Iowa stallions: Stablemates Stroll, Anchor Down at the top

At age 23, Stroll hasn’t slowed down at all. The Grade 1 winner and successful stallion continues to flourish as a leading sire in his adopted home state of Iowa, standing for Iowa State University’s equine program in Ames. But the big man now has a few new stablemates on campus to help carry the load.

Multiple graded stakes winner Anchor Down leads all Iowa stallions by earnings, regardless of progeny conception area, with a bankroll of $1,549,909. But the Tapit stallion moved to Iowa State University from Gainesway in Kentucky for the 2022 season, meaning his first Iowa-sired foals are just arriving this month. Stroll continues to lead stallions with Iowa-sired progeny, with seasonal earnings of $1,023,780. The stablemates were the only two stallions in the state to crack the seven-figure mark.

Stroll moved to Iowa from Claiborne Farm for the 2017 season and has been the state leader since, excluding being outgunned by his stablemate this year. The Pulpit stallion, who won the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs and three other graded stakes, is the sire of 21 career stakes winners, including Canadian champion Van Lear Rose and Grade 1 winner Wet Your Whistle.

Anchor Down won the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap and Grade 3 Westchester and was second in the stallion-making Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. He has not yet recorded a stakes winner, but is the sire of nine stakes-placed runners from his first three crops.

While Iowa State University maintains a herd of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse broodmares for use in its teaching program, the university stallions also are publicly available, and they currently dominate the commercial landscape in Iowa. According to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred for 2022, there were six stallions reported to have covered mares in Iowa on the season; four of those stand at Iowa State, and they bred 93 of the 101 mares reported. Anchor Down led the state with a book of 32 mares, while Stroll covered 20 mares. Graded stakes winner Timeline, who retired to Iowa State for 2021, covered 28 mares in his second season, while stakes winner Blueblood, who also retired to the university in 2021, covered 13 mares.

The university’s stallions also helped the Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association fall sale set records last fall, boding well for the future of that auction with more young offspring by these stallions in the pipeline. A Kentucky-conceived but Iowa-born yearling colt by Anchor Down sold for $60,000 out of the student-handled Iowa State consignment, which led all consignors by gross. Albaugh Family Stables and Allen Poindexter purchased the sale-topper.

Led by that colt, The ITBOA reported 55 horses sold for $810,900, breaking the previous record gross of $475,000 from 2017. The average price, $14,743, also was a record, besting the 2021 mark of $11,176.