Gainesway stallion Empire Maker, a major influence on the classics in recent years, will stand for an advertised stud fee of $85,000 in 2019, when his return North American crop comes to the races. Empire Maker stood for the same fee in 2018.

Gainesway announced its full nine-horse roster and fees late Thursday night after earlier in the week revealing that three-time leading sire Tapit will stand for $225,000 in 2019, meaning he is no longer North America's most expensive stallion. He stood for $300,000 from 2015 to 2018.

Two-time Horse of the Year and multiple classic sire Curlin's stud fee will climb to $175,000 for 2019, Hill 'n' Dale Farm has announced.

Curlin, by Smart Strike, stood for $150,000 in 2018. The stallion has sired a classic winner or classic-placed runner from each of his first six crops to race, represented by 2013 Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice, 2014 Preakness Stakes runner-up Ride On Curlin, 2015 Belmont runner-up Keen Ice, 2016 Preakness winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Exaggerator, 2017 Belmont runner-up Irish War Cry, and 2018 Derby runner-up Good Magic.

Classic sire Pioneerof the Nile will stand for $110,000 in 2019 to lead a strong branch of his sireline on WinStar Farm's expanding roster.

Pioneerof the Nile, by Empire Maker, is the sire of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, fellow Eclipse Award champion juvenile and 2017 Preakness Stakes runner-up Classic Empire, and 2014 Preakness third-place finisher Social Inclusion.

International sire War Front's stud fee will remain at $250,000 at Claiborne Farm for 2019, which will keep him among the most expensive stallions in North America.

War Front is the sire of Grade 1/Group 1 winners Fog of War, Homesman, Lancaster Bomber, and U S Navy Flag in 2018. He led the Keeneland September yearling sale by average price, checking in at $782,500, with five seven-figure yearlings sold.

Perennial leading sire Tapit will stand for an advertised fee of $225,000, a reduction from his continent-leading price of the last several seasons, Gainesway Farm announced Wednesday. His book will again be limited to 125 mares.

Quality Road's stud fee will more than double for the 2019 season, Lane's End Farm has announced.  

As stallions age both quality and quantity of their books clearly decline. Fertility begins to wane a bit, but more significantly the market moves on to the shiny new star, and as the market goes, so goes the attention of commercial breeders.

Reloaded, trained and ridden by international event rider and longtime Thoroughbred and Mustang advocate Elisa Wallace, was voted “America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred” at the Retired Racehorse Project’s $100,000 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium this weekend at the Kentucky Horse Park.

The unbeaten but lightly raced Army Mule, away from the races since winning the Grade 1 Carter Handicap in April, has been retired and will enter stud at Hill 'n' Dale Farm in 2019, the farm announced Saturday afternoon. He will stand for a fee of $10,000.

Encosta de Lago, a leading sire and broodmare sire in Australia, has died, Coolmore Australia said Saturday. The son of Fairy King was 25.

Encosta de Lago won three of eight starts, taking the Group 1 Vichealth Cup, Group 2 Ascot Vale, and Group 2 Quantas Bill Stutt. As a sire, he is represented by 1,136 winners worldwide, including 116 stakes winners, for career progeny earnings of $146,645,036.