Stallion Farms

If it stays like this, a single maiden winner might settle it. Because all that separates McKinzie ($2,294,679) from current leader Tiz the Law ($2,339,575) in the freshman table is $44,896. But wait, there's more. McKinzie isn't even second. Between the pair lurks Vekoma ($2,306,457), ensuring a desperate three-way contest for the prized laurels of champion first-season sire. It's even closer than this time last year, when four stallions were divided by barely $200,000. In the end, Mitole actually extended his lead down the stretch. But the fact that the...

Darby Dan Farm has set their 2025 stud fees for its roster of 13 stallions that will stand the upcoming breeding season, led by Flameaway and Dialed In, who will both stand for $15,000 LFSN, according to a press release from the farm on Thursday morning. The roster also features a trio of newcomers in Blazing Sevens, who will stand for $12,500 LFSN, as well as Gufo and Shirl's Speight who will both stand their first seasons at stud for $5,000 LFSN. Flameaway, a multiple graded stakes-winning son of Scat...

Bought yourself a mare in Lexington this week? Good for you. You have kept the faith. In many cases, that will be because you have seen it all before: you've ridden out bumps in the economy, and eked out value from these stoical and enduring creatures by borrowing their impassive engagement with the patient rhythms of Nature. It's a long game, after all, one that will absorb pandemics and presidential cycles like a passing April shower. But even the longest journey starts with a single step. And many of you...

As we have come to expect, in a trading environment that nowadays owes so much to their boss, it was the guys at Spendthrift who first put their heads over the parapet. This week, anyway. To be fair, the original lead actually came from Chuck Fipke--a match for the unorthodoxy and initiative even of B. Wayne Hughes, and prepared way back in the spring to waive his 2020 stallion fees altogether. Fipke reasoned that his entire pitch was to small breeders, who were already looking down the barrel as the...

In light of recent events impacting global health, perhaps it is time to review two controversial proposals in our industry. The first, seemingly backed by The Jockey Club, is a limit on stallion books. The second, seemingly forever opposed by that same august regulatory body, is some well designed use of artificial insemination. One could reasonably suggest that the two would work best in tandem. Limits on stallion books would, at least in the short term, begin the process of promoting diversity in the thoroughbred gene pool by giving slightly...