Alhaarth, a champion racehorse who went on to sire such Group 1 winners as Haafhd and Phoenix Reach, has been pensioned from stud duty due to what Derrinstown Stud in Co. Kildare, Ireland, described as “an ongoing cardiac condition.”
As the racing world’s spotlight shifted to Louisville, Ky., in anticipation of the Kentucky Derby, two members of the handicap division scored triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in standout performances.
Group 1 winner and Grade 1-placed Crowded House has been retired and will stand at Wattle Grove Stud in Berrima, New South Wales, Australia, for the Southern Hemisphere season.
Passion for Gold, a Group 1 winner in France for Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum’s Godolphin operation, has been sold to begin his stallion career at Jose Luis Gatica’s Haras Puerta de Hierro in Chile, Racing Post reports.
The Old Friends equine retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky., will host its ninth annual Old Friends Homecoming event and fundraiser at its Dream Chase Farm on May 5.
Wood Memorial runner-up Normandy Invasion is looking to give Rick Porter his first Kentucky Derby victory after the owner came close twice before, and could give trainer Chad Brown his first win in the classic in his first attempt.
Richard Bremer and Cheryl Sprick swept the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and Charles Bellingham awards for breeders of the year during the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association’s annual awards dinner Saturday night to honor the champions of 2012.
John Galbreath, the founder of Darby Dan Farm, might have been perplexed by Thoroughbred breeding’s current commercial slant, but he’d still recognize many of the pedigrees among some 25 mares Darby Dan owns alone or in partnership. Through them, his grandson, John Phillips, has carefully maintained and cultivated one of Darby Dan’s most prized assets: its deep families, many of which Galbreath introduced between the farm’s founding in 1935 and his death in 1988.
It took Darby Dan homebred Chateaugay 2:01 4/5 to complete the 1963 Kentucky Derby and give John Galbreath his first classic victory. But Galbreath’s trip to Churchill Downs had started in earnest back in 1957, when he gradually convinced Rex Ellsworth to sell him Swaps, a half-interest at a time over the course of a year, for a total of $2 million.
Although two of the three newly inducted horses into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame who went on to stud careers failed to make a major commercial impact, both Housebuster and Lure—whose own breeding career was truncated by fertility issues—have produced Grade/Group 1 winners and successful sons at stud.
