The small-scale but quality operation Hinkle Farms will have a strong rooting interest in both the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, as its broodmare band of about 30 includes the dams of both Derby favorite Nyquist and Oaks contender Weep No More.

The Hinkle family, which has been raising Thoroughbreds for more than half a century, maintains a boutique operation on just over 1,000 acres in Paris, Ky. The farm is co-owned by brothers Tom and Henry Hinkle, who were raised on the farm after their father began buying horses in the 1960s, and Tom’s daughter Anne.

Freshman sire Caleb’s Posse sired his first winner from his first starter when the juvenile colt I Shod the Sheriff won the third race at Gulfstream on Thursday.

Exaggerator

Curlin – Dawn Raid, by Vindication

($110,000 purchase by Big Chief Racing at 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale)

Curlin, who is coming off a career-best season by his racing progeny in 2015, is a rising star in the North American sire ranks. The stallion will look to really break through with a Kentucky Derby winner in Exaggerator, the romping winner of the Santa Anita Derby.

The blood runs hot in the Thoroughbred, and few are hotter right now – on a number of levels – than those by Tapit.

Tapit is North America’s two-time reigning leading sire, breaking his own single-season earnings record last year, and is on track to surpass $100 million in career progeny earnings in 2016. The Gainesway Farm stallion stands for $300,000, the highest advertised fee in North America, and his yearlings averaged $603,074 at public auctions in North America last year.

WinStar Farm has acquired the breeding rights to Santa Anita Derby winner Exaggerator, who is scheduled to make his next start May 7 in the Kentucky Derby. He will go to WinStar at the conclusion of his racing career, Elliott Walden, the president and chief executive of WinStar, said Monday.

Exaggerator, a son of Curlin, is owned by a partnership headed by Matt Bryan's Big Chief Racing. He is trained by Keith Desormeaux.

Smoke Glacken, the champion sprinter of 1997 and a pensioned stallion, was euthanized last Thursday due to the infirmities of old age.

The 22-year-old son of Two Punch had resided at Gainesway in Lexington, Ky., since retiring to stud for the 1998 breeding season. He was pensioned in 2013 and continued to receive full daily care at the operation’s stallion division until his death.

The not-so-secret weapon that has carried owner Paul Reddam and trainer Doug O’Neill back to Louisville, Ky., is Doug’s older brother, Dennis O’Neill. The bloodstock wizard selected both the unbeaten champion Nyquist and Grade 2 winner Land Over Sea as unraced 2-year-olds. Nyquist is expected to be favored in the Kentucky Derby, while Land Over Sea is a strong contender in the Kentucky Oaks following the defection of Songbird.

Arthur B. “Bull” Hancock was justly famous for importing leading sires Nasrullah and Ambiorix as well as outstanding stallions Herbager, Le Fabuleux, and Forli to stand at Claiborne Farm. In retrospect, however, a series of mares Hancock selected and imported in the 10 years following World War II proved almost – if not equally – as important to the development of the international Thoroughbred in the last half of the 20th century.

Freshman sire Creative Cause sired his first winner when his first starter, Milton Freewater, won the first race at Los Alamitos on Friday by a nose over first-time starter Alpenhorn. It was race for California-bred 2-year-olds going 4 1/2 furlongs and a field of just four started. Alpenhorn, a filly, was the first starter for freshman sire Empire Way.

Littleprincessemma, the dam of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, has been honored as Kentucky’s Broodmare of the Year for 2015.

The award, presented annually since 1946, was announced at the annual Kentucky-bred champions program of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders. American Pharoah was among the horses honored at the luncheon, as the Kentucky-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male.