American trainer Wesley Ward has a good thing going.

Six years ago, the innovative former champion apprentice rider turned trainer suspected some of his more advanced American-bred and -trained 2-year-olds might be more precocious and advanced than their European counterparts and American riding tactics could give them a further advantage over the slower-starting Europeans. When his good older sprinter Cannonball was invited to participate in the King’s Stand Stakes at the 2009 Royal Ascot meeting, he decided to test that theory at Ascot’s prestigious June festival.

by Denise Steffanus

Diligence of horse owners in keeping their horses free of parasites has resulted in overuse of dewormers. As a result, resistance to current classes of dewormers is a mounting problem worldwide, especially in roundworms and strongyles.

Roundworms, or ascarids, hatch in the stomach and then migrate through the bloodstream to the lungs and liver, where they can cause serious damage and even death, especially in foals and young horses.

Darren Fox has been appointed sales manager of Darley’s American stallion division at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky.

A native of County Roscommon, Ireland, Fox graduated from the Darley Flying Start program in 2009 and previously worked for Darley’s American operation for four years. He graduated from the University of Limerick with a degree in Equine Science.

WinStar Farm has promoted Kyle Wilson to stallion seasons director, and has brought on Caroline Walsh to join the nominations team.

Wilson, a native of Toledo, Ohio, graduated from the University of Kentucky, and has previously worked for Bradley Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm in stallion season sales prior to coming to WinStar.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, joined by several prominent figures in Central Kentucky's Thoroughbred breeding and sales industry, held a ceremonial groundbreaking to celebrate the construction of its new retraining and adoption facility at Mereworth Farm in Lexington, Ky., on Wednesday.

Not For Sale, an Argentine Group 1 winner and sire of runners including Asiatic Boy and Miss Serendipity, died Monday due to colic.

The 21-year-old son of Parade Marshal resided at Haras la Pasión in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was consistently among the country’s leading sires.

Bred in Argentina by El Candil, Not For Sale won nine of 24 starts, winning the Group 1 Ciudad de Buenos Aires Stakes and the Group 3 Clasico Buenos Aires, for earnings of $99,998.

The Breeders' Cup has announced that Hagyard Equine Medical Institute of Lexington, Ky., has been named an official partner of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, in the Equine First Response Unit category.

The 2015 Breeders' Cup will be held Oct. 30 and 31 at Keeneland, in Lexington. Hagyard is located nearby, virtually adjacent to the Kentucky Horse Park. 

Twirling Candy propelled himself atop the current freshman sire standings with two maiden special weight winners, Uptown Twirl and Twirling Cinnamon, last week, according to Daily Racing Form’s SirePowered Results.

Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky. has revealed the advertised Southern Hemisphere stud fees for its stallions remaining at the farm’s Kentucky base for the summer.

The group is led by Spendthrift’s cornerstone stallion Malibu Moon, who will stand the Southern Hemisphere season for $25,000.

The 18-year-old son of A.P. Indy stood the 2015 Northern Hemisphere season for $95,000. He is the sire of runners including Kentucky Derby winner Orb, champion Declan’s Moon, and Grade 1 winners Life at Ten, Devil May Care, Malibu Mint, Ask the Moon, and Malibu Prayer.

Commercial breeders did not expect a great deal from 2004 Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone when he retired to Gainesway in 2005, and as a result, his first crop included only 67 named foals. When two of those 67 foals turned out to be 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and 2009 Belmont Stakes winner and champion 3-year-old male Summer Bird, however, perception of Birdstone’s potential as a sire and patronage by breeders changed somewhat.