The three founding sires of the Thoroughbred breed have essentially been winnowed down to a single dominant branch worldwide, but a recent study of genetic diversity of North American Thoroughbreds revealed “only modest increases” in inbreeding that “isn’t inherently problematic.”
East Avenue
Colt by Medaglia d’Oro – Dance Music, by Ghostzapper
Bred in Kentucky by Godolphin
East Avenue won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity last fall, but then lost all chance when he stumbled badly at the start of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The Godolphin homebred makes his highly anticipated 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 Risen Star. As the colt marches down the classics trail, he will look to check off one more accomplishment for his veteran sire, and to continue to boost the profile of a strong female family.
Breeding sheds open this week in North America – and, taking in the specifics of the current marketplace, the competition to make a stallion successful is as fierce as a prolonged duel leading to a multi-horse photo finish on the racetrack.
Some major stud farms in Kentucky have adjusted the initially announced fees for stallions to better compete. It’s an effort to secure a quality chunk of a dwindling broodmare population to stallions at crucial points of their careers, thereby setting them up for success on the racetrack, which turns the wheel back to attract more mares.
In 2022, just four Thoroughbred foals were born in North Carolina, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. One of those is Volleyballprincess, who won the Ruthless Stakes for 3-year-old fillies last Saturday at Aqueduct.
Multiple stakes winner and prominent broodmare Miss Macy Sue died recently, at age 22 at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, where she was boarded for Albaugh Family Stables. The mare’s legacy lives on through two prominent sons at stud in Kentucky – both of whom are represented on this year’s Kentucky Derby trail.
When Belmont Park reopens in 2026, it will sport an all-weather Tapeta track alongside its existing courses, with the one-mile oval eventually becoming the exclusive winter racing surface on the New York Racing Association circuit. Planning ahead for the reimagined circuit, it’s a boon for New York breeders that the top synthetic-surface sire in the United States resides in New York.
Bucchero is preparing to stand the 2025 season at the new Ironhorse Stallions, which will be based out of the established Questroyal North in Stillwater.
Of the 15 West Coast stallions bred to 40 or more mares in 2024, 14 stood in California. The exception was Washington-based Alternation, who was bred to 43 mares, according to Jockey Club statistics.
“We were really pleased with that,” said Debbie Pabst of Blue Ribbon Farm in Buckley, Wash., where Alternation stands.
In one of the closest duels on any stallion list for 2024, Vekoma edged McKinzie and Tiz the Law to claim the freshman sire earnings title.
