Grade 1 winner and influential broodmare Preach, whose stakes horses included prominent sire Pulpit, has died, owner and breeder Claiborne Farm reported on Wednesday night. The pensioned daughter of Mr. Prospector was 31.

"With a heavy heart, we share that one of the queens of Claiborne Farm, Preach, has passed away at the age of 31," Claiborne posted on its official Twitter account. "A Grade 1 winner herself, Preach produced the breed-shaping Pulpit and has left a lasting legacy as both a racehorse and broodmare. She will be deeply missed by all of us at Claiborne."

Modernist

Uncle Mo – Symbolic Gesture, by Bernardini

Bred in Kentucky by Wygod Family, LLC

Country House, who was last seen in the winner's circle at Churchill Downs after being declared the winner of the Kentucky Derby via an unprecedented disqualification, has been retired following a bout with laminitis, according to a statement issued by his connections on Friday evening.

Sole Volante

Karakontie – Light Blow, by Kingmambo

Bred in Kentucky by Flaxman Holdings ($6,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by New Hope AB; $20,000 OBS April juvenile purchase by Patrick Biancone, agent)

Alittlebitearly, the dam of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern, has died at Helen Alexander's Middlebrook Farm in Kentucky after delivering a healthy filly by Nyquist. The Thunder Gulch mare was 18.

Breeding sheds officially open this week across Kentucky, with farms looking to get their new young stallions off to a strong start with the best mares possible in what has become an increasingly competitive landscape.

Not only has the commercial market become highly selective, but a reduced broodmare population also has heightened that competition. According to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred released last fall, 29,218 mares were reported covered in North America during 2019, a decline of 36 percent from 45,317 reported at the same point in 2009.

New York-bred Friend Or Foe is fashioning an unconventional stallion career in his adopted state of Virginia, with his offspring continuing to flourish back in his home state to make him a leading sire.

European Horse of the Year and perennial leading North American sire Giant’s Causeway died in 2018 – but the legacy of his family is very much alive. The late stallion’s active sons in the U.S. include the useful Creative Cause and First Samurai; Carpe Diem and Imagining, both of whom had stakes winners in their freshman seasons in 2019; and Brody’s Cause and Not This Time, who will represent him in this year’s freshman ranks. Eclipse Award champion Mitole, a grandson of Giant’s Causeway, enters stud this month in Kentucky.

In a national breeding market marked by a slow decline in activity the past decade or so, Pennsylvania has been holding fairly well.

In 2019, Pennsylvania was seventh nationally by number of mares bred, with 792, or 2.7 percent of all activity in the United States. Two years earlier, the state was ninth by number of mares bred. The number of mares bred in 2019 in the state was a 16.5 percent increase over 2018, a positive indicator of the strength of the state program as activity nationally declined last year.

The Maryland bloodstock industry has shown strength in recent years, with strong results at Fasig-Tipton’s regional sales, prominent runners emerging from the state such as Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia, and solid young stallions recruited to stand in the state. That was evident in 2019, as a competitive class of freshman sires dueled in their adopted home state and made some impact on a strong national freshman sire list.