Lane's End

Andy Howard has been appointed Yearling Manager at Lane's End Farm. He will be taking over Peter Sheehan's role--Sheehan is now the stallion manager. "Andy has been a key part of our success with yearlings and will be an important asset on our team moving forward," said Bill Farish of Lane's End. "We are extremely confident in his ability to manage such a fundamental part of our operation." Howard worked as an assistant in the Versailles, Kentucky farm's yearling division since 2013. Notable yearlings he has helped raise are GI...

Back in March of 2009, in the Werk Thoroughbred Consultants blog, the late Jack Werk recounted a wager we'd made years earlier. This is what he wrote: "The year that Elusive Quality went to stud, pedigree expert Sid Fernando and I had a small side bet: Who was the best sleeper or long shot from that crop? Sid picked Distorted Humor, standing for $12,500, a pretty astute choice at the time. I, of course, picked Elusive Quality, who also went to stud very cheap--$10,000. "As it turns out, we both picked wisely! The top two...

Urban parks are well-loved destinations in America's most developed and highly-populated cities. Of course Central Park is the first that comes to mind, as well as perhaps Lincoln Park in Chicago or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. These beautifully-designed pieces of landscape architecture serve as gathering places for the city's community and are often stopping points for those visiting a bustling metropolis. In a few years Lexington, Kentucky--with a population of less than 400,000--will get a state-of-the-art park of its own in the heart of downtown. Ground is set...

Lane's End Farm helped raise nearly $50,000 for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) with the auction of 20 hand-crafted surfboards, each individually designed to highlight the nursery's stallion roster. The surfboards were created in partnership with the Cornett advertising agency and the Torrance, California-based Chili Surfboards. Prior to being auctioned off to the highest bidders, the surfboards were on public display at Breeders' Cup partner hotels in the Del Mar area as well as the racetrack over Breeders' Cup weekend. John Velazquez, Mike Smith, Drayden Van Dyke and Victor...

Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun--Loving Vindication, by Vindication), victorious in the 2019 GI La Brea S. at Santa Anita, was the latest mare to shine at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale Tuesday, selling to a partnership consisting of Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway for $3.2 million. The Ontario-bred, cataloged as hip 184, was consigned to the sale by Lane's End and is a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d'Oro) and SW & GSP Solemn Tribute (Medaglia d'Oro). Her second dam is GSW/GISP Chimichurri...

With a stud career at Lane's End just a few short months away, MGISW Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) looks to add to his already formidable resume Saturday in Keeneland's GII Hagyard Fayette S. Winner of the 2019 GI Runhappy Travers S. and GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, the Farish homebred captured the GIII Winchester S. in 2020 and placed in several other stakes, including the GI Clark S. Fifth in his seasonal bow in the GI Pegasus World Cup Jan. 23, the chestnut scored a facile victory in...

Quality Road (Elusive Quality--Kobla, by Strawberry Road {Aus}), whose 'TDN Rising Star' son Corniche figures one of the favorites for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 5, will remain at $150,000 for the upcoming breeding season at William S. Farish's Lane's End Farm, which released its stud fees Monday. The 15-year-old stallion is in the midst of another outstanding season, with nine stakes winners to his credit. Three of those have come at the graded level, led by the aforementioned Corniche, who topped this year's OBS April Sale on a...

Grade I winner Mr Speaker (Pulpit--Salute, by Unbridled) has been purchased by Lori and Mark Collinsworth and will be relocating to their Forks of the Paluxy Farm in Bluff Dale, Texas for the 2022 Breeding Season. He will stand for $5,000. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to stand a horse of Mr Speaker's caliber in Texas," said Mark Collinsworth. "He was a very talented racehorse, and he is off to a great start in his stallion career with a number of stakes horses already to his credit. With...

If City of Light was considered to be in demand after the close of Book 1 at the Keeneland September Sale, his yearlings were perhaps even more challenging to get ahold of by the end of Book 2. First a colt by the first-crop stallion out of the graded stakes-producing mare Ghostslayer (Ghostzapper) brought $1.05 million late in the second session of the auction on Tuesday, selling as Hip 376, but then the next day another colt by the Lane's End sire, Hip 612 out of SP Anchorage (Tapit), brought...

Lane's End's outstanding Quality Road became the fifth sire to be represented by a seven-figure yearling at Keeneland September when hip 286 was hammered down to bloodstock agent David Ingordo for $1.15 million Tuesday afternoon. The February-foaled bay colt is the first produce from Grade III-placed Brielle's Appeal (English Channel), whose MGSW/MGISP half-sister Authenticity (Quiet American) is the dam of the recently retired MGISW 'TDN Rising Star' Charlatan (Speightstown) as well as SW Hanalei Moon (Malibu Moon). Hip 286 was bred and consigned by William Shively's Dixiana Farms. American Pharoah,...

First-crop yearling sire City of Light (Quality Road - Paris Notion, by Dehere) was a physical standout long before he joined the Lane's End stallion roster. In 2015, the son of Quality Road bred by Ann Marie Farm topped the sixth session of the Keeneland September Sale by a landslide when he sold for $710,000 to Mark Reid of Walnut Green. It was the largest ticket price for a Keeneland Book 3 horse since 2007. Allaire Ryan recalls watching City of Light develop at Lane's End Farm in the days...

Lane's End Farm's longtime Stallion Manager Bill Sellers will retire in September after 39 years of service. Sellers has overseen the management and care of influential Lane's End stallions including the legendary A.P. Indy, champion sires Kingmambo, Smart Strike, Dixieland Band, Gulch, Lemon Drop Kid, Mineshaft and City Zip in addition to current top stallions Quality Road, Candy Ride (Arg), Union Rags and Twirling Candy. Sellers has been a valued member of the Lane's End Farm team since 1982, when he was hired in a foreman capacity to work with...