Freud’s grasp on the reins of his kingdom hasn’t slipped.
The 20-year-old Storm Cat horse, who reigns at Sequel Stallions, continues to dominate the New York stallion ranks. His 2017 bankroll of $6,320,911 easily led the state’s general sire list, decisively outpacing Bellamy Road at $4,750,493, with Big Brown third at $3,320,006. This marks the 10th straight time Freud has finished first or second on the list of general sires with state-sired runners.
Regional sire lists are full of instances where a stallion arrives from Kentucky and instantly becomes a state’s leader by earnings based on the strength of their Bluegrass-bred runners. How they fare as a fully vested member of their new home state’s stallion roster is more of a mixed bag.
There have been 27 finalists for North America’s Horse of the Year honors since 2010, and just seven of them have been born outside of Kentucky.
The latest came in 2017, when Florida-bred World Approval earned the distinction on the strength of a campaign featuring wins in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Woodbine Mile, and Fourstardave Handicap, all Grade 1’s.
A changing of the guard is taking place among Florida’s stallion ranks.
Familiar names will be clearing out from their entrenched spots on top of the state’s sire list in the coming years, be they the deceased Wildcat Heir or the pensioned High Cotton. Three stallions leading the youth movement’s charge to replace them are First Dude, Poseidon’s Warrior, and Treasure Beach.
Aljabr, Europe’s champion 2-year-old male of 1998, died Tuesday of a heart attack at Shadwell Farm in Lexington, Ky. He was 22.
The son of Storm Cat had resided at Shadwell Farm as a pensioner since 2013, and he will be buried at the farm.
Bred in Kentucky by Shadwell, out of the French Group 1-winning Baillamong mare Sierra Madre, Aljabr raced for Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum’s Godolphin operation and trainer Saeed bin Suroor.
Encryption and Anaximandros will enter stud at The Cherry Orchard in Lexington, Ky., for the 2018 breeding season after selling as stallion prospects at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale.
Peter Doth, owner of The Cherry Orchard, said both horses will stand privately.
Girolamo, a Grade 1 winner, has been exported to continue his stallion career in Korea for the 2018 breeding season. The 12-year-old son of A.P. Indy previously stood at Darley’s Jonabell Farm base in Lexington, Ky., for an advertised fee of $10,000. He began his stud career in New York.
Records from the Korean Racing Authority show Girolamo entered the country Jan. 29.
Since January 2017, North America’s four major auction houses have hosted 32 individual sales, and Medaglia d’Oro has sired the most expensive offering at five of them, more than any other stallion.
Rock Ridge Thoroughbreds’s $310,000 purchase of the stakes-placed mare Girl Talk at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale was the latest in a high-end run at auction for Medaglia d’Oro.
Good Magic
Curlin–Glinda the Good, by Hard Spun
Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Farm ($1 million Keeneland September yearling purchase by e Five Racing Thoroughbreds)
The opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale went without the splashy prices that drove the top of the market last year, producing declines in gross and average with a slightly higher median, and spearheaded by the $260,000 broodmare prospect Bling On the Music.
Monday’s session finished with 181 horses sold for revenues of $4,134,200, down 12 percent from last year’s first day of trade when 164 horses changed hands for $4,702,300. The average sale price dipped 21 percent to $22,841 from $28,763, while the median rose 3 percent to $10,000 from $9,750.
