Twenty-three new stallions are entering stud in Kentucky this year, and there is a three-way tie for the highest fee ($35,000) among Blame, Lookin At Lucky, and Quality Road. It has been suggested that these first-year stallions are going to have a harder time getting mares, but history also tells us the best new horses still have their fans and will still attract mares.
Bold Executive, North America’s leading sire of runners on synthetic surfaces last year, is still going strong at age 27.
Sadler’s Wells was the leading broodmare sire in North America for the third straight year in 2010 and has been the leading broodmare sire in Great Britain and Ireland since 2005. His daughters have produced more than 250 stakes winners, including 30 in 2010.
By A.P. Indy, Congrats had all the ammunition he needed to get to the top of a sire list. What is surprising is that he topped the freshman sire list, a ranking dependent on precocious 2-year-olds.
More Than Ready has long been a popular commodity with Australian breeders. One of two Vinery stallions to lead sire lists in 2010, he has shuttled between Vinery’s Kentucky and Australian divisions since he entered stud in 2001 as Vinery owner Tom Simon’s first major stallion purchase.
Dynaformer always demands respect, and 2010 was no exception. The exploits of his progeny led him to his fifth leading turf sire title in the last decade, with his previous championships coming in 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2009.
Giant’s Causeway has always been in demand, and his second consecutive leading sire title makes his 2011 stud fee of $85,000 seem downright conservative when compared with the six horses in Kentucky who stand for more.
The one state that stands apart in the Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred is Indiana. The state’s Thoroughbred breeding population is on a marked upswing, having seen its broodmare population more than double in three years since gaming was implemented at Hoosier Park and Indiana Downs in 2009.
Jet Phone has made the unlikely leap from teaser to commercial stallion after his lone starter, Aces N Kings, won the first five races of his career last year, including three stakes. A 10-year-old son of Phone Trick, Jet Phone has entered stud at Valor Farm in Pilot Point, Texas, one of the state’s premier breeding operations. He will stand for a fee of $1,500.
Shore Breeze is a stallion, not a racer, but his owner, John Haran, is betting big on this horse. Haran is the owner of some 40 2-year-olds of 2011, all of them Illinois-breds and all by Shore Breeze.
