New York-bred Friend Or Foe is fashioning an unconventional stallion career in his adopted state of Virginia, with his offspring continuing to flourish back in his home state to make him a leading sire.
European Horse of the Year and perennial leading North American sire Giant's Causeway died in 2018 – but the legacy of his family is very much alive.
In a national breeding market marked by a slow decline in activity the past decade or so, Pennsylvania has been holding fairly well.
The Maryland bloodstock industry has shown strength in recent years, with strong results at Fasig-Tipton's regional sales, prominent runners emerging from the state such as Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia, and solid young stallions recruited to stand in the state. That was evident in 2019, as a competitive class of freshman sires dueled in their adopted home state and made some impact on a strong national freshman sire list.
Khozan never got a chance to show what he may have been truly capable of on the racetrack. The $1 million purchase, a half-brother to Hall of Fame racemare Royal Delta, won his two starts in dominant fashion, but was injured while preparing for his stakes debut, forcing his retirement. Still, he was well received upon arriving at Journeyman Stud in Florida.
First foals for stallions, as they have been reported by their respective stud farms.
With breeding sheds across North America set to open in the coming weeks, Ontario Racing's Thoroughbred Improvement Program has announced that its mare purchase program has ended for the season, with a strong response for the new programs designed to bolster the province's breeding and racing industry.
The races were on turf and dirt, won by horses born in different states, who went off as longshots and favorites. But the winners of the first three races on Saturday's card at Santa Anita were all bred by H. Allen Poindexter, giving the horseman a rare hat trick.
Last year's strong freshman sire class seems to have picked up right where it left off with the turn of the calendar, as 3-year-olds from their first crops won two of the three Kentucky Derby points races contested last Saturday, as well as two of the weekend's three Kentucky Oaks points races.
Undefeated Thousand Words has emerged as one of the West Coast's leading Kentucky Derby hopefuls. Meanwhile his dam, a multiple graded stakes winner herself, has landed in the hands of the connections of another unbeaten colt from this 3-year-old crop.
