Hasili, one of the most successful broodmares of the modern era, has died at Juddmonte Farms’s Banstead Manor Stud at Newmarket, England. The daughter of Kahyasi was 27.
Hasili, who had been pensioned since 2012, produced 10 foals, with 8 of those making it to the races. Her seven winners were all graded or group stakes winners, led by five Grade 1 winners and three champions – Banks Hill, Intercontinental, and Champs Elysee. She was honored as England’s Broodmare of the Year in 2006.
Although modern genetics wags an admonitory finger, we persist in thinking in terms of sire lines and their defining characteristics. We nod knowledgeably each time a small, muscular, compact horse emerges from the Northern Dancer line, even though descendants of that epochal stallion now come in every shape and size imaginable.
Grade 2 winner Majestic Heat has been retired from racing, and will be bred to champion and record-setting sire Uncle Mo in 2018.
The 6-year-old Unusual Heat mare finished fifth in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita Park, closing her lifetime record at seven wins in 20 starts, with earnings of $578,329. Richard Mandella trained Majestic Heat for the partnership of Madeline Auerbach, Bardy Farm, and Ron McCauley.
Go Noni Go is among racing’s newest graded stakes winners, taking last Saturday’s Grade 3 DRF Bets Bourbonette Oaks on Turfway’s Polytrack in decisive fashion. She has come a long way from when she was cataloged for last summer’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky summer horses of racing age sale. Then only sporting two unplaced efforts in maiden special weights on the dirt, she made few shortlists.
Two-time Eclipse Award champion Songbird has been confirmed in foal to fellow champion and first-year stallion Arrogate. It would be the first foal for the Medaglia d'Oro mare.
The news was reported by Timber Town Farm, which boards Songbird in Lexington, Ky., for owner Mandy Pope, who purchased the mare for $9.5 million at last November's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale. The price was the second-highest ever at a North American public auction for a broodmare prospect.
Grade 2 winner Candy Boy has been retired from racing, and will begin his stallion career in Russia, trainer Doug Watson told Michael Adolphson of the Meydan Group on Thursday.
The 7-year-old Candy Ride horse has raced exclusively in the U.A.E. since being purchased by Ramzan Kadyrov in 2015. Kadyrov is head of the Chechen Republic, a federal subject of Russia, bordering the country of Georgia.
The number of significant race cards over synthetic surfaces has slowed to a trickle in North America, but one of the remaining standouts comes Saturday with the Jeff Ruby Steaks card at Turfway Park.
With opportunities for high-level synthetic racing dwindling, it can be a challenge to gauge a horse’s capability over the surface. Of the 60 horses entered in the five stakes races on the Jeff Ruby card, 49 have raced two times or fewer over an all-weather track.
To Honor and Serve, a Grade 1 winner whose first foals are 4-year-olds of 2018, has been exported to Korea to continue his stud career.
The 10-year-old son of Bernardini previously stood at Gainesway in Lexington, Ky., where he was advertised for $7,500. He arrived in Korea on March 14, according to Korean Racing Authority records.
