Elmazeed, a winning Bernardini ridgling, will debut at stud in 2016 at Rushton’s Farm in Holly, Colo., after selling as a stallion prospect for $1,500 at the Keeneland January sale of horses of all ages.
Grade 1 winner Strapping Groom will begin his stallion career at Haras Cerro Punta in Cerro Punta, Panama, during the 2016 breeding season after being purchased for $75,000 at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.
Midwest Stallions 2015: Leading sires, statistics, regional coverage, more
There is no denying the hype that surrounds a Triple Crown winner when he goes off to stud and the résumé boost his sire receives for adding his part to the feat. What’s more uncommon is a grandsire that stands to benefit from a Triple Crown win. When the Ashford Stud breeding shed opens for business in February, American Pharoah will be only the fourth of the 12 Triple Crown winners to begin his stallion career while his sire and grandsire are still active themselves.
Tapit had the kind of year in 2014 that most stallions never compile over the course of their lifetimes. In 2015, he went even further.
By all indicators, the stallion industry lost something special when the young sire Scat Daddy suddenly died of a suspected cardiac event at age 11 in December. Already a successful young stallion, the son of Johannesburg was completing the best season of his career.
The group of 12 horses to win the Triple Crown is about as exclusive as a club gets in any sport. Just as select is the group of 12 horses that sired them.
Uncle Mo’s position atop the 2015 North American freshman sire ranks was no surprise, as the stallion was himself an unbeaten 2-year-old with every right to produce similar runners. Still, his dominance of the category, as well as the way he held his own among established stallions, was spectacular in fashion.
Few of Kentucky’s leading stallions have their respective honors in their grasp as tightly as Kitten’s Joy has for the past several years. So great is Kitten’s Joy’s dominance of North American turf sires that if his top two earners were removed from the equation, he still tops the standings by a seven-figure margin.
Twenty-three years ago, A.P. Indy entered stud at Lane’s End in Kentucky with high expectations. And why not? He was gorgeous, fast, and impeccably bred. The son of Seattle Slew out of Weekend Surprise, by Secretariat, did not disappoint. His first crop, 47 foals of 1994, featured 13 stakes winners and two stakes-placed runners – a whopping 38 percent of starters – including future top sire Pulpit and a trio of Grade 1-winning fillies in Tomisue’s Delight, Royal Indy, and Runup the Colors, the latter boding well for his future as a broodmare sire.
