Quality Road had a career year in 2017, siring Eclipse Award champions Abel Tasman and Caledonia Road. His momentum has continued this year with a strong summer with his 2-year-olds, capped by Bellafina’s victory in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante.

Bellafina, who finished second in her debut, won her maiden in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes. She won the Debutante by 4 1/4 lengths last Saturday.

Because of Claiborne Farm’s more cautious, traditional approach to stallion management than the norm, Claiborne stallions tend to be at a bit of a disadvantage early in their careers. Since Claiborne restricts its stallions to not many more than 100 mares a year, they usually do not have the numbers to compete statistically with stallions standing at farms that take full advantage of the big-book era.

Multiple Grade 1-winning multi-millionaire Accelerate, a leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, will stand at Lane’s End Farm upon retirement, the farm announced Wednesday.

Earlier this month, Accelerate, who is trained by John Sadler for Hronis Racing, won the Pacific Classic by 12 ½ lengths. He became the third horse to win the Santa Anita Handicap, Gold Cup – now run at Santa Anita, formerly at Hollywood Park – and Pacific Classic in the same year, joining Lava Man and Game On Dude.

The arc of a young stallion’s career seldom follows a smooth path.

Nearly two decades ago, More Than Ready was among the first group of horses trainer Todd Pletcher started in the 2000 Kentucky Derby, finishing a creditable fourth. On Saturday, Pletcher’s former assistant Jonathan Thomas saddled Catholic Boy, a son of More Than Ready, to win the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

If Cot Campbell had not been so stubborn in his belief that partnerships were the way to attract new owners to Thoroughbred racing, the winner’s circle at Belmont Park after Justify had won the Triple Crown might have been much less crowded.

New York-breds have stolen the stage at the top level this year, with runners like Audible, Diversify, Mind Your Biscuits, and Voodoo Song winning in Grade 1/Group 1 company. Statebreds will have the stage all to themselves on Friday at Saratoga as the track hosts New York Showcase Day, featuring six stakes for statebreds worth a total of $1.25 million. 

As we were poignantly reminded this week, only three fillies have won the Kentucky Derby in its 145-year history. Genuine Reward, one of only two foals produced by 1980 Derby winner Genuine Risk, died last week at Old Friends Retirement Home for Thoroughbreds near Lexington, Ky., after being saved from slaughter three years ago by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand and Old Friends’s Michael Blowen. Sadly, both of Genuine Risk’s foals were colts, so she has no tail-female descendants.

How do you measure greatness in a stallion? Traditionally, the number of stakes winners, graded stakes winners, Grade 1 winners, and sire championships have been the yardsticks by which great sires are measured.

Multiple stakes winner Starry Dreamer, the dam of internationally prominent sire War Front, died this week at age 24 due to the infirmities of old age. She will be buried in the Marchmont cemetery at Claiborne Farm, where she resided for owner Joseph Allen.

Starry Dreamer won the Gold Digger Stakes as a juvenile, and the Regret Stakes and Palisades Stakes as a 3-year-old. Her 12 stakes placings included a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Gazelle Handicap as a 3-year-old. In total, the daughter of Rubiano won 6 of 31 starts for earnings of $564,789.