The roller-coaster career of champion Classic Empire has come to an end, with Coolmore's Ashford Stud announcing Wednesday that the colt has officially been retired and will enter stud in 2018.
Coolmore announced days following Classic Empire's runner-up effort in the Preakness Stakes - which turned out to be his final career start - that it had inked a deal to stand John Oxley's Pioneerof the Nile colt upon retirement.
Madefromlucky, a Grade 2 winner, has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md., for the 2018 breeding season.
A fee will be announced for the 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky at a later time. Northview Stallion Station is currently in the process of syndicating the horse.
“Madefromlucky has a combination of racing ability and pedigree that we just could not pass up,” said Northview president Richard Golden.
The Fappiano, Smart Strike, Gone West, Forty Niner, Seeking the Gold, and Machiavellian branches of the Mr. Prospector male line are all recognized as major players on the international stage, but male-line descendants of Mr. Prospector’s 1988 champion sprinter Gulch have not earned the same panache. Thus, it was interesting to see granddaughters and great-granddaughters of Gulch win two of the biggest races in Canada over the weekend.
Hall of Famer Inside Information died Saturday at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., from natural causes due to old age. She was 26.
The daughter of Private Account was born at Claiborne Farm as a product of the vaunted breeding program of Ogden Mills Phipps. She was later placed in the barn of trainer Shug McGaughey to run as a homebred for Phipps.
Grade 2 winner Bird Song will enter stud at Gainesway in Lexington, Ky., for the 2018 breeding season at an advertised fee of $5,000.
The 4-year-old son of Unbridled’s Song retired in September with five wins in 14 starts for earnings of $512,707. He won the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes and Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes and finished in the money in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope and Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes.
Bird Song raced as a homebred for Marylou Whitney Stables and was trained by Ian Wilkes.
Sinndar, the only horse to have won the Epsom Derby, Irish Derby, and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same season, has been pensioned from stallion duty in France.
The 20-year-old son of Grand Lodge raced as a homebred for the Aga Khan and stood as his property at Haras de Bonneval for an advertised fee of $4,137 (3,500 Euros) during the 2017 season. He has been moved to Haras d’Ouilly in Normandy to reside with fellow Aga Khan pensioner Dalakhani, who was retired from stallion duty last year.
Grade 1 winner The Factor will stand the 2018 breeding season at one of the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders Association’s farms on a one-year lease.
The 9-year-old son of War Front entered stud at Lane’s End in Versailles, Ky., in 2013, and has resided there for each of his Northern Hemisphere seasons. He was advertised in 2017 for $25,000.
"The JBBA expressed an interest in standing The Factor on a one-year lease in 2018,” co-owner George Bolton said. “We are excited to offer The Factor’s impressive bloodlines to Japan and we look forward to his return to Lane's End in 2019."
Bill and Janet Grube have accomplished plenty throughout their 12 years in the Thoroughbred industry. They have sold their fair share of horses at auction, but selling under the banner of their own Destiny Oaks of Ocala was uncharted territory prior to this week’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. fall yearling sale.
Champion Arrogate will be retired following this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar and will enter stud for the 2018 breeding season at Juddmonte Farms in Lexington, Ky.
A fee will be determined later for the 4-year-old son of Unbridled’s Song, who is owned by Juddmonte and has won 7 of 10 starts for earnings of $17,302,600.
His final start will be a defense of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic victory at Santa Anita, which helped him secure that season’s champion 3-year-old male honors and made him a finalist for Horse of the Year.
