Champion female sprinter Unique Bella earned a 109 Beyer Speed Figure for her authoritative score in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes on Feb. 10, helping her sire Tapit further pad his early lead in multiple Beyer Sire Performance standings this season.
The race for leading freshman sire was a heated affair in 2017, and the competition has already begun in earnest as the same group angles for leading second-crop sire honors during the prep season for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks.
Among his many achievements in a long life adorned with honor and glory, the late Alfred G. Vanderbilt Jr. achieved Thoroughbred racing immortality by breeding and racing the great Native Dancer. Beaten only once in 22 starts, “the Gray Ghost,” as he was known to early television viewers, left an eternal mark on the breed through his son Raise a Native and daughter Natalma, dam of Northern Dancer.
After standing five seasons at stud, Overdriven has been pensioned and gelded and is in a re-training program at the Thoroughbred adoption facility, a rare approach with an active stallion.
“If you can't beat them, join them” has been a theme in the stallion industry in recent years. Joining that trend is Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions LLC, which emerged from a landmark merger for New York breeding programs to hold what will be one of the strongest hands in the state for 2018.
Freud's grasp on the reins of his kingdom hasn't slipped. The 20-year-old Storm Cat horse, who reigns at Sequel Stallions, continues to dominate the New York stallion ranks.
Regional sire lists are full of instances where a stallion arrives from Kentucky and instantly becomes a state's leader by earnings based on the strength of their Bluegrass-bred runners. How they fare as a fully vested member of their new home state's stallion roster is more of a mixed bag.
There have been 27 finalists for North America's Horse of the Year honors since 2010, and just seven of them have been born outside of Kentucky. The latest came in 2017, when Florida-bred World Approval earned an invitation on the strength of a campaign featuring wins in the Breeders' Cup Mile, Woodbine Mile, and Fourstardave Handicap, all Grade 1's.
Familiar names will be clearing out from their entrenched spots on top of Florida's sire list in the coming years, including the deceased Wildcat Heir and the pensioned High Cotton. Three stallions leading the youth movement's charge to replace them are First Dude, Poseidon's Warrior, and Treasure Beach.
Aljabr, Europe’s champion 2-year-old male of 1998, died Tuesday of a heart attack at Shadwell Farm in Lexington, Ky. He was 22.
