Megagray
Langfuhr—Megavista, by Medaglia d’Oro
(Bred in Ontario by Gustav Schickendanz)
Megagray is a product of the Gustav Schickedanz breeding program on both sides of the family, and given the Canadian Hall of Fame horseman’s two wins in the Queen’s Plate as an owner, that’s not bad.
Norumbega, a Grade 2 winner and young Maryland stallion, was euthanized June 6 due to complications from colic surgery. He was 7.
The son of Tiznow had been sent to New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., for surgery for a cecal impaction on May 26. He was in the midst of his debut season at stud, residing at Bonita Farm in Darlington, Md. He was advertised for $3,000 and has 14 mares confirmed in foal.
Stormin Fever, a Grade 3 winner and pensioned California sire, was euthanized Thursday due to the infirmities of old age. He was 23.
The son of Storm Cat was pensioned at the end of the 2016 breeding season and was owned by Golden Eagle Farm.
Stormin Fever ran as a homebred for Virginia-based Edward P. Evans and won eight of 21 starts for earnings of $484,664. Racing for trainer Mark Hennig, he won the Grade 3 Sport Page Handicap at Aqueduct and placed in five additional graded stakes, including the Grade 1 Vosburgh Stakes in 1998 and 1999.
Classic sire and former world record-holder Elusive Quality has been pensioned from stallion duty. The 24-year-old stallion will live out his retirement at Darley’s American base at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky.
Hargus Sexton, a prominent Kentucky Thoroughbred breeder, died June 15 at his home in Versailles, Ky. He was 96.
A native of Green Hall, Ky., Sexton held a variety of jobs in his earlier years, including RC Cola distributor, dairy farmer, bartender, and mutuel teller at Keeneland and Churchill Downs. In the 1950s, he began a 60-year run in the tobacco industry, much of it as a partner in United Tobacco. Sexton also founded United Beverage Inc. and Hargus Sexton GA insurance company.
In many ways the 2011 Keeneland November breeding stock sale was a turning point in the Thoroughbred marketplace. The market had basically been cut in half by the global economic meltdown of 2008, but began showing mild signs of recovery earlier in 2011. Multiple champion Royal Delta was the star attraction at Keeneland November, topping the sale on an $8.5 million bid from Benjamin Leon’s Besilu Stable, second highest ever for a female Thoroughbred.
Spirit of Shanghai became the first winner for juvenile champion Shanghai Bobby, a well-regarded member of a strong group of freshman sires, when she won a maiden-claiming race Sunday at Santa Anita.
Eclipse Award champion Blame, standing at historic Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, has flirted with progeny victories in major Grade 1 events, as one might expect. Blameitonthelaw was third behind champion Nyquist in the 2015 Del Mar Futurity, and Going for Broke was second to champion Songbird in the 2016 Alabama Stakes. But Blame’s first Grade/Group 1 winner came in a classic on turf in France, as Senga scored in the Prix de Diane, or French Oaks, over the weekend.
Gun Runner was an honest and consistent 3-year-old. The winner of the Louisiana Derby and Risen Star, both Grade 2 events, he finished a creditable third behind Nyquist and Exaggerator in the Kentucky Derby, then bounced right back to win the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes.
Richard Barton, a Southern California businessman who has taken an increasingly prominent role in California Thoroughbred racing in recent years, is finalizing the purchase of Magali Farms in Santa Ynez, Calif., according to his daughter, Kate.
Kate Barton, who manages the family’s racing and breeding holdings, said on Friday the deal is in escrow and set to close July 31.
