horse breeding

The 2020 edition of the Fact Book is now available in the Resources section of The Jockey Club website at www.jockeyclub.com. The Fact Book is a statistical and informational guide to Thoroughbred breeding, racing and auctions in North American and also includes a directory of Canadian, international, national, and state organizations. Links to the Breeding Statistics report that is released by The Jockey Club each September and the Report of Mares Bred information that is published by The Jockey Club each October can be found in the Breeding section of...

After a devastating 2019 fire at Louis and Grace Merryman's Anchor and Hope Farm in Port Deposit, Maryland, the rebuilding process has come full circle with the arrival of Force the Pass, a Grade I-winning son of Speightstown, who will begin his first season at stud at the farm this year. Force the Pass also marks a new beginning for T. K. Kuegler's Wasabi Ventures Stallions as the first stallion to stand for the growing syndicate. Kuegler grew up listening to racing stories from his great grandfather, trainer P. J....

Through the first three installments of this series, we've repeatedly complained about ever-more manic investment in unproven stallions and the resulting potential for chronic deterioration in the gene pool. So we won't reprise the theme today, other than to remark that this situation creates a rather more immediate and specific challenge for the next group under review. Because while second- and third-season stallions can still offer breeders the possibility of riding an early vogue, this lot have just been exposed to the judgment of the yearling market--which history reveals to...

Multiple Grade I winner Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy--Devine Actress, by Theatrical {Ire}) was represented by his first foal Jan. 15 when a bay filly out of Proud Heroine (Proud Citizen) was born at Starwood Farm. Bred by George Krikorian, the filly is a maternal great-granddaughter of the breeder's MGISW Hollywood Story (Wild Rush). "I'm in love with her," Starwood farm manager Tony Burton said. "She is a beauty." Bred and raced by John and Jerry Amerman, Oscar Performance was a Grade I winner at two, three and four, taking out...

Secret Circle (Eddington--Ragtime Hope, by Dixieland Band), who achieved the rare feat of winning multiple Breeders' Cup races, will relocate to Michele Rodriguez's Elite Thoroughbreds in Louisiana, it was announced Monday. The deal was brokered by Chad Schumer of Schumer Bloodstock. Trained by Bob Baffert, Secret Circle was perfect in three starts at two, capped by a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint, but successfully carried his speed around two turns at three, winning the GIII Southwest S. and GII Rebel S. before finishing second to stablemate Bodemeister (Empire...

Tingling with a bit of pride at the final rankings of the 2019 Freshman Sires, we're crossing our fingers that things will remain steady in the future. That's because six of the Top 10 were listed as the ones we liked best based on various biomechanical programs which DataTrack uses to project such possibilities. Our task is to lay the odds on how the sires of these youngsters are likely to compete over the long term. We began to assemble statistics to see if there were any discernible trends in...