Pin Oak Stud

With the Breeders' Cup returning to Lexington for the third time, headlined by the mighty Flightline (Tapit), the buzz in Lexington was electric from late October all the way through the nearly two weeks of breeding stock sales that followed the World Championships. Combine that with a deep and diverse buying bench and high demand and the result was gains in both gross and average for the 10-day Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which ran from Nov. 7-16. "With the close of the November Breeding Stock Sale, Keeneland is nearing...

Jim and Dana Bernhard continued adding to the broodmare band at their newly acquired Pin Oak Stud Tuesday at Keeneland, making their most expensive purchase of the auction when going to $1 million to acquire Sweet Sami D (First Samurai) from the Stonehaven Steadings consignment. The 6-year-old mare sold in foal to Gun Runner. The couple have now purchased six mares at the two-day old auction. Earlier Tuesday, they paid $700,000 for the mare Querelle (Violence).

MSW Alternate (Seattle Slew--Strike a Balance, by Green Dancer), dam of MGSW and Grade I-producing sire Alternation (Distorted Humor), died Oct. 15th at her lifetime home, Pin Oak Stud. She was 23 years old. She will be buried at her birthplace. The Pin Oak homebred won six races and placed another 11 times, seven in stakes, including the GII Monmouth Breeders' Cup Oaks, GIII Delaware Oaks, GIII Bewitch S. and the GIII Glens Falls H. She was trained by Graham Motion and earned over $550,000. The dam of nine winners...

No matter what privileges or disadvantages we take into the starting gate, and no matter how many circuits we get to run, all of us ultimately pull up at the same finishing line. But it is not just that humbling reckoning, reached within days of each other, that united Billy Turner and Josephine Abercrombie. Their lives, though wildly contrasting, were animated by the same bond of vitality that sustains many who grieve them. "Mrs. A.", as she was known to those blessed by her friendship or patronage, embraced the extraordinary...

DR. E.C. 'PUG' HART When Clifford [Barry]'s number flashed on my screen [Wednesday] I had a gut wrenching feeling because I knew why he was calling. We both lamented that Mrs. A was in a better place and how it was "time." She was one of a kind, a true horse woman, a philanthropist and all the other superlatives people will be mentioning. But for those of us who were fortunate enough to really know Mrs. A, there has never been, and I doubt there ever will be another one...

Lifelong horsewoman Josephine Abercrombie died peacefully at her home on Pin Oak Stud in Woodford County, Kentucky Jan. 5. She was 95. Abercrombie is survived by two sons, George Anderson Robinson IV and Jamie Abercrombie Robinson, as well as grandchildren George Anderson Robinson V and Blair Abercrombie Robinson. Abercrombie, the only child of Texas oilman and Cameron Iron Works founder J. S. "Mr. Jim" Abercrombie and Lillie Frank Abercrombie, was born Jan. 15, 1926, in Kingston, Jamaica. Growing up in Texas, her love of horses begun at a young age,...

Multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Alternation (Distorted Humor--Alternate, by Seattle Slew), a half-brother to Grade I winner and Darby Dan Farm stallion Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) and the sire of multiple Grade I winner Serengeti Empress, is being relocated from Pin Oak Stud to Darby Dan Farm by Steve Belford's Maccabee Farm for the upcoming breeding season, the farm announced today. Alternation is being re-syndicated and will stand for a fee of $7,500 S&N. "We're excited to bring a horse of Alternation's caliber to Darby Dan," said Ryan Norton, stallion director...

Pin Oak stalwart Broken Vow (Unbridled--Wedding Vow, by Nijinsky II), the sire of 2016 Eclipse champion Champagne Room and 79 other black-type winners, has been pensioned from the stallion barn and will remain at his lifetime home. Racing as a homebred for Pin Oak Stud, the nom de course of Josephine Abercrombie's historic racing and breeding operation, Broken Vow was a five-time stakes winner for trainer Graham Motion. His top wins included the 2001 GII Philip H. Iselin H. and the GIII Ben Ali S., as well as another four...

Gainesway Farm enjoyed an unforgettable Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale this year as the leading consignor of the elite auction with 12 yearlings sold including the $2.6 million sales topper. Now, they hope to continue the same success at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars Sale on Nov. 9 with a consignment that features three graded stakes winners including the speedy and precocious Perfect Alibi (Sky Mesa - No Use Denying, by Maria's Mon). The Grade I winner campaigned by Tracy Farmer will be offered in foal to super-sire Into Mischief....

LEXINGTON, KY - A large group of interested parties turned out at Fasig-Tipton as an offering of 23 mares and foals from the dispersal of Josephine Abercrombie's historic Pin Oak Stud went through the sales ring Sunday evening at Newtown Paddocks. Bloodstock agent Lincoln Collins, bidding on behalf of John and Susan Sykes's Woodford Thoroughbreds, made the evening's highest bid when going to $650,000 to acquire multiple graded stakes winner Don't Leave Me (Lemon Drop Kid) (hip 18). The 9-year-old mare sold in foal to 2020 Horse of the Year...

The breeding of Thoroughbreds being such a notoriously long game, a dispersal as uncommon as this one offers the most privileged of short cuts. It's as though you can transplant an oak overnight from a mature plantation. Someone else has put in all the necessary, painstaking seasons, years, decades since the acorns were first sown. So it's a given, absolutely, that the root-and-branch dismantling of Pin Oak Stud into the Lexington lumberyards next week--two dozen mares, fillies and weanlings at Fasig-Tipton on Sunday evening, with 14 yearlings to follow across...

The catalogue for The Pin Oak Stud Sale, to be conducted by Fasig-Tipton, is now available online. The sale will be held at Fasig-Tipton's Newtown Paddocks facility in Lexington, Ky. Sunday, Sept. 12. The auction will begin at 6 p.m. This past Thursday, Josephine Abercrombie's Pin Oak Stud announced that it will be offering its remaining broodmares, weanlings and some racing fillies at auction. The catalogue consists of 24 horses, including graded stakes winners Overheard (Macho Uno), in foal to McKinzie; Gold Medal Dancer (Medaglia d'Oro), in foal to Munnings;...