Through all the changes in California racing over the past 17 years – shuttering tracks, shuffling of racing dates, new surfaces, and new leadership – one of the state’s pillars of consistency has been Unusual Heat.
The 25-year-old son of Nureyev has been a fixture in the Golden State since entering stud in 1998, and that enduring success has helped him become the all-time leading sire by California-bred earnings.
It took little for Grace Upon Grace to lead California’s freshman sires in 2014.
The 8-year-old stallion had six runners who earned $81,872 in 2014. None were winners. His most successful foal was London Legacy, who was winless in four starts, finished second three times, and earned $39,400.
It was still good enough for the freshman stallion title.
“He kind of backed into it, didn’t he?” stallion owner Terry Lovingier said.
Sky Classic, a Canadian Hall of Famer, champion in the U.S., and sire of 1999 Canadian Horse of the Year Thornfield, has been pensioned from stud duty at Pin Oak Stud in Versailles, Ky.
The 28-year-old son of Nijinsky II stood his entire career at Pin Oak Stud, retiring to the farm in 1993 after an on-track career that featured 15 wins in 29 starts for earnings of $3,329,398, at the time a record amount for a Canadian-bred colt.
Multiple Grade 2 stakes winner Bluesthestandard was found to have died last year at age 17.
The gelded son of American Standard had been adopted out to a farm, along with fellow retired racehorses Falcon Scott and Bonfante, after previously residing at Old Friends Equine Retirement in Georgetown, Ky. Michael Blowen, founder and president of Old Friends, said that allegations on social media that the horse had been abused or neglected prior to his death are “absolutely not true.”
Guy and Deb Russell stood outside their filly’s stall, bewildered by what had just happened.
The filly, a gray named Comeflywithanangel, had gone through the ring at the 2009 Michigan Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association yearling sale without drawing a single bid. At the time, it was a significant blow to the Russells’ fledgling breeding program, and one they didn’t see coming.
“They just weren’t interested,” Guy said. “People just weren’t looking, or looking other ways.”
The Florida Thoroughbred Farm Managers’ “Horsemen Helping Horsemen” annual charity stallion season auction will be held Jan. 21-23.
Proceeds from the auction will go toward Florida horsemen in need by providing emergency assistance with rent, utilities, and food. The organization also provides scholarships for the children of Florida horse industry employees.
The online auction will begin Wednesday, Jan. 21, and will end on Friday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Escapedfromnewyork, a resident of Old Friends Equine Retirement in Georgetown, Ky., died Sunday from a heart attack brought on by colic at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in nearby Lexington.
The 10-year-old son of Aristotle had been one of 117 Thoroughbreds in various states of neglect discovered in 2009 at Ernie Paragallo’s Center Brook Farm in upstate New York. The horses were seized by the state and Paragallo was eventually charged with 33 counts of animal cruelty and sentenced to two years in jail and a $33,000 fine.
Grade 1 winner and sire Spring At Last has been purchased by H.H. Prince Sultan bin Mohammed Saud Al Kabeer and will stand in Saudi Arabia.
Spring At Last, a 12-year-old son of Silver Deputy, had stood his entire stallion career at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., where he debuted in 2009. He was advertised for a fee of $10,000 during the upcoming breeding season.
From his first three crops of racing age – the fourth is newly-turned juveniles – Spring At Last has sired 79 winners for combined progeny earnings of more than $5.6 million.
Champion Shanghai Bobby sired his first foal on Jan. 16 when Opulence, an unraced daughter of champion Rags to Riches, produced a dark bay colt at Coolmore’s Creekview Farm in Paris, Ky.
The colt is the second foal out of Opulence, a Giant’s Causeway mare, who is booked to Coolmore stallion Declaration of War for the 2015 breeding season. The mare’s first foal was a colt from the first crop of Stay Thirsty, also a Coolmore sire.
Shanghai Bobby, a 5-year-old son of Harlan’s Holiday, stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., for an advertised fee of $15,000.
