Group 1 winner Art Connoisseur was represented by his first winner April 23, when Der Blaue Reiter won his career debut at Great Yarmouth Racecourse in England.
Top racemare and broodmare Air Groove, the 1997 Horse of the Year in Japan who went on to produce two Group 1 winners, died after giving birth to a King Kamehameha colt at Northern Farm on the island of Hokkaido, Japan April 23. The Tony Bin mare was 20.
Belmont Stakes winner Colonial Affair, who helped jockey Julie Krone make history in the classic, died in his stall the morning of April 23 at Haras El Paraiso in Capitan Sarmiento, Argentina, where he had stood for the last decade. The Pleasant Colony horse was 23.
Storm Cat, one of the most successful sires of the modern era, was euthanized Wednesday at Overbrook Farm due to the infirmities of old age, the Lexington, Ky., farm stated in a press release. He was 30 years old.
With both Thoroughbred racetracks in south Florida scheduled to begin hosting competing year-round race meets this summer, the Florida HBPA and Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association have requested the two tracks settle their differences for the sake of the state’s population of horses and horsemen, which risk being over-extended.
Captain Steve, winner of the 2001 Dubai World Cup, died in Japan on April 21 of acute heart failure, reports Kate Hunter, communications manager of Paca Paca Farm.
Saturday’s Illinois Derby at Hawthorne Race Course, a Grade 3 event and the signature race on the track’s calendar, was not included in Churchill Downs’ new Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying series this spring, a dismissal that generated much debate among Triple Crown followers. This caused Hawthorne officials to reschedule and re-market the 1 1/8-mile Illinois Derby as a prep for the May 18 Preakness Stakes, and based on Saturday’s result, that plan seemed ingenious in hindsight. Departing emerged as one of the most talented members of his age group based on his 3 1/4-length romp at Hawthorne, and could pose a serious threat to the Kentucky Derby winner if both show up in Baltimore.
Champion Kodiak Kowboy was represented by his first winner as a sire by his first foal to race, when Bear Facts won a 4 1/2-furlong trial race for the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association Spring Sales Stakes on April 19 at Turf Paradise.
Street Cry will stand for a fee of about $112,794 ($110,000 Australian) at Darley’s Kelvinside Stud in New South Wales, Australia, this Southern Hemisphere breeding season, highlighting the 23 stallions the international breeding operation will stand between two farms.
Owner-breeder Morton Fink and trainer Charles LoPresti will have some tough decisions to make as the 2013 racing season progresses—but it's a good problem to have.
