Classic Empire
Pioneerof the Nile-Sambuca Classica, by Cat Thief
(Bred in Kentucky by Steven and Brandi Nicholson; $475,000 purchase by John Oxley at 2015 Keeneland September yearling sale)
Classic Empire, who debuts as the favorite on Mike Watchmaker’s Kentucky Derby future line, became the second Eclipse Award champion juvenile in three seasons for sire Pioneerof the Nile.
California stallion Lucky Pulpit, sire of two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, has died of a heart attack at age 16.
The Pulpit stallion was covering his first mare of the season at Harris Farms in Coalinga, Calif., which he had called home for the past decade, when he collapsed. Farm manager David McGlothlin and stallion manager Raul Rosa were there when it happened, according to a statement from Harris Farms.
Grade 2 winner Unified will stand at Lane’s End in Versailles, Ky. upon his retirement from racing.
The 4-year-old son of Candy Ride has won three of four starts, all for owner Centennial Farms and trainer Jimmy Jerkens, earning $328,500. Last year he won the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park and Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct.
Unified is training toward his 2017 debut at Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida.
Grade 3 winner Midnight Hawk will enter stud at Rising Sun Farm in Portmore, Jamaica, for the 2017 breeding season.
The 6-year-old son of Midnight Lute retired with five wins in 17 career starts and earnings of $591,750. He won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in 2014 and notched placings in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes and Robert B. Lewis Stakes, as well as the Grade 3 Sunland Derby, Illinois Derby, and Razorback Handicap.
Dr. Kendall Hansen unveiled his namesake colt, Hansen, at Turfway Park in 2011. The son of leading sire Tapit won his first two starts, including the Kentucky Cup Juvenile, by a combined 15 1/2 lengths before taking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile over eventual classic winner Union Rags to lock up an Eclipse Award.
Ghostzapper, whose sons swept last weekend’s graded stakes for Kentucky Derby hopefuls, is off to a solid start to 2017.
The Adena Springs stallion ranks second on the general sire list by earnings for 2017 and leads all active sires in that category, fueled by Shaman Ghost’s runner-up effort in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup to champion Arrogate, by the late Unbridled’s Song.
Sire lines must be adaptable to survive and thrive.
Northern Dancer, the greatest sire of the last half of the 20th century, was a small, blocky horse who won his races with instant acceleration. Although 13 of his 14 victories were on dirt, his many top-class offspring usually inherited that ability to accelerate in a stride or two, an ability perfectly suited to European grass racing, and, as a result, he led the English sire list four times while achieving the same distinction only once in North America.
Two stallions will move to western Canada for the 2017 breeding season following the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale.
It’s No Joke, a Grade 2-winning son of Distorted Humor, was bought by Alberta-based Dr. Don Gibb for $6,000.
The 15-year-old stallion last stood publicly at HallMarc Stallions at Stonewall Farm Ocala in Florida, and has not covered a mare on record since 2014.
Suns Out Guns Out, a multiple allowance winner, will relocate for the 2017 breeding season to Stonewall’s Prestige Stallions in Ocala, Fla., where he will stand for an advertised fee of $2,500.
The 8-year-old son of Empire Maker debuted at stud last year at Hand Ride Stables in Ohio, where he stood for $2,000. His first foals arrive in 2017.
Suns Out Guns Out won four of 26 starts for $327,451, with allowance wins at Gulfstream Park, Parx Racing, and Indiana Grand. He also finished fourth in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Marathon.
