Big Drama, the champion sprinter of 2010, will relocate to Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla., for the 2015 breeding season, where he will stand for an advertised fee of $10,000.
The 8-year-old son of Montbrook previously stood at HallMarc Stallions at Stonewall Farm in Ocala, where he was advertised at the same price. His first foals will be 2-year-olds of 2015.
Grade 3 winner Rydilluc has been retired from racing to stand at Haras San Patricio in Santiago, Chile.
The 4-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro finished his career with four wins in nine career starts for earnings of $486,490, highlighted by victories in the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes and the Penn Mile Stakes, both on turf. Gary Contessa trained Rydilluc for a partnership.
In the provincial and too-often close-minded world of American Thoroughbred racing, the victory of Lawrence Cordes’s Turkish in the Grade 3 Valedictory Stakes at Woodbine on Dec. 7 was almost completely and irrevocably irrelevant. First, the Valedictory was run on Woodbine’s synthetic Polytrack, a surface that American trainers and horseplayers have successfully lobbied almost out of existence. Second, the race, which traditionally closes the Woodbine meeting, is at 1 3/4 miles, a distance representing a vanishingly small percentage of American races.
By Michael Blowen
More than a decade ago, back when Old Friends had just a couple of retirees at Afton Farm in Georgetown, Ky., Sandy Hatfield, stallion manager at Three Chimneys Farm, gave me a halter from my favorite horse of all time – Silver Charm.
The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will award $2.4 million in grants to its 42 accredited facilities for 2014 to assist with the management, rehabilitation, and adoption of former racehorses in their care.
The grant amount is a significant increase from the previous year, when 23 facilities received a combined $1 million in grants.
The Niarchos family, operating under the name of Flaxman Holdings Ltd., earned the fourth annual John Deere Award as outstanding breeders of the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series and the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
Irish sire Kodiac set a record for single-season 2-year-old winners by a North American or European stallion when his son Cry No More won his debut Nov. 30 in Sweden.
Cry No More’s victory gave Kodiac 43 individual juvenile winners for 2014, besting the mark of 42 established by half-brother Invincible Spirit in 2010, and matched by Kheleyf in 2012. American classic winner and champion Sunday Silence, who became a breed-shaping sire in Japan, holds the world record with 51 individual juvenile winners in 2004.
Heritage Place, a Quarter Horse auction house in Oklahoma City, will conduct its third annual winter mixed Thoroughbred sale Saturday. There are 134 horses cataloged for the sale, covering both breeding and racing stock. The auction starts at 11 a.m. Central.
Spence Kidney, general manager of Heritage Place, was pleased with the catalog.
“I think this is the best set of horses we have had since the inception of our Thoroughbred sale three years ago,” he said. “We truly have something for everyone.”
Music City, a stakes-winning son of City Zip, will make his stallion debut in 2015 at Win Row Farm in Lebanon, Ohio for an advertised fee of $1,000.
The 8-year-old horse won six of 16 career starts for $158,639 during his on-track career, highlighted by a win in the Morluc Stakes at Churchill Downs, and placings in the WEBN Stakes at Turfway Park and the Humphrey S. Finney Stakes at Laurel Park.
Grade 2 winner Gervinho has been retired from racing and will stand the 2015 breeding season at Tommy Town Thoroughbreds in Santa Ynez, Calif., for an advertised fee of $3,500.
The 4-year-old son of Unusual Heat finished his career with four wins in nine career starts for earnings of $422,140, highlighted by victories in the Grade 2 Sir Beaufort Stakes, as well as the listed Zuma Beach Stakes and Oceanside Stakes. He also placed in a pair of additional Grade 2 races.
Gervinho was trained by Carla Gaines for Keith Brackpool, who retains ownership of the stallion.
