New studs help Pin Oak Lane prosper
The stallion business is ultimately a forward-looking endeavor, but the past performances of the Pin Oak Lane roster are hard to ignore.
Joe NevillsMay 16, 2014
The stallion business is ultimately a forward-looking endeavor, but the past performances of the Pin Oak Lane roster are hard to ignore.
Malibu Moon began his stud career at Country Life Farm near Bel Air, Md., in 2000. Fourteen years later, his son Freedom Child launches his own second career in Maryland, with Malibu Moon situated among the most respected stallions in the country. Freedom Child, a Grade 2 winner, is part of an intriguing cast of stallions new to stud or new to the state in 2014, along with a Kentucky Derby winner and a champion at a new stallion facility and the sire of a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner at one of the state’s long-established hubs.
Lucky’stormwarning became the first winner for freshman sire Lookin At Lucky on Friday, taking a 4 ½ furlong maiden race at Gulfstream by 2 ¾ lengths.
While the Preakness Stakes may be the shortest race of the Triple Crown, the mile and three-sixteenths distance will still be longer than most of the field will regularly have to handle again. Aside from the three horses returning from the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby, the Preakness shapes up to be the longest race this field will have faced to date. This leaves the remaining seven entries with something to prove.
Dehere, the champion 2-year-old male of 1993 and a prominent global sire, died of a heart attack on Friday at age 23, according to a release from the Jockey Club of Turkey.
The Darley International Student Program has selected its 2014-2016 class of trainees for its two-year Darley Flying Start scholarship.
E Dubai, runaway leader of Pennsylvania’s sire list in 2012 and second to the late Rockport Harbor in 2013, has kept up his momentum after moving to Maryland for the 2014 breeding season. The 16-year-old son of Mr. Prospector tops the state’s general sire list through May 4 with more than $1 million in progeny earnings, over $150,000 ahead of Maryland’s stalwart sire Not For Love. Both stallions stand at Northview Stallion Station’s Maryland division in Chesapeake City, for $5,000 and $15,000, respectively.
Any Given Saturday is in the midst of his best season at stud, as the 10-year-old son of Distorted Humor leads the Pennsylvania general sire list with nearly $2.15 million in progeny earnings through May 4. That number also places the Pin Oak Lane Farm stallion among the top 15 general sires in North America.
The victory of California Chrome at Churchill Downs two weeks ago was only the fourth by a California-bred in the history of the Kentucky Derby. No horse bred in the Mid-Atlantic region has won the Derby since Smarty Jones in 2004, but there is an obvious regional connection in California Chrome’s pedigree.
DRF Breeding staff writer Joe Nevills analyzes the Preakness Stakes field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.