stallion

Four-time Grade I winner McKinzie (Street Sense--Runway Model, by Petionville) has been retired from racing and will stand stud at Gainesway in 2021, the farm announced Wednesday evening. "McKinzie was absolutely brilliant. He was an undefeated Grade I winner at two, as well as a multiple Grade I winner and top-rated horse at three and four years of age," Brian Graves, General Manager of Gainesway, said. "His speed, precocity and good looks make him an absolute standout." Purchased by Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman for $170,000 at Keeneland...

2020 G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}-Starlet's Sister {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) has been retired and will take up stallion duties at Coolmore Stud in Ireland, owner Peter Brant announced on Tuesday. A colourbearer for Brant's White Birch Farm initially with Coolmore buying a 50% interest earlier this year, the 2019 French highweight's fee will be announced later. "A world champion at three and now an Arc winner at four, I have decided to retire Sottsass after what he has achieved," said Brant. "He...

Cutting Humor (First Samurai--Pun, by Pulpit), winner of last year's GIII Sunland Derby, has been retired to has been retired to Bill McDowell's McDowell Farm in Sparkman, Arkansas. Bred by Dell Hancock & Bernie Sams, the $400,000 FTSAUG buy carried the colors of Starlight Racing to two wins in nine starts and earnings of $525,467. He was trained by Todd Pletcher. "Cutting Humor presents a tremendous opportunity for Arkansas breeders to get access to an awesome physical specimen, from a great Claiborne family, who raced at the highest level," said...

There's a tendency in this business--as in life--to downgrade the relevance of the aged and to push them aside in favor of youth. You see this in bloodstock all the time. Everyone wants young mares, just as everyone wants to patronize first-year sires. Old mares, even some stakes producers, are discarded cheaply, and older sires, unless they are elite, have a hard time attracting mares, even at discounted fees. Likewise, everyone wants good 2-year-olds that will mature into early 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail, but no one seems to...

My leading sire for this year would be Nyquist. I was connected with him in my role with Paul Reddam. It's quite rare that you see a two-year-old win three Grade I races and then come back and win the Derby as an unbeaten horse. My number two pick is Air Force Blue. He was a very good two-year-old in Ireland and War Front seems to be a good sire of sires. My favorite horse at the sale at OBS March was Hip 27, a son of Air Force Blue...

The first foals by GSW Prospect Park (Tapit--Quiet Romance, by Bertrando) arrived almost simultaneously Feb. 1 at Harris Farms. Classy Lady Liz (Papa Clem) delivered a colt for breeder Dana Rocheford and Cloud of Glory (Beau Genius) had a colt for breeder John Harris. The farm also welcomed a filly by Prospect Park Monday out of Quick Luck (Lucky J. H.). Prospect Park stands at Harris Farms in California for $2,500.

GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit (Tapit) was represented by his first foal Jan. 27. The colt out of Anna Elizabeth (Animal Kingdom) was born at Waymore Farms in Kentucky. Tapwrit stands at Gainesway for $12,500.

GI Florida Derby winner Ice Box (Pulpit--Spice Island, by Tabasco Cat) has been relocated to Cabin Creek Farm in Bernville, PA for the 2020 season, where he will stand for $3,500. He previously stood at Millenium Farms in Kentucky. "We are excite to bring a Grade I winning son of Pulpit into Pennsylvania" said Cabin Creek manager Maria Vorhauer. "We are honored that Dream Walkin' Farms [Toby Keith], along with Baccari Bloodstock, Bob LaPenta, and the other syndicate partners decided to bring Ice Box to the Pennsylvania breeders and Cabin...

MGISW Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday--Refugee, by Unaccounted For) has his first foal on the ground. The bay filly was born Jan. 14 at Peter Alafoginis's farm in Lawrenceville in north central Pennsylvania. Bred by Rick Molineaux, she is out of stakes-winning Rhythm in Shoes (by Rhythm), and is a half-sister to seven winners. Hoppertunity stands his second season at Northview Stallion Station PA for $5,000 live foal, payable when the foal stands and nurses.

Frank Conversation (Quality Road) was represented by his first foal Jan. 17, when Looksgoodfromhere (Freud) foaled a chestnut filly at Saratoga Glen Farm, who owns and bred the filly. Frank Conversation stands in New York at Rockridge Farm.

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...

Bucking a nationwide trend, the number of mares bred in Pennsylvania in 2019 was 686, an increase of 12.5% over 2018.  It was the third straight year that the number of horses bred in Pennsylvania has increased. Overall, the number of mares bred in 2019 in the U.S. declined by 3.5%. The growing popularity of the Pennsylvania program is a direct result of the establishment of the Racehorse Development Fund Trust in 2017. The trust guaranteed that the government could no longer raid the Horse Racing Development Fund, which funneled...