I'll Have Another repatriated to California at Ballena Vista Farm
Dual classic winner and champion I'll Have Another, who has spent his entire stud career to this point in Japan, will relocate to stand at Ballena Vista Farm in California for the 2019 season, a major coup of the regional program.
"I truly consider bringing champion I’ll Have Another back to the States as one of the most satisfying and one of the best things I've ever done in the Thoroughbred industry," Ballena Vista owner Donald Cohn said. "He is a magnificent specimen and a true champion racehorse, the likes of what we in California have never had the opportunity to stand."
I'll Have Another, by Flower Alley, won the 2012 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby, and Preakness Stakes in succession. However, he was scratched from the Belmont Stakes the day before the race with an injury and retired, bringing his Triple Crown quest to a shocking end. He still was voted the Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old male for the season.
I'll Have Another was purchased from owner J. Paul Reddam by Japanese interests, and exported to stand at Big Red Farm beginning in 2013. I'll Have Another, whose oldest foals are 4, is the sire of 118 winners to date, led by Group 3 placed Sigrun and Win Gerbera and stakes-placed Hypernova.
“I'll Have Another was an absolute beast," trainer Doug O'Neill said. "His competitive nature, his high energy, and tremendous stride helped him win two classics and a championship.”
Ballena Vista, located in Ramona, Calif., has made major moves to bolster its stallion roster in recent years, bringing in proven regional sire Bluegrass Cat from New York and acquiring Eddington from Claiborne Farm. The operation added Grade 2 winner Texas Ryano this year, and next season will debut multiple stakes winner Conquest Fahrenheit, a son of the late Scat Daddy.
Bluegrass Cat, whose oldest California-sired foals are 2, is among the leading sires in a state with a void in the market after the deaths of perennial leading stallion Unusual Heat and classic sire Lucky Pulpit, both in 2017.