Love the Chase, dam of two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, will be among the highlights of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Accelerate's first book when he begins his stallion career in a few weeks' time at Lane's End Farm.
Kitten's Joy clawed his way past Candy Ride atop the general sires earnings list for 2018. Meanwhile, perennial leading sire Tapit didn't slow at all in terms of quality, Into Mischief again led the juvenile sires list to key a big season for his farm, and stallions such as More Than Ready, Quality Road, and War Front continued to produce standouts. Daily Racing Form recaps all of that, and more, in the annual Kentucky Stallions special edition, taking an in-depth look at the epicenter of the Thoroughbred stallion market in North America.
More Than Ready has built a reputation for success and versatility, as evidenced by the WinStar Farm resident’s performers in 2018.
Another majorly successful season for Quality Road cemented his place among North America’s leading stallions, and for 2019 he joins the ranks of North America’s six-figure sires.
Ghostzapper is the broodmare sire of Triple Crown winner Justify and Eclipse Award champion Drefong.
Lookin At Lucky had a career year in 2018 and capped it by coming within a length of a historic accomplishment.
Mark Valeski didn’t get the press of Cross Traffic, whose first-crop daughter Jaywalk coasted in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. He also lacked the numbers of runners to reach the top ranks of a competitive freshman sire earnings list, in which four individuals had progeny earnings of more than $1 million. But what Airdrie Stud’s homebred lacked in quantity, he made up in consistency and quality.
As a sire, The Factor has been a combination of his racing ability – able to sire sprinters – and the traits of his sire – able to sire good turf runners though he never raced on turf. This has enabled The Factor, who stands at Lane’s End in Versailles, Ky., to rise to be the leading third-crop sire in North America.
Violence, who stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in Lexington, Ky., finished 2017 as the second-leading freshman sire in North America, and in 2018 he went one step further, becoming the leading second-crop sire in North America, with progeny earnings of $5,441,805. He also finished fifth on the 2018 juvenile sire list, with earnings of $1,905,214.
While the Illinois breeding industry has seen better days, as long as there is life, there is hope for a brighter future.
