Early Voting, the 2022 Preakness Stakes winner whose nascent stud career hit a major roadblock last year, will continue as a stallion while moving to Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., for the upcoming breeding season. Early Voting, by the white-hot Gun Runner, began his career last year at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky. He covered 191 mares, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, and he was fertile, with an unspecified number in foal, as several mares in foal to him have been offered at public auction. However, in October, Coolmore said that Early Voting had been “removed from covering duties at Ashford Stud for the 2024 breeding season due to an inability to breed, according to veterinary experts.” A release issued by the New Zealand-based Mont Liggins Trust said that Early Voting’s previously unspecified condition was anejaculatory syndrome, or an inability to ejaculate. The Trust’s research scientist Dr. Padraig “Paddy” O’Casiagh began working with Early Voting and Taylor Made late last year. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Dr. O’Casiagh’s primary area of work has dealt with fertility enhancement for the kakapo, a native New Zealand bird that was nearing extinction three decades ago. Males from that species, notoriously shy breeders, have also been afflicted with anejaculatory syndrome. Dr. O’Casiagh developed diagnostic and treatment protocols alongside the late professor Sir Graham “Mont” Collingwood Liggins, an internationally renowned pioneer in research on human fetal development and birth, and also formerly a key scientific adviser to Queen Elizabeth II. Together, they formed the Mont Liggins Trust to further fertility research for species survival strategy. “Early Voting has a very rare condition that is difficult to diagnose and treat,” Dr. O’Casiagh said in the release. “Because of the work of the Mont Liggins Trust with the kakapo and tuatara [a New Zealand native reptile], we have developed a very unique diagnostic suite for this exact scenario. I just feel very fortunate to have been involved and have had the assistance of our many international colleagues. It is such a credit to all the interested parties who have gone literally to the end of the earth for Early Voting’s welfare.” The release from Mont Liggins said that the treatment of Early Voting's anejaculatory syndrome has been a "complete success" and that Early Voting is prepared to stand the 2024 season. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.