Animal Kingdom’s Southern Hemisphere stud fee set at $40,500

Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom will stand for an inaugural fee of about $40,500, or $38,500 in Australian currency, when he enters stud for the 2013 Southern Hemisphere season. The Leroidesanimaux horse is joining the ranks at John Messara’s Arrowfield Stud, which released 2013 fees for its 10-stallion roster on Sunday.

The prominent breeding operation in Sydney, New South Wales, acquired a majority interest in Animal Kingdom last December from Team Valor International. Animal Kingdom's 2011 campaign ended abruptly due to a leg fracture sustained in the 2011 Belmont Stakes, and his 2012 season was also limited by injury. However, he achieved peak form in the World Cup on March 30 with a dominant two-length victory in just his fourth start since June 2011.

Shortly after the World Cup win, Arrowfield announced that the 5-year-old horse would stand the Northern Hemisphere breeding season in 2014 at Darley at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky. Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum’s international operation acquired a 29 percent interest in Animal Kingdom, with Team Valor also retaining a minority interest. Current plans are for Animal Kingdom to possibly make one more start this summer during the Royal Ascot meeting in England, before undergoing quarantine and then traveling to Australia to begin the Southern Hemisphere breeding season.

Leading Australian sire Redoute’s Choice, by Danehill, leads Arrowfield’s roster with a 2013 fee of about $144,650 ($137,500). Redoute’s Choice made headlines last week when one of his yearlings sold for $5 million Australian at the Inglis Easter sale. That marked the top price ever for a yearling sold at auction in Australia. The colt, out of Helsinge, is a half-brother to Australian Horse of the Year Black Caviar.

Three-time Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti will stand his second Southern Hemisphere season at Arrowfield for about $17,350 ($16,500 Australian). The 8-year-old Tale of the Cat horse stands the Northern Hemisphere season at Castleton Lyons in Lexington, Ky.

The rest of Arrowfield’s 2013 stallion roster, with fees in Australian currency: All American ($16,500); Charge Forward ($22,000); Manhattan Rain ($27,500); Not a Single Doubt ($33,000); Smart Missile ($22,000); Snitzel ($49,500); and Starcraft ($22,000).