Long-time N.Y. stud Freud pensioned

An era has ended in the New York stallion ranks, as multi-time leading sire Freud has been pensioned from stud duty.

Freud, a 26-year-old by Storm Cat and a full brother to Giant’s Causeway, has stood at Sequel Stallions in Hudson, N.Y., since 2002. He covered nine mares this year in his final season, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred.

“As the years have gone by, he’s bred fewer and fewer mares, but he still thinks every horse that comes into the breeding shed is for him,” Sequel Stallions’ Becky Thomas told the New York Thoroughbred Breeders. “His fertility is great — he is a consummate professional in the breeding shed — but he’s old.

“He’s been great,” Thomas continued. “I call our farm ‘the farm that Freud built.’ He continues to be that horse. So many stallions are euthanized before his age, but knock wood, he’s in great health.”

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Freud, himself Group 2-placed, was New York’s leading sire by progeny earnings in 2008, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. He was also New York’s dominant turf sire, leading in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023.

But beyond dominating his regional marketplace, Freud also sired runners who have made an impact on a national level. From his 77 career stakes winners to date, 18 are graded/group stakes winners. Those include U.S. Grade 1 winners Fourstar Crook, Franny Freud, Giant Ryan, Sharp Azteca, and Therapist.

Freud’s pensioning continues a sea change in the New York stallion ranks in the recent weeks, as dual classic winner Big Brown, who stood at Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions, and graded stakes winner Mission Impazible, who also stood at Sequel, were both recently pensioned to Old Friends in Kentucky. Big Brown was New York’s leading general sire in 2015 and 2020; Mission Impazible was the state’s leading freshman of 2016; and both have perennially been among the state’s leaders. As of Oct. 13, Big Brown was seventh on New York’s 2024 general sires list, Freud eighth, and Mission Impazible 10th.

New York’s current leading general sires by progeny earnings, regardless of conception area, are Bucchero, Central Banker, and Solomini, all standing at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. Bucchero moved to New York from Florida beginning this season, while his stablemates have spent their entire careers in the Empire State.

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