Ashado going to Storm Cat

Ashado, the 2004 champion filly who was sold for $9 million at the Keeneland November sale, will be bred to Storm Cat in 2006, according to Michael Banahan, the director of farm operations at Darley at Jonabell in Lexington, Ky., where Ashado resides.

Ashado, by Saint Ballado out of the Mari's Book mare Goulash, was purchased at the November sale by John Ferguson Bloodstock, acting as agent for Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, the owner of Darley operations worldwide. Storm Cat, the sire of 143 stakes winners, has a stud fee of $500,000, the highest of any stallion in the world.