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.
Frosted
Colt, by Tapit – Fast Cookie, by Deputy Minister
(Bred in Kentucky by Darley)
Fresh off a record-setting season, leading sire Tapit will look to add another feather in his cap with his first Kentucky Derby winner, and he has a strong shot to do so in Wood Memorial winner Frosted. The Godolphin color-bearer has classic influences on both sides of the family that place him in good stead moving forward.
A 20 percent interest in two-time Horse of the Year and Lane’s End stallion Curlin belonging to disbarred lawyers Shirley Cunningham Jr. and William Gallion’s Midnight Cry Stables will be offered for sale, along with four annual breeding rights.
The sale will be brokered by Schumer Bloodstock in conjunction with M2 Transport. The companies were awarded the listing contract to disperse the undivided share in the horse by the U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Marshals Service, Asset Forfeiture Division.
Tapit, who led North America’s general sire list in 2014, is again off to a solid start in 2015. The Gainesway stallion extended his lead atop the sire list over the weekend, as, according to Daily Racing Form’s SirePowered Results, he recorded eight winners, with three graded stakes winners, on April 10-11 alone. The run helped pushed his earnings for this year to $5,755,277, more than $1.7 million ahead of his closest pursuer.
Is it possible for a stallion to earn three sire championships and be under-appreciated in the country where he led the sire list three times in four years and has ranked in the top 10 for each of the last nine years?
If that stallion’s name is Giant’s Causeway, the answer is clearly yes.
Below is an archive of in-depth articles on horse care, stable management, and health topics provided by DRF Breeding correspondents.
April 2015
Hoof care: Farriers share favored products [HTML article | PDF download]
