Lane's End Farm

If you peak through the windows of the new café in downtown Versailles, Kentucky, the sights and smells of the tantalizing cuisine draw you closer to the door. Cajun shrimp and grits, chicken pesto pizza and beef short ribs are laid out across wooden tables adorned with mason jars filled with freshly-cut flowers. Normally, many people living in this community wouldn't dream of stepping across the threshold of such an upscale, and perhaps mistakenly pretentious, establishment. The dollar signs listed on the menu next to those mouth-watering entrees would make...

Mike Cline, "the only farm manager Lane's End has ever known," according to a press release from the farm announcing the news, is retiring after a 40-year career at the storied nursery. "It would be hard to overstate Mike's importance to Lane's End and everything that has happened here since the farm's inception," said Will Farish, "I hired Mike back in 1979 and he has overseen everything from the broodmares, to stallions, to sales, to barn construction, to pasture maintenance." Many successful people in the industry came up under Cline's...

Honor A. P. (Honor Code--Hollywood Story, by Wild Rush) will be retired to Lane's End Farm upon the conclusion of his racing career, the farm announced Friday. The 3-year-old is from the first crop by his sire, who also stands at Lane's End, and is his highest earner. Honor A. P. has finished first or second in each of his four starts, winning the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby in his last outing June 6, and establishing himself as a favorite for the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby. "He's a...

If someone new to our business asked you to pick a single race in 2015 that might explain the passion that consumes us, you probably wouldn't pick the processional exhibitions of a first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. You'd show them the GI Whitney S. In a summer when hardly anyone will be able to renew the Saratoga pilgrimage, you may find the jolt of nostalgia too poignant to revisit the video yourself. But gosh, that was a horserace. Liam's Map (Unbridled's Song), flying just that fraction too close...

Horse of the Year and GI Breeders' Cup Classic heroine Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}-Vertigineux, by Kris S.) foaled a chestnut filly by Lane's End resident Candy Ride (Arg) Sunday morning at 5:40 a.m. at the Versailles, Kentucky farm, www.Zenyatta.com announced. The three-time Eclipse Champion Older Mare and her latest offspring, her sixth, are both doing well following the delivery. This 148-pound filly is her first foal since the unraced Zellda (Medaglia d'Oro) was foaled in 2017. Her first foal, Cozmic One (Bernardini), and her second, Ziconic (Tapit), failed to win....

Foaled in 2009, King's Vision (Gulch--Weekend Storm by Storm Bird) began his career at Aqueduct, racing under IEAH's colors for trainer Rick Dutrow. At Finger Lakes, at age five, he finally broke his maiden. Overall, in 16 starts, King's Vision earned $20,908. King's Vision was born and raised at Lane's End Farm and is a full brother to Breeders' Cup Turf Mile winner Court Vision, who won over $3 million on the track. His dam is a full-sister to Preakness winner Summer Squall, and a half-sister to champion A.P. Indy....

The ever-growing threat to American life that is coronavirus COVID-19 has rapidly chipped away at horse racing's business after shutting down the affairs of all major sports. Only a handful of tracks are choosing to stay open without spectators as of this writing, and news of the four-month postponement of the GI Kentucky Derby drove home once and for all that the sport would not be unaffected by this crisis. But deeper into the heart of Kentucky than the Twin Spires, are stallion and breeding farms. As much as racetracks,...

Lane's End has unveiled a new tool designed to help breeders determine the farm's stallion best suited to their mares. The two-step process allows breeders to find their mare, select their preferred stud fee price range, and be immediately matched to the Lane's End stallion or stallions that best fit their mare and their preferences. The results include nicking scores so breeders can quickly compare potential matches. "We're always looking for ways to streamline the process for our breeders and partners, and we're excited to add Stallion Select to their...

Lane's End Farm's Belong to Me (Danzig--Belonging, by Exclusive Native) has passed away due to the infirmities of old age, the farm announced Thursday afternoon. Bred by Joseph and William Stavola, Inc. in New Jersey, the Middletown Stables colorbearer landed the GIII Boojum H. and GIII Best Turn S. both at Aqueduct for Allen Jerkens in 16 starts before embarking on a stallion career. After standing for four years in the Empire State, he moved to Lane's End and stood there until being pensioned in November of 2013. He also...

Two-time leading sire and 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy (Seattle Slew--Weekend Surprise, by Secretariat) has died at the age of 31. The legendary Lane's End Farm stallion sired 30 Grade I winners, 12 champions, 89 graded winners and 156 stakes winners. "It is with extreme sadness that we today announce the passing of our beloved A.P. Indy, he was 31 years old," a statement from Lane's End Farm read. "A.P. Indy passed away peacefully in his stall at the Lane's End stallion complex, the barn he called home...

Chris McGrath's Value Sires series in the TDN has frequently touched on the difficulty in selling nominations to stallions in their third-year at stud, as well as to solid, established stallions standing for a moderate fee. We asked stallion managers and nominations teams as well as bloodstock agents what changes could be made, if any, to help the situation. Implementing The Jockey Club's proposed cap on numbers of mares bred would most certainly boost demand for unproven and moderately priced proven stallions. The overarching problem is the commercialization of breeding...

Lane's End resident City of Light (Quality Road) sired his first foal, a filly, Friday at Machmer Hall in Paris, Ky. The filly is also the first foal out of unraced Redbud (Union Rags), a half-sister to graded stakes winner Wishful Tomcat (Tactical Cat) and stakes winners Uncle T Seven (Freud), Lucky Lewis (Forest Camp) and Zetterholm (Silver Train). "We are thrilled to bits over our City of Light filly!" said Machmer Hall's Carrie Brogden. "She has a beautiful feminine head and great balance and frame." City of Light will...