thoroughbred stallions

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 […]

After winning the Allen Jerkens Stakes a couple weeks ago and collecting his third Grade 1 career victory, word came this week that Practical Joke would be retired as a 3-year-old following this season. It’s an all-too familiar scenario for fans of Thoroughbred racing. Just as a horse develops a following and shows potential as […]

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 […]

Straight Fire, one of the top-rated 2-year-olds of 2016, has been retired and will stand at Pete and Evelyn Parrella’s Legacy Ranch in Clements, Calif. Straight Fire, a son of Dominus out of Tricky Indy, by A.P. Indy, was a $250,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling purchase by Solis/Litt Bloodstock. He broke his maiden at Del Mar […]

The 4-year-old chestnut Accelerate certainly outperformed expectations with his victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Diego Handicap. Already a winner at the G2 level and now an earner of $607,480, Accelerate placed third in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile last year, but few thought he had a chance against champion Arrogate. The gray son of […]

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 […]

There was a time, not so long ago, that sporting men and women would breed Thoroughbreds to race them. Today, it seems, we have more business people who race to breed. With the 2017 Triple Crown in the books – and three different horses winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont for the ninth time […]

Curlin didn’t get to be Horse of the Year without delivering the goods. In the Preakness, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Dubai World Cup, and the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the handsome chestnut son of Smart Strike took the laurels of victory, and for these and other outstanding performances, he was elected Horse of the Year […]