Claiborne Farm

Jill Gordon and Jacob West have launched Highgate Sales, a new sales company which will make its debut at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale in February. Highgate Sales will offer consignments at breeding stock, yearling, and horses of racing age sales, as well as offering appraisals, private purchases and sales, and portfolio management services. Gordon formerly worked at Claiborne Farm as the Sales and Client Relations Manager for 3 1/2 years after a three-year stint at Warrendale Sales. In her role at Claiborne, she oversaw all aspects of the...

LEXINGTON, KY--Kentuckians across the Commonwealth woke up with a text on Saturday morning: 'Are you okay?' For most, it was an uneventful night aside from perhaps being awakened once or twice to the sound of high winds. But for some, unimaginable destruction and immeasurable damage occurred overnight as a catastrophic tornado hit western Kentucky. As of Friday, 77 Kentuckians have lost their lives due to a storm that is expected to have affected an estimated 227 miles, according to WLKY News. Bradley Boyd, a professional Quarter Horse trainer based in...

They say it's an ill wind that blows no good and, sure enough, consoling fragments of human kindness were strewn even among the deadly havoc in Western Kentucky last week. But besides the substantial gestures of solidarity from the Bluegrass, including the auctioning of a live foal season to a Triple Crown winner, disasters like this also tend to leave glinting in their wake tiny shards of the life force by which our species has achieved viability amidst its volatile habitat. The tattered photograph of two smiling children, for instance,...

According to Walker Hancock, Silver State (Hard Spun - Supreme, by Empire Maker) has been an easy sell as breeders have stopped by Claiborne Farm in the past few weeks to see the new, Grade I-winning arrival. "Everyone who has come to see him has absolutely loved him," Hancock reported. "They can't get enough of him. We've even sold shares to him just with people who have come out to see him. The comments we get are that people didn't realize how big he is. He's 16'3 and is dappled...

Welcome to our annual winter survey of Kentucky stallion options--with the difference, this time round, that the emphasis will be far more strictly and succinctly on value. Over the past couple of years, acknowledging of the brevity of commercial momentum for so many sires once losing their freshman luster, we've got into the habit of granting some attention (more or less courteous!) to just about every stallion in the Bluegrass. But such an exhaustive approach has doubtless proved still more exhausting for the reader than for the compiler. So, we've...

by Jessica Martini, Brian DiDonato, and Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale saved its best to almost last Wednesday with Paris Lights (Curlin) capping a day of solid trade when bringing a final bid of $3.1 million from Spendthrift Farm. The racing or broodmare prospect was one of seven to top the million-dollar mark during the one-session Book 1 section of the 10-day Keeneland November sale. "It was a good, steady, strong session," Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said Wednesday night. "We felt great...

Claiborne Farm announced Monday that this year's GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. winner Silver State (Hard Spun) will stand for $20,000 for the 2022 breeding season. It was announced last month that Claiborne had acquired the Steve Asmussen trainee's breeding rights. Campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Willis Horton Racing LLC, the $450,000 KEESEP yearling was completing a six-race win streak in the Met Mile, and defeated GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Knicks Go (Paynter) in the process. Silver State will be available for inspection later this week by...

Officials at Claiborne Farm announced Monday that multiple graded stakes winner Performer (Speightstown--Protesting, by A.P. Indy) has passed away. He was sent to the clinic Friday night and died early Saturday morning from a ruptured stomach. Bred by the Phipps Stable, Performer was a debut third, but commenced a five-raced winning streak thereafter over increasing distances and capped by a 1 3/4-length success in the 2019 GIII Discovery S. at Aqueduct. The chestnut, who bore a striking resemblance to former Phipps runner Easy Goer, returned victoriously from an 11-month layoff...

Claiborne Farm has acquired the breeding rights to multiple graded stakes winner Silver State (Hard Spun--Supreme, by Empire Maker). He will stand at the Paris, Ky., farm upon his retirement from racing. The 4-year-old son of Hard Spun has won seven of 13 career starts, hitting the board in 12 of those starts, and has made over $1.9 million. In 2021 alone, he is 4-1-1 from six starts and has made over $1.6 million. "We are very excited to stand Silver State in 2022," said Claiborne's Walker Hancock. "Danzig is...

He really had to earn his stripes, his farm resorting to pretty desperate measures to keep him in the game as his early books dwindled along with his fee. But he has long since vindicated (as well as virtually trademarked) that farm's management style, evolving into one of the great stallions of our time--a status on which he set a formal seal last weekend with his 100th stakes winner. And his name is... Into Mischief. Or is it? Hang on a minute. Syllable for syllable, you can say exactly the...

Up Her Sleeve (Mastery) benefited from a perfect trip to become the first winner for her well-regarded Claiborne Farm-based sire (by Candy Ride {Arg}) in the Gulfstream opener Saturday afternoon. Sent off at 19-1 off a distant last of four in a rained-off maiden on debut June 30, the bay filly was one of the first away, but came back to Wilmer Garcia to sit third rounding the first turn, as odds-on Royal Rocker (Noble Bird) led them along. Hugging the rail down the backstretch, she was asked for a...

America's Day at the Races will broadcast a special half-hour show on FS2 Tuesday, June 1 from 11-11:30 a.m. that will air the draw for the June 5 GI Belmont S., presented by NYRA Bets. Presented by America's Best Racing and Claiborne Farm, the broadcast schedule for America's Day at the Races the following week are (EST): Thursday, May 27 (FS2: 5 - 8:30 p.m.) Friday, May 28 (FS2: 12:30 - 5:30 p.m.) Saturday, May 29 (FS2: 12:30 - 6 p.m.) Sunday, May 30 (Bally Sports SoCal: 3 - 5:30...