In the fall of 2014, Iowa businessman Dennis Albaugh and his son-in-law Jason Loutsch sat in the sale pavilion at Keeneland and selected nine yearlings. The nine youngsters came from a North American foal crop estimated at 23,509.

Zenyatta’s newborn War Front colt died Wednesday morning at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington, Ky., continuing a run of bad luck for the champion as a broodmare.

The colt was born Sunday night at Lane’s End Farm, where the 2010 Horse of the Year and Hall of Fame finalist has been boarded since her retirement for owners Jerry and Ann Moss. While the birth was uncomplicated, the colt was born meconium-stained, leading the attending veterinarian to send the mare and foal to a clinic for observation.

Cupid

Tapit – Pretty ‘n Smart, by Beau Genius

($900,000 purchase by M.V. Magnier at 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale)

Lentenor, one of two full brothers to ill-fated Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro standing at stud, was represented by his first starter on Sunday when Macy’s Attitude finished eighth in a maiden special weight at Keeneland.

The champion Zenyatta has delivered a colt by popular young stallion War Front, her team announced Monday.

The 12-year-old Street Cry mare is boarded at Lane’s End in Kentucky for owners Jerry and Ann Moss, who were in Lexington to greet the new arrival. According to the official Zenyatta website, the mare’s water broke Sunday at about 9 p.m. Eastern, and the foal was delivered at 9:24.

While the birth was without complications, the colt was born meconium-stained, leading the attending veterinarian to send the mare and foal to a clinic for observation.

Red-hot young stallion Uncle Mo continued to light it up over the weekend, with four colts from his first crop currently under consideration for the Kentucky Derby after last weekend’s three major prep races.

Rare Opportunity went through the ring at the 1994 Keeneland January sale of horses of all ages as an afterthought.

Bred by Henryk de Kwiatowski’s Kennelot Stables during his time as owner of Calumet Farm, the unraced 2-year-old filly quietly hammered for $5,500 to the late breeder Bob Anderson and headed to Anderson Farm in St. Thomas, Ontario.

Having paid her way several times over, Rare Opportunity punctuated an outstanding purchase more than two decades later by earning 2015 Canadian Broodmare of the Year honors on Friday at the Sovereign Awards in Toronto.

The two most important attributes that elevate a stallion from the ranks of the merely successful to superstar status are the ability to consistently sire legitimate classic prospects and juvenile graded stakes winners.

Although two-time Horse of the Year Curlin sired a classic winner in his first crop in 2013 Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice, he did not sire a juvenile graded winner until the 2015 Saratoga meeting when Exaggerator won the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and Off the Tracks captured the Grade 3 Schuylerville.

With this season’s 2-year-old racing about to begin in earnest, two of the highest-priced offerings of the season, both by freshman sires, are working steadily in California toward their racing careers.

Dre Dan, a son of Union Rags who commanded the highest price by a freshman sire at the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale of 2-year-olds in training, turned in his third work last week at Los Alamitos, stretching out to three furlongs and going in 37.80 seconds.

Danzing Candy
By Twirling Candy-Talkin and Singing, Songandaprayer

There’s a little bit of everything in San Felipe Stakes winner Danzing Candy’s pedigree – turf and dirt, sprinters and stayers. The colt, by promising young sire Twirling Candy, has emerged as one of the West Coast’s leading Kentucky Derby candidates entering this weekend’s Santa Anita Derby.