Brereton and Libby Jones’s Airdrie Stud has never been in the market for the $10 million stallion coming off the racetrack. Airdrie has focused instead on horses just below that top tier, horses of proven top-class ability with perhaps a bit of a hole in their race records or pedigrees that meant they had to prove their worth to breeders before they could attract the best mares at high-dollar stud fees.
Noted breeder and farm owner Ben Walden, whose involvement in the Thoroughbred industry has shifted recently, has taken a key role with Adena Springs, also undergoing changes.
Shaman Ghost, a Grade 1 winner and Canadian champion, has been relocated to Lovacres Ranch in Warner Springs, Calif., for the remainder of the 2018 breeding season and will stand for an advertised fee of $7,500.
Multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro helped power a career year for sire Medaglia d'Oro and this spring will look to give his sire another career accomplishment, as the elite stallion is still hunting his first Kentucky Derby win.
This year's class of second-crop sires has had three runners earn Beyer Speed Figures of 90 or more in 2018, and residents of Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., have sired two of them.
After the dust settled from Saturday's Kentucky Oaks prep races, a pair of fillies by Midnight Lute sat tied atop the leaderboard, each with 60 points.
When the historic Phipps family racing operation made a rare buying appearance at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale as part of a plan to diversify its stock, one of its carefully selected purchases was a filly from one of the most active family trees in racing today, with roots in another vaunted program.
Sparkman: Midnight Lute enjoys big weekend
The freshman sire race came down to the line in 2017, with traditional earnings lists and winners lists decided by narrow margins. The class also spread the wealth when it came to the Beyer Sire Performance Standings, with a handful of stallions making an impact.
Veteran sires Medaglia d’Oro and Speightstown recorded the highest Beyer Speed Figures of the year for juveniles, thanks to their sons Bolt d’Oro and Strike Power. Both of those colts are now looking ahead to Triple Crown preps – and that’s not the only reason to look ahead for their sires, as each has a strong band of well-bred juveniles cataloged for Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream, the first 2-year-old auction of the season where major money flies.
