It is possible that in the final days of the year, a runner owned by Californian Nick Alexander will win or place in a race or two at Santa Anita and push the stable past $1.5 million in earnings for the fifth time in the last six years.
Through Dec. 16, Alexander-owned runners had earned $1,457,317 with a win by Shea Brennan in the $102,000 King Glorious Stakes for 2-year-old California-breds at Los Alamitos on Dec. 15 being the latest success.
The painful image is all too familiar to those who make their lives with horses – the empty stall, where until this week Uncle Mo resided at Ashford Stud, posted on social media by Coolmore’s Adrian Wallace.
But Uncle Mo, euthanized Thursday at a relatively young 16 following a leg injury, leaves a void bigger than a stall. The beloved Thoroughbred, a champion runner and an even better sire, left a sizeable mark on the sport.
Born Noble was an eye-catching debut winner at Gulfstream Park 51 weeks ago, but as quickly as his star rose, it faded. Narrowly defeated in his second start in February and away from the races ever since, Born Noble returns Sunday in a first-level/optional $25,000 claiming race that highlights the 10-race Gulfstream Park card.
Always Dreaming, winner of the 2017 Kentucky Derby, has died following a bout with colic. The son of Bodemeister was 10.
Always Dreaming entered stud at WinStar Farm in Kentucky in 2019. He was sold earlier this year to stand at River Oaks Farm in Oklahoma, and would have had his first season there in 2025.
Classic winner, Eclipse Award champion, and prominent sire Lemon Drop Kid has died, Lane's End Farm, the stallion's birthplace as well as his current home, reported Friday. The stallion, who stood alongside his sire, the late Kingmambo, was 28.
As of the first of December – some 10 weeks from the start of the Northern Hemisphere breeding season – a pair of major "free agents" were still on the board. Grade/Group 1 winners Senor Buscador and Rich Strike remained without announced stallion deals, with their connections intending to stand them at stud in 2025.
The Hancock family’s historic Claiborne Farm is well known for its partnerships with other prominent racing families – such as the Phipps and Janney dynasties – which have kept stock at the farm and thus contributed to its stallion ranks over the decades. While many of those long-established partnerships are reflected in the current stallion roster, the farm’s two newcomers this year represent new links to prominent racing entities.
Gun Pilot was bred, born, and raised at Three Chimneys Farm, where his sire, Gun Runner, reigns supreme. The 2017 Horse of the Year, Gun Runner was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year and has led his class with his first four crops of racing age while becoming one of the nation’s elite sires.
Unsurprisingly, Gun Runner’s first sons to stud have been in high demand. After carrying the Three Chimneys colors to a Grade 1 victory in the Churchill Downs Stakes, Gun Pilot now becomes the first of those to join his sire in the farm’s stallion complex.
