Giant's Causeway

It is the typically interesting opinion of John Sikura that "a stallion's genetic switch is either on or off." The quality and quantity of his books may affect his profile, but his potency (or otherwise) will be operative the day he covers his first mare. Sure enough, six Grade I winners to date for Not This Time all belong to his first two books, conceived at just $15,000. Whatever he might yet achieve with his upgraded mares, paying $135,000 last year and now $150,000, he did not need their help...

Turkish stallion Red Giant (Giant's Causeway) has died from old age, according to Turkish horseman Tarik Tekce. A course record-setting Grade I-winner in his time on the track in the States, Red Giant initially stood at Three Chimneys and spent a period of time shuttling before moving to New Zealand's Westbury Stud in 2016. He was purchased by the Turkish Jockey Club later that year, where he would remain until his passing. In total, he sired three champions, five Group/Graded winners, and 14 listed winners across both hemispheres with his...

Multiple group winner Mutasaabeq (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}--Ghanaati, by Giant's Causeway) has been retired and will take up stallion duties at The National Stud in Newmarket next year. The dual G2 Joel S. hero's fee will be £6,500. "We are delighted to have secured Mutasaabeq to join our stallion roster for the 2024 season," said The National Stud CEO Anna Kerr. "He was a very consistent horse on the track and showed a great attitude in his races. It is rare that a prospect with such an outstanding pedigree becomes...

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued six initial supplemental entries to its 2023 The November Sale, the auction company announced on Monday. The late entries, catalogued as hips 247-252, include G3 Pocohontas S. winner Fun and Fiesty (Midshipman); the unraced Al Ula Princess (Tapwrit), a half-sister to Grade I winner Princess Noor in foal to Epicenter; Susie's Baby (Giant's Causeway), a half-sister to Group 1 winner and standout sire Caravaggio; 2016 GI Frizette S. winner Nickname (Scat Daddy) in foal to Uncle Mo; recent Iowa Sorority S. winner Won Happy Mama (Runhappy) offered...

Champion Kalanisi (Ire) (Doyoun {Ire}--Kalamba {Ire}, by Green Dancer) passed away earlier this week at the Flood family's Boardsmill Stud, the stud announced on Friday. He was 27. Bred by His Highness the Aga Khan's Studs in Ireland and trained by first Luca Cumani and then Sir Michael Stoute, he was crowned the 2000 American Champion Grass Horse after a season which saw him take the G2 Queen Anne S., run second in the G1 Eclipse S. and G1 International S. both to Giant's Causeway (Storm Cat), before returning to...

1st-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 5fT, 12:40 p.m. A Triple Crown-nominated colt for the connections of Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, Jonathon Poulin and St. Elias Stable, SOUTH SIDE (Curlin) was a $500,000 yearling purchase out of the Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Sale. His dam, while unplaced herself, is out of the graded stakes winning mare Mariah's Storm (Rahy), who readers will recognize as the dam of none other than the full-brothers by Storm Cat, Giant's Causeway and Freud. In addition, this is the family of several...

A two-year-old colt by Creative Cause (Giant's Causeway) who is out of a half-sister to GI Travers S. victor, Golden Ticket (Speightstown) is just one of 29 offerings from the 2023 Wanamaker's March Catalogue. Ranging from yearlings to broodmares, the auction bidding will open Thursday, Mar. 30 at 8:00 a.m. ET, with the first listing ending at 5:00 p.m. Subsequent listings will close in three-minute increments. Click here, for more information.

Pearling (Storm Cat--Mariah's Storm, by Rahy), the dam of triple Group 1 winner and stallion Decorated Knight (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), passed away this week, Imad Al Sagar's Blue Diamond Stud announced on Tuesday. The 17-year-old, who was set to return to Frankel this season, foaled a Frankel (GB) filly this week, the stud confirmed to the TDN. "Very sad to lose Pearling this week," the stud tweeted. "She was one of the first mares to join Blue Diamond and gave us a true star in Decorated Knight. She leaves a lasting...

When it comes to ageing, as the wiseguys remind us, it's when you're over the hill that you begin to pick up speed. And it's true: the magnolia trees where I live are coming into blossom, and I swear that each passing year compresses both the duration of those brief candles and, above all, the intervals in between. The inference is a dismal one: time flies when you've had your fun. So on a weekend when we temporarily suspend our search for the adolescent Thoroughbred maturing sufficiently to beat his...

5th-Gulfstream, $70,000, Msw, 3-12, 3yo, 7 1/2fT, 1:29.34, fm, 2 1/2 lengths. FEARLESS SOLDIER (c, 3, City of Light--Hessie's Girl, by Giant's Causeway) had something of a rough debut Feb. 16 when he tossed his head at the jump and hopped coming out of the stall. Racing all over the synthetic track from there, as far as seven wide in the stretch before lugging in through the final furlong, he finished a very green fourth but producing a field-best Beyer Speed Figure of 74. Cutting back from that 1m70 contest...

For those of us who only seldom witness a Thoroughbred stallion in the throes of lust, hollering and snorting and shuddering, there's always a sense of awe at the primal energies harnessed by Nature to meet the reproduction imperative. Presumably, then, even nearly four decades of seeing the same thing repeated again and again--with another new covering season imminent--will never quite stifle that wonder, that privileged connection with the very wellspring of life, the constantly recurring miracle of creation. Put this to Richard Barry, however, and he gives you a...

Even in a market like this one, weirdly insulated from economic and geopolitical chaos, trading Thoroughbreds will always remain a precarious business. Speculators never hesitate, then, to pounce whenever the odds appear skewed temporarily in their favor. Sure enough, with the dollar squeezing other currencies dry, around one in eight of the yearlings sold at the Goffs Orby Sale this week is said to be heading to the U.S.; and they'll have plenty of company out of Tattersalls next week. To one who constantly berates breeders both sides of the...