the second half of the latest instalment in our ongoing survey of covering options for the new breeding season. The first part can be read here. UPSTART (Flatter--Party Silks, by Touch Gold) was cleverly named and I think him a very plausible type, likely to rise pretty quickly through the ranks. Certainly there were more than enough "nouveaux riches" among his first juveniles--only Not This Time exceeded his 19 winners (from 54 starters)--for him to be pegged at $10,000 by Airdrie. His principal earner was Reinvestment Risk, who...

David Bernsen, Rockingham Ranch and Chad Littlefield's Kalypso (Brody's Cause), the 4-5 favorite, strode home an easy winner of the GII Santa Ynez S. at Santa Anita Sunday, becoming the second graded winner from the first crop of her Grade I-winning sire. Cutting back to seven furlongs following a runner-up effort behind her Santa Ynez-scratched stablemate Varda (Distorted Humor) in the 1 1/16-mile GI Starlet S. last month, the chestnut filly broke sharply and had the advantage in the early strides. But she was soon joined by Brilliant Cut (Speightstown)...

Much has been made lately in Kentucky on farms reducing stud fees in response to the blighted economy, but there's a group of stallions whose fees would have mostly dropped as a matter of course even in booming times. These are second- through fifth-year stallions; frequently, fees for horses entering their fifth season at stud as their first-crop runners turn three show particularly pronounced drops from their initial fees. A small commercial breeder contacted me the other day to discuss the reduced 2021 stud fee for a stallion whose first...

Kalypso broke her maiden in stakes company with a front-running score in the Anoakia S. Sunday at Santa Anita. The chestnut filly strode out to the early lead and was in hand through a quarter in :22.17 and a half :45.14. Three lengths in front with furlong to run, Kalypso was never threatened and sailed under the wire 2 1/4 lengths in front to become the second black-type winner for her freshman sire (by Giant's Causeway). "When you ride for Bob [Baffert], he just says, 'Break well and play the...

2nd-Ellis, $46,020, Msw, 8-16, 2yo, 5f, :59.26, ft. SITTIN ON GO (c, 2, Brody's Cause--Set'n On Ready {SP}, by More Than Ready) stormed to the lead with an eye-catching move in deep stretch to graduate on debut and become the third winner for his freshman sire (by Giant's Causeway). The chestnut, half of the 8-5 entry, settled well off the pace as Lock Up (Maclean's Music) looked to take them wire-to-wire. Sittin on Go made rapid progress on the turn along the rail, tipped out for running room at midstretch...

William Thompson Jr.'s Gospel Way (Brody's Cause) came from off the pace to graduate in his career unveiling at Woodbine Sunday afternoon. Sent off at 24-1 in the five-furlong main track test, the homebred settled in the second flight third early as Dancing Dragon (Old Forestor) established early fractions. Improving his position while two paths wide turning for home, the gelding bore down on the frontrunner through the lane, took over with relative ease and drew off to win by 1 1/4 lengths. The victory represented the first winner for...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - A year ago, Jonathan Thorne sent a son of Pioneerof the Nile through the sales ring at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearlings Sale and watched as the youngster sold for a sale-record $600,000. It was a gratifying moment for the longtime New York breeder who has been on the front lines of the evolution of the state's breeding program. Thorne returns to the New York sale with a five-horse consignment in 2019. "I was just really fortunate enough to breed a horse and raise him and...