Multiple stakes winner Rainbow Heir will be among the most consistent runners in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, but his season leading up to this race has been most unorthodox. Rainbow Heir has returned to racing this fall after an active season at stud in Florida and is expected to resume his stud duties next February.
Knicks Go sprang a $142 upset when winning the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland to earn his way into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Not only was the colt a massive longshot on the odds board – the odds of his breeders producing a Grade 1 winner may have been just as long.
On one of the sport's biggest international stages, there will be a chance for Korean racing interests to take a turn in the spotlight, as the colors of KRA Stud Farm will be carried by Knicks Go in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Mr. Crow in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.
The hard-knocking multiple Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity has been retired and will begin his stud career at Northview Stallion Station in Peach Bottom, Pa.
It is far more difficult nowadays for a regional stallion to make the leap to Kentucky than in the long-ago days of, say, Mr. Prospector. Sheer numbers work strongly against such a shift. First Dude, the sire of Saturday’s Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes winner Shamrock Rose, is unlikely to make that transition, but he is a good example of what a regional horse can do when he has the opportunity to cover a well-bred mare.
Grade 1 winner Sharp Azteca, whose retirement was announced in early September, will begin his stud career at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky.
Medaglia d'Oro, in the midst of a career run on the racetrack and in the commercial arena, will stand for $200,000 to lead Darley's American roster in 2019.
Sparkman: Sheikha Reika becomes Shamardal's 21st Grade 1 winner
Horse of the Year Gun Runner will stand for an unchanged fee of $70,000 in his second season at stud to lead the Three Chimneys Farm roster, the farm has announced.
Gainesway stallion Empire Maker, a major influence on the classics in recent years, will stand for an advertised stud fee of $85,000 in 2019, when his return North American crop comes to the races.
