In terms of their racing accomplishments, turf specialist Tepin and main-track runner Stellar Wind don't have much in common, beyond their Eclipse Awards. But the two actually share a common ancestor in the influential broodmare Gallant Nurse.
Win or lose, several horses at the Breeders' Cup will make a bit of bloodstock history when they load into the starting gate.
Freshman sire Gemologist is on the rise this fall, and his fortunes at the Breeders' Cup are tied to another rising entity, the China Horse Club, and its partnership with his home, WinStar Farm.
Fairway King, a minor winner on the racetrack, was the major winner over the Oct. 29-30 weekend at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, as he and trainer Lauren Turner earned “America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred” honors at the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America.
Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old and 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist has been retired and will join Darley’s 2017 stallion roster at Jonabell in Lexington, Ky. Nyquist will stand for a fee of $40,000. He will join a group that features two of North America’s elite stallions in Medaglia d’Oro and Bernardini. Medaglia d’Oro’s fees for 2017 will remain at $150,000 and Bernardini’s will remain at $100,000.
Upstart, one of the best of the crop of 2012, has been retired from racing and will stand the 2017 breeding season at Brereton and Libby Jones’s Airdrie Stud in Midway, Ky., for a fee of $10,000. A stakes winner at 2, 3, and 4 and an earner of $1,732,780, Upstart registered his best win in blitzing the Grade 2 Holy Bull field with a 105 Beyer Speed Figure in his sophomore debut, and at 4, he captured the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap.
Grade 1 winner Sidney’s Candy will remain at Haras La Pasion in Argentina to take up permanent residence and stand during the Southern Hemisphere breeding season.
Gio Ponti had all the qualities an owner wants in a racehorse. He had class, ran a route, could run on any surface – especially turf – and won three Eclipse Awards. So how did he sire a horse such as Drefong, a high-class sprinter on dirt, in his first crop?
The Breeders' Cup announced today the introduction of the Breeders'’ Edition of the Breeders' Cup World Championship Trophy, which will be awarded to the breeder of the winner of each of the 2016 World Championship races. Three Chimneys Farm will be the presenting sponsor of the Breeders’ Edition trophy.
Dolphus Morrison, breeder of Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and also her initial owner, died on Oct. 26 in Columbia, Md. He was 82.
