Laoban moving to WinStar; Nyquist's fee rising for 2021

Laoban and Nyquist, both sons of Uncle Mo and freshman stallions who will have Grade 1 winners appearing at the Breeders’ Cup, got major votes of confidence in what is a changing marketplace for stallions in 2021.

Laoban will move from New York to Kentucky for the upcoming season, with his stud fee rising accordingly. Meanwhile, Nyquist will also get a fee hike off his early success, bucking the dominant trend of stud fees falling for 2021 in response to the economic changes caused by the global pandemic.

Grade 2 winner Laoban began his career at Sequel Stallions in New York, where he stood for a $5,000 fee this year. Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes winner Simply Ravishing, who is bound for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, leads his first crop. The young stallion is also represented by Grade 1-placed Keepmeinmind and Grade 2-placed Ava's Grace.

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Laoban is moving to WinStar Farm in Kentucky, with his fee rising to $25,000. The farm noted that the fee is subject to change pending results.

“My phone lit up before the filly crossed the wire at Keeneland,” Becky Thomas of Sequel Stallions said in a release. “In the following days, we were overwhelmed with calls from all of the very top stallion farms in Kentucky. Laoban is stamping his foals and proving to be a cookie-cutter of the Uncle Mo style of stretch and athleticism. . . . WinStar is a great fit for him and he is sure to get a wide variety of nice mares coming from all their partnerships and support. We couldn't be more excited about his future."

Laoban will join another son of Uncle Mo at WinStar in Outwork, the sire of Breeders' Cup candidate Outadore from his first crop.

“Laoban is a beautiful son of Uncle Mo who might have three horses in the Breeders’ Cup, and we believe Uncle Mo is an important sire line for the next generation,” WinStar president Elliott Walden said.

Outwork and Laoban are both currently in the top five on this year’s freshman sire earnings list to help power a big debut from Uncle Mo’s first sons to stud. Ahead of them on that list is Darley stallion Nyquist, who emulated Uncle Mo with an unbeaten juvenile campaign in 2015.

Nyquist is the sire of Grade 1 winners Gretzky the Great and Vequist from his first crop. Those two runners are candidates for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, respectively.

Nyquist stood for $40,000 in 2020. That will nearly double to $75,000 for 2021.

* One day after announcing Laoban would relocate to Kentucky, WinStar revealed its entire 22-stallion roster and fees for 2021, which will see some major changes. The farm will introduce Grade 1 winners Global Campaign, Improbable, and Tom's d'Etat, who are expected to meet in the Breeders' Cup Classic, and will add another previously announced Grade 1 winner in Promises Fulfilled. Meanwhile, two-time Breeders' Cup Classic winner Tiznow has been pensioned.

The white-hot young sire Constitution, the sire of classic winner Tiz the Law and six other graded/group stakes winners in his first crop, will see his fee more than double to $85,000 from $40,000 in 2020. WinStar's consistently successful Speightstown will climb moderately, to $90,000 from $70,000. Another stalwart at the farm, classic sire and prominent broodmare sire Distorted Humor, will stand for a private fee after being listed at $50,000 this season. Internationally successful More Than Ready will drop to $65,000 from $80,000.

* Nyquist is the only one of Darley's 10 Kentucky stallions to get a fee boost for 2021, as the other nine stallions on the roster all have fee reductions. Those include perennial leading sire Medaglia d'Oro, who will stand for $150,000 after standing for $200,000 in 2020.