Stallions

Two stakes over the weekend signalled a coming and going within the Kentucky stallion ranks that bears attending to. On the positive side of the ledger, Animal Kingdom (by Leroidesanimaux), winner of the Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup over his preferred 10 furlongs, was represented by his third stakes winner from his first crop […]

When breeders come to review potential mates for their mares, the majority of mare owners are looking for the most commercial sires, and that generally means “young, precocious, and dirt-oriented,” if not campaigned entirely on domestic, conventional dirt surfaces. This makes the revelation of “turf form” all the more interesting from the progeny of stallions […]

With a wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, West Coast defeated each winner of the 2017 classics, as well as the winners of the Haskell and Jim Dandy. Now a winner in five of his seven starts, West Coast never has finished worse than second, and his earnings to date stand at $993,800. […]

With her victory in the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes on Aug. 19, Elate (by Medaglia d’Oro) became the highest-profile stakes winner at Saratoga for owner-breeders Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm since their champion Blame (Arch) won the G1 Whitney in 2010 over Quality Road. In her previous start, Elate had been a close and controversial […]

The most significant event in Kentucky over the coming week is the full solar eclipse, and the Bluegrass State is dead-center for viewing a total eclipse of the sun. The Bluegrass, more than most portions of the Earth, should be eclipse conscious because the pattern and character of the Thoroughbred today is significantly shaped by a […]

The freshmen sires of 2017, those with their first racers breaking from the gates this season, are gaining momentum and credit. Already, there are 10 sires who have sired a stakes winner from their first crop at the races. Ranked in order of their total earnings, the stallions with first-crop stakes winners already are Violence […]

Somewhere in horse heaven, Storm Cat is gloating. His branch of the Northern Dancer line hung up big wins over the weekend in the two most important stakes for 3-year-old colts, the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park and the G2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga. At the Spa on Saturday, Good Samaritan (by Harlan’s Holiday) ran […]

There were four Kentucky-bred winners at Royal Ascot – Lady Aurelia (King’s Stand Stakes), Con Te Partiro (Sandringham Stakes), Caravaggio (Commonwealth Cup), and Sioux Nation (Norfolk Stakes). All showed speed and class. Two of them, Lady Aurelia and Caravaggio, are among the most widely praised and highly touted speed horses of last year and this. […]

On Sunday at Chantilly, the high-quality 3-year-old filly Senga (by Blame) became her sire’s first Group 1 winner with victory in the Prix de Diane over 2100 meters. This male line has a grand tradition of classic quality, and Blame has done his job to add another classic success with this filly who stayed on […]

Only the great Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens had a more impressive string of success (five in a row) at the Belmont Stakes than America’s leading sire Tapit. After the most recent renewal of America’s longest classic, Tapit has sired three of the last four Belmont Stakes winners, and only 2015 Horse of the […]