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.
Domestic Product and Sierra Leone have shared trainer Chad Brown’s barn for the past two seasons. The month of November found them again sharing a barn, this time at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud. But now their paths diverge.
Earlier this year, trainer Cherie DeVaux had More Than Looks ready for his 2024 debut when he got a leg caught in his stall webbing and injured a tendon, prompting the trainer to remark how horses love to scuttle plans – a fact well known to anyone who works hands-on with horses.
Welcoming a classic winner to a stallion roster is a proud moment. Welcoming two to the roster in the same year is an exceptional rarity. Spendthrift Farm will welcome two winners of American Triple Crown races to its stallion ranks for the 2025 season – and if that isn’t enough, the farm adds another Grade 1 winner as well.
There may still be scorch marks on the Saratoga turf from Cogburn’s virtuoso performance in this year’s Grade 1 Jaipur as he sizzled 5 1/2 furlongs in less than a minute for a North American record.
Despite a loss in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in his career finale, Cogburn will begin his stallion career as an extremely hot commodity whose bandwagon is becoming crowded with supporters.
A stallion is only half the equation – and, in getting a new stallion off on the right foot, a premium is placed on the quality of mares behind him. Few are in a position to support their new stallions better than Mandy Pope.
Five years after shocking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at 45-1 odds, the 2019 champion juvenile male Storm the Court has been retired to stud in California. Trainer Peter Eurton said the 7-year-old was relocated to Eclipse Thoroughbred Training Center in the Santa Ynez Valley, where he will begin stud duty next spring.
Storm the Court paid $93.80 winning the BC Juvenile in 2019 at Santa Anita; the payoff is a Juvenile record. Storm the Court, however, never won again. He started 26 more times, including a last-place finish Nov. 17 in a Del Mar allowance that was his career finale.
Breeders' Cup Mile winner More Than Looks has been retired and will begin his stud career at Lane's End Farm.
Owners Victory Racing Partners said immediately after the Breeders’ Cup that they intended to race More Than Looks as a 5-year-old next year. However, trainer Cherie DeVaux said the son of the late More Than Ready was found to have reinjured the tendon in his right foreleg, an issue that delayed his return to the races in 2024.
“It’s one of those things where he’s proven what he has,” DeVaux said. “It’s a long recovery.”
Old Forester, the sire of 2017 Canadian Horse of the Year Pink Lloyd, died peacefully at age 23 at T.C. Westmeath Stud on Nov. 17, according to farm owner John Carey.
Old Forester won the Grade 3 Cliff Hanger at The Meadowlands in 2006 and placed in several other graded stakes while earning $462,632 as a turf specialist.
