2014 Eclipse Awards: Adena Springs

No operation has had command of the Eclipse Award for outstanding breeder quite like Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs.

The Paris, Ky.-based operation has earned the accolade a record eight times, including once under Stronach’s own name, to account for more than half of the trophies handed out since 2000. Adena Springs holds three more outstanding-breeder Eclipse Awards than next-closest Juddmonte Farms.

Stronach is also a four-time Eclipse winner as outstanding owner, taking home the honor in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2008.

Adena Springs finished second among North American breeders by earnings behind Ken and Sarah Ramsey with more than $9.3 million banked through Dec. 16 and tied with Flaxman Holdings Inc. for the most Grade 1 wins by a breeder with five.

Stronach’s operation has built itself on breeding to, and producing, runners with proven track records of stamina in big races, led by a quintet of Breeders’ Cup Classic winners in the stallion barn: Awesome Again, Ghostzapper, Alphabet Soup, Fort Larned, and Mucho Macho Man. Adena Springs also maintains regional stallion programs in Florida, Maryland, and Ontario.

Judy the Beauty carried the standard for the Adena Springs breeding program in 2014, winning the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint as well as the Grade 1 Madison Stakes and a pair of Grade 3 races. The Filly and Mare Sprint was a banner outing for Adena Springs stallion Ghostzapper, who not only sired Judy the Beauty but also runner-up Better Lucky.

A pair of veteran runners also carried the weight for Stronach’s breeding operation, in Private Zone and Game On Dude. Private Zone, by Adena Springs sire Macho Uno, earned Grade 1 wins in the Cigar Mile and the Vosburgh Stakes, the latter of which was his second victory in the race. In his final season, Game On Dude, by Stronach’s Awesome Again, won his third edition of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and earned $791,000.