Sparkman: Familiar names among Eclipse Award pedigrees
As they usually do, the pedigrees of the 2016 Eclipse winners followed the overall trends of American pedigrees.
John P. SparkmanJan 23, 2017
As they usually do, the pedigrees of the 2016 Eclipse winners followed the overall trends of American pedigrees.
Grade 1 winner Keen Ice will retire to Calumet Farm at the end of this racing season, the farm announced on Sunday.
Dual Eclipse Award finalist Lord Nelson will miss what would have been his first breeding season at Spendthrift Farm after recently developing laminitis.
Kentucky Stallions 2017: Leaders, new stallions of 2017, and more
Two of reigning leading sire Tapit’s best runners from a DRF Sire List standpoint will be among Kentucky’s new stallions of 2017.
Bodemeister, now standing at WinStar Farm, seems to have passed that talent on to his offspring. He led all freshman sires by his number of runners with Beyers 80 and above – a benchmark figure for 2-year-olds. He had five runners achieve that mark.
There is little doubt that Northern Afleet has amassed a fine résumé at stud.
Birdstone is standing for an advertised fee of $5,000 in 2017 and is a value sire at that price with a high percentage of high-level runners.
DRF’s Beyer Sire Performance Standings back that up, with European sires like Galileo, Dubawi, and Holy Roman Emperor putting up astounding percentages of North American runners to achieve at least one Beyer Speed Figure of 90 or above last year, admittedly from relatively small samplings. The domestic stallion that has arguably done the best job reversing that stream is War Front,
Born in Kentucky, Frosted went on to carry the blue colors of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Godolphin operation around the globe, successfully campaigning in New York, Dubai, and elsewhere. The multiple Grade 1 winner now returns to Kentucky to launch his stud career at Sheikh Mohammed's Darley at Jonabell Farm near Lexington, Ky., as one of the most highly anticipated new stallions of 2017.