2025 Eclipse Awards: WinStar Farm

WinStar Farm, one of the most prolific breeding and stallion operations in Kentucky, was led on the track in 2025 by a multi-generation homebred who showed off the strength of the program’s bloodlines and stallion roster. The outfit, which owns three prior Eclipse Awards – as outstanding owner in 2010 and outstanding breeder in 2016 and 2020 – is again a finalist for outstanding breeder for these accomplishments.

WinStar finished second to Godolphin by both breeder earnings and graded stakes wins in 2025, and the leading WinStar-bred runner among those was Patch Adams. The Into Mischief colt is out of WinStar homebred stakes winner Well Humored, by the farm’s foundation stallion Distorted Humor; Well Humored, in turn, is out of homebred Life Well Lived, by WinStar stallion Tiznow. This family has produced the likes of Well Armed, who carried WinStar’s colors to victory in the Dubai World Cup, and Patch Adams ably added to the bloodlines.

:: Full list of 2025 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Campaigned in partnership with frequent partner China Horse Club, Patch Adams won a pair of Grade 1 sprints at Saratoga in 2025, the Woody Stephens Stakes presented by Mohegan Sun and H. Allen Jerkens Memorial. Patch Adams now joins the WinStar stallion roster for 2026.

WinStar was founded in 2000 by Kenny Troutt and Bill Casner on the former Prestonwood Farm, a 400-acre property. The two dissolved their partnership in 2010, leaving Troutt as owner of the operation, which has former trainer Elliott Walden as its current president, CEO, and racing manager. Walden is planning to step down from his positions toward the end of 2026. WinStar has expanded to cover thousands of acres, along most of Pisgah Pike in Versailles, Ky. The farm includes a training center, as well as its breeding and stallion operations.

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