The story of Funny Cide almost reads like a Hollywood screenplay. A modestly priced New York-bred before it was cool to be a New York-bred, Funny Cide was bought by Sackatoga Stables, a group of likable high-school chums who traveled to races like a varsity football team going to regionals, and together, they went on a journey that took them to the doorstep of Triple Crown immortality.
Acclamation, the Eclipse Award winner as the champion older male of 2011, began a stud career earlier this year for a fee of $20,000, which equals the highest price in California. That may not be Acclamation’s last career move. A 7-year-old, Acclamation could return to training this spring, with the goal of starting in major stakes in the second half of the year.
As the monetary value of stallions escalated in the 20th century, fewer were asked to serve double duty as racehorses and studs. When they did, it was generally due to infertility, a healed injury, or an owner’s dream. But whatever the reason, it was a risky business.
Slew City Slew, a multiple Grade 1 winner and earner of more than $1.1 million on the racetrack and a productive sire at Airdrie Stud responsible for multiple Grade 1 winner Lava Man, among others, died Thursday at the Midway, Ky., farm due to the infirmities of old age. He was 29.
Dalakhani, winner of the Cartier Award as European Horse of the Year in 2003 and a sire of classic winners in Europe and Breeders’ Cup winners in the U.S., will shuttle to Cornerstone Stud in Angaston, South Australia, for the 2013 Southern Hemisphere breeding season.
Prominent Florida stallion Montbrook, sire of champion sprinter Big Drama, has been pensioned from stud duty due to declining fertility.
Multiple Grade 1 winner and prominent Japanese sire Brian's Time was euthanized April 4 after fracturing his leg in a paddock accident at Arrow Stud on the island of Hokkaido, Japan.
When War Front retired to the Hancock family’s Claiborne Farm in late 2006, his prospects for a successful stud career looked promising despite the fact that he topped out as a Grade 2 winner on the racetrack and could not break through at the Grade 1 level in his final three starts. A son of legendary Claiborne stallion Danzig who was foaled and raised at the Paris, Ky., farm, War Front began his stud career in 2007 at a fee of $12,500, covering his first mares a little more than a year after Danzig was euthanized due to the infirmities of old age at 29.
Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom will stand the Northern Hemisphere breeding season at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky., after the international breeding operation bought an interest in the horse.
The Maryland Horse Breeders Association and the Maryland Racing Media Association have announced the 12-horse inaugural class for the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame.
