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Consequences of the 2025 closure of Harris Farms in Coalinga, Calif., as a commercial breeding facility will not be fully known for a few years, but some clues will surface for the state's breeding industry in coming months. By any measure, the 330-acre farm's closure is a loss, but it is also an opportunity for other farms to gain a greater role in the region.
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Milky Way Farm had a busy breeding season in 2025, led by the stallion Midnight Storm, who was bred to 82 mares, according to The Jockey Club. No other Thoroughbred stallion was as active in the state.
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There is plenty of change going on in the California Thoroughbred industry, with an uncertain racing landscape in the northern sector of the state; the death of major breeder John Harris and the dispersal of his stock; and a new horse moving to the state who will factor in the stallion ranks. Remaining as constants in the Golden State are its leading sires, Stay Thirsty and Grazen.
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Group 3 winner Sergei Prokofiev, last year's leading freshman sire in England and Ireland, will return home to Canada to continue his stud career.
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Thorpedo Anna will be bred to Gun Runner for her first mating, pairing two Horse of the Year honorees.
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As multiple Grade 1 winner Chancer McPatrick struck a pose for breeders at a November open house, the Spendthrift stallion sales team revealed that the farm was the underbidder on the colt when he sold as a juvenile. At the end of the day, Chancer McPatrick comes to Spendthrift as the first son of the exciting young sire McKinzie to stand at stud.
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There are multiple 2023 and 2024 Eclipse Award champions retiring to stud for the coming season in Kentucky. Along with a trio at Ashford Stud, Straight No Chaser is joining the 2026 stallion ranks. Straight No Chaser, the 2024 Eclipse champion male sprinter who earned more than $2.6 million, is by Speightster, a WinStar homebred who is a son of the operation’s perennial leading sire Speightstown, also a champion sprinter.
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Whether dual classic winner Sovereignty races on or retires for 2026, Godolphin will still bring two homebreds to the Kentucky stallion ranks this season under its Darley banner, with Grade 1 winner Highland Falls and Grade 2 winner First Mission, both millionaires, having retired this fall.
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Six sons of champion Gun Runner enter stud around the country this year. Three of these have another particular pedigree distinction, as Il Miracolo at Crestwood Farm in Kentucky, Disarm at Hidden Lake Farm in New York, and Red Run at Milky Way Farm in California were all produced by the magical cross of Gun Runner over a Tapit mare.
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Airdrie Stud, which has plenty of promise in the pipeline, is adding a second Kentucky Derby winner to its young roster in Mystik Dan.
