It has been two decades since Skip Away shipped out to California to win the 1997 Breeders' Cup Classic – highlighting a career in which the big gray Hall of Famer brought home four Eclipse Award statues, including the 1998 Horse of the Year trophy, won 10 Grade 1 races, placed in 20 other graded events, and bankrolled $9.6 million.
Cat Thief sprang a $41.20 upset in the 1999 Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park. The stallion, who now stands in Saudi Arabia, has flown similarly under the radar in his second career and is now quietly fashioning a good reputation as a broodmare sire, with champion Classic Empire on his résumé and Highway Star a contender for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
Many breeders spend their entire lives trying to produce one horse with the chops to make it to the Breeders' Cup. This year, Frank and Patricia Generazio have two in the same race.
It's 850 miles from Columbus, Ind., where Greg and Deann Baer's Full Throttle Racing is based, to Ocala, Fla., where their Indiana-bred daughter of Overanalyze stepped into the sale ring in March. The Baers were elated when noted bloodstock agent Dennis O'Neill went to $80,000 to purchase the filly on behalf of brother Doug O'Neill, who now trains her for owners Nice Guys Stables, Jack Bick, and Jay Oringer.
Grade 1 winner Noble Bird has been retired from racing and will stand the 2018 breeding season at Ocala Stud in Ocala, Fla. A fee for the 6-year-old Birdstone horse will be announced at a later time.
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah will continue to stand for a private fee in 2018, Coolmore's Ashford Stud of Kentucky announced as it revealed its stallion roster and fees.
Grade 1 winner Cupid will retire to Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky for the 2018 breeding season, the international operation announced Thursday.
After Bolt d'Oro captured the Del Mar Futurity and Moonshine Memories won the Del Mar Debutante, their half-siblings fetched $250,000 and $750,000, respectively, at the Keeneland September yearling sale.
Medaglia d'Oro has made his mark as an outstanding filly sire and is working on breaking through on several other fronts – including with his unbeaten son Bolt d'Oro.
Malibu Moon has not yet been represented by a Breeders' Cup winner, but the stallion has them surrounded in this year's Juvenile Fillies, with three pre-entrants.
