Black Tie Affair returning

Black Tie Affair, the 1991 Horse of the Year and sire of Grade 1 winner Evening Attire, will return from stud duty in Japan to stand in Virginia, bloodstock agent Rollin Baugh said Monday.

In a deal brokered by Baugh and Virginia-based agent Carlos Moore, Donna Hayes's The Stallion Company in Middleburg, Va., purchased Black Tie Affair, a 17-year-old Miswaki horse, from East Stud in Japan. The stallion might be syndicated, but the farm has not yet announced a 2004 stud fee. The Stallion Station also stands Housebuster, whom Baugh and Moore arranged to bring back from Japan in 2001.

Black Tie Affair won the 1991 Breeders' Cup Classic and 10 other graded stakes in four years at the racetrack.

Evening Attire, Black Tie Affair's leading earner in this country with $1,670,109, most recently finished third in the Aug. 2 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga. In addition to Evening Attire, Black Tie Affair also has sired Grade 1-winning millionaire Formal Gold and millionaire License Fee, among other stakes winners. He also is the sire of Brazilian juvenile filly champion My Tie.

Black Tie Affair left for Japan in 1998. From nine crops to race, he has progeny earnings of more than $39 million.