Multiple graded stakes winner Golden Lad has been retired and will begin his stud career at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md.

The 5-year-old son of Medaglia d'Oro is currently being syndicated and will stand for $5,000 live foal.

The male line of three-time leading sire Danzig is secure, but exactly how many branches may grow on that highly colorful and varied tree remains unclear. Danehill and Green Desert have emerged as prolific sires of sires in their own right, and there are still possibilities, however remote, that branches from Anabaa, Boundary, Lure, and National Assembly could somehow flourish if the right horse comes along.

Ten years ago on Sunday, Barbaro won his career debut at Delaware Park – launching a six-race win streak to begin his career, culminating with a dominating performance in the following spring’s Kentucky Derby. But if that streak captured the racing world’s imagination, it was nothing compared to what commenced two weeks following in the Preakness Stakes, when the colt pulled up with severe injuries in the first quarter-mile of the race and captivated the nation with his fight to survive over the next eight months.

You can’t say American Pharoah had anything to do with it, but the North American foal crop has ticked up for the first time in 10 years. This is good news for racetracks, though any effect, albeit small right now, will not truly be felt until 2017 at the earliest.

Without racing stock – in large numbers – the scope of our sport is diminished both nationally and regionally, and the decline in foal crops over recent years has brought an accompanying steep drop in the number of races, race days, and field sizes.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Rock Fall, a leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, will stand at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., for the 2016 breeding season after completing his current campaign.

The 4-year-old son of Speightstown has won 7 of 8 career starts, never losing after his debut effort, for earnings of $749,180. His three most recent wins came in the Grade 2 True North Stakes, the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, and the Grade 1 Vosburgh Stakes, respectively. Todd Pletcher trains the colt.

Grade 2 winner Senor Swinger will relocate to La Mancha Farm in Ocala, Fla. for the 2016 breeding season, where he will stand for an advertised fee of $5,000.

The 15-year-old son of El Prado was acquired by Michael V. Laurato from Hartley/DeRenzo and Partners’ PA Venture, which stood the horse at Diamond B Farm in Mohrsville, Pa.

Senor Swinger has sired five crops of racing age, with 22 winners and combined progeny earnings of over $1 million. His runners are led by steeplechase stakes winner All the Way Jose, as well as six-figure earner Only One for Me.

Grade 1 winner and sire Eskendereya has been purchased by the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association, and will stand in Japan for the 2016 breeding season.

The 8-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway had been a resident of Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Ky., since debuting at stud in 2011, and stood the most recent season for an advertised fee of $17,500.

Champion Soaring Softly, winner of the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, died Tuesday following a paddock accident at Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Ky. She was 20.

The Kris S. mare was bred and campaigned by Darby Dan’s Galbreath/Phillips Racing Partnership and resided at Darby Dan throughout her broodmare career. She was a half sister to Grade 1 winner Plenty of Grace and five additional stakes producers, out of Grade 3 winner Wings of Grace.

Classic winner Empire Maker, the grandsire of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, will return to the United States to stand at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky.

The 15-year-old Unbridled horse had stood in Japan since the 2011 season, after being sold by owner and breeder Juddmonte Farm. Gainesway joined together with Don Alberto Corp to purchase the stallion, and the Japan Bloodstock Breeders' Association approved the sale on Sept. 25, according to Racing Post.

Grade 3 winner Micromanage will make his debut at stud in 2016 at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, N.Y. for an advertised fee of $5,000.

The 5-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro won seven of 30 starts over four seasons of racing for earnings of $790,551, highlighted by a win in the Grade 3 Skip Away Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and four non-graded stakes scores. He also placed in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Stakes, the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational Stakes, and the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup Stakes.