Jump Start, a perennial leading sire in Pennsylvania, was euthanized on May 19 at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center due to complications from colitis. The son of A.P. Indy was 20.
The off-the-track Thoroughbred Witch Hunter took a star turn on Preakness Stakes Day at Pimlico, as the Adena Springs homebred and winning racehorse was the outrider pony who helped snag Bodexpress.
Brad Kelley's Calumet Farm enjoyed a solid day Saturday, with Preakness Stakes runner-up Everfast preceded by a pair of homebred stakes winners onthe card.
The late classic sire Smart Strike sired a pair of Preakness Stakes winners in Curlin (2007) and Lookin At Lucky (2010). The stallion's influence was strongly present at Pimlico this Preakness Stakes weekend, with Curlin siring three graded stakes winners on Friday's card and another champion son of Smart Strike, English Channel, represented by a pair of stakes winners Saturday.
Entering this year, War Front was already the most expensive stallion in North America, with graded/group stakes winners worldwide on both dirt and turf and massive success in the commercial arena.
The Canadian Triple Crown is a unique challenge in that it requires races on a variety of surfaces. One Bad Boy, a candidate for this year's series, is by a stallion and out of a mare who both ran well on three different types of surfaces throughout their careers.
The young classic sire Bodemeister will be represented in Saturday's Preakness Stakes by Bodexpress, looking to become the first maiden to win the second jewel of the Triple Crown since 1888. But regardless of the result, Bodemeister's ties to a century-plus of racing history already run deep. The young stallion was bred by Audley Farm of Berryville, Va., less than 100 miles from Pimlico, and the former home of 1919 Triple Crown winner Sir Barton.
Alwaysmining has won six straight races, including five stakes, at Laurel Park in his home state of Maryland. If he keeps his win streak going in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, he will become the ninth Maryland-bred, and the first in more than three decades, to win his state's signature race.
Owners and breeders Robert Manfuso and Katy Voss have a long and prolific background in the Maryland racing industry. They are writing one of the latest chapters in their partnership with the broodmare Tanca, a multiple stakes producer.
Last year, each passing race in the Triple Crown highlighted the magnitude of the loss of the stallion Scat Daddy, as his son Justify swept through Louisville, Baltimore, and New York undefeated. There was still one more crop of runners waiting in the wings for Scat Daddy, who had died at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky in December 2015 at age 11.
