Prince Bishop and African Story, winners of the past two editions of the Dubai World Cup, have been retired from racing and will reside in the Godolphin stables going forward.
The pair of 8-year-old geldings both had their final starts in this year’s Dubai World Cup in March, with Prince Bishop besting Horse of the Year California Chrome by 2 ¾ lengths for the win. African Story was unsuccessful in defending his own 2 ¾-length victory from 2014, finishing sixth to Prince Bishop this year.
Adelaide, a Grade/Group 1 winner in the U.S. and Australia, has been retired from racing and will enter stud during the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season at Coolmore Australia in Jerrys Plains, New South Wales.
A fee for the 4-year-old son of Galileo will be announced at a later date.
Smuggler, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2005, died April 16 at Claiborne Farm due to complications from foaling. Her foal, by War Front, was also lost.
A member of the vaunted Phipps family breeding program, the 13-year-old Unbridled mare was out of champion Inside Information and a half sister to Illicit, the dam of multiple Grade 2 winner Gone Astray.
Easter Bunnette, the dam of 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace, died April 18 due to hemorrhaging caused by foaling her Bernardini colt. She was 17.
Headley Bell of Mill Ridge Farm said the foal is doing well and has adapted to his new nurse mare.
“He’s a fabulous foal,” Bell said. “We couldn’t be any more pleased and thankful that he’s here and healthy.”
Vinery Stud in Scone, New South Wales, Australia, has released its stud fees for the 2015 Southern Hemisphere breeding season, headed up by U.S. shuttle sire More Than Ready.
More Than Ready will stand his 15th Southern Hemisphere season for $51,127 ($66,000 Australian). He stands the Northern Hemisphere season at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., for an advertised fee of $50,000.
Limehouse became West Virginia’s leading sire by progeny earnings the minute he became a resident at O’Sullivan Farms in Charles Town in preparation for the 2013 breeding season.
Despite some opportunities to make his stay in the Mountain State a brief one, farm owner Randy Funkhouser said Limehouse would stick around to lead the standings with West Virginia-sired runners.
Rainbow Heir was named New Jersey’s 2014 Horse of the Year on the strength of a campaign highlighted by a pair of stakes victories at Monmouth Park
The 5-year-old son of Wildcat Heir was also named the state’s champion handicap male and sprinter, winning three of five starts last year for earnings of $147,750. Rainbow Heir’s campaign included wins in the Teddy Drone Stakes and New Jersey Breeders Handicap at Monmouth Park.
Uncle Mo set the racing world on fire as a juvenile, winning his three starts that season – including the historic Champagne Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile – by a combined 23 1/4 lengths en route to earning the 2010 Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male.
Those accomplishments have set the bar high for his own juvenile progeny. Uncle Mo is part of a diverse group of freshman sires whose first foals are 2-year-olds this year. The class includes a handful of Eclipse Award champions, a classic winner, and a number of other major winners.
The title of great Italian breeder Federico Tesio’s book “Breeding the Racehorse” has always been misleading, especially for novices. Readers in search of the “secrets” that led Tesio to breed unbeaten Nearco and unbeaten Ribot must look elsewhere, most obviously in the pedigrees of Tesio’s many champions.
