Multiple Grade 1 winner Gunite has been retired to Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky, the farm announced Tuesday.
Gunite, from the first crop of Horse of the Year and white-hot young sire Gun Runner, raced as a homebred for Winchell Thoroughbreds, which co-owned his sire. He retires with nine wins from 21 career starts and earnings of more than $2.4 million.
In a unique family accomplishment, full brothers Frankel and Noble Mission, both European champions, each sired a Breeders’ Cup winner last Saturday on the Santa Anita turf.
Unbeaten two-time European Horse of the Year Frankel has been an international sensation for owner-breeder Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud in England, with Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Alpinista, Epsom Derby winner Adayar, and Irish Derby winner Westover among his 95 career graded/group stakes winners, including champions in four countries.
Turfway Park has partnered with legendary Claiborne Farm for an upcoming series of stakes races where fillies and mares will receive a future stallion credit to be used upon their retirement from racing.
The series, which has been dubbed the “Make Your Mare” series, consists of the $125,000 Holiday Inaugural Stakes on Dec. 2, the $125,000 My Charmer Stakes on Dec. 9, and the $125,000 Likely Exchange Stakes on Jan. 13.
Triple Crown winner Justify, who has made a meteoric rise in the international sire ranks, scored a double with his juveniles on the Future Stars Friday program at the Breeders’ Cup. Just F Y I won the Juvenile Fillies to likely secure a divisional championship, followed, less than an hour later, by Hard to Justify’s win in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
It was 15 years ago that the imposing Curlin concluded his career at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. The two-time Horse of the Year and first-ballot Hall of Famer quickly showed his mettle as a sire, with 2013 Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice emerging from his first crop.
Idiomatic only burst onto the scene this year, as the Juddmonte Farm homebred won her stakes debut in March. She now brings a streak of four straight graded stakes wins, including Grade 1 triumphs in the Personal Ensign and Spinster, into Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.
But by contrast, Idiomatic’s rise to the top was decades in the development, as she is from one of the foundation families for the international Juddmonte operation that was founded in 1980 by the late Prince Khalid bin Abdullah.
Golden Pal and Epicenter, new stablemates this year at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, were extremely popular in their respective first seasons at stud, ranking as the busiest stallions in North America as The Jockey Club released its Report of Mares Bred for the 2023 season.
Based on reports received through Oct. 18, The Jockey Club reports that 867 stallions covered 26,597 mares in North America during the 2023 breeding season. The official breed organization estimates an additional 2,500 to 3,500 mares will be reported as bred.
Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting, who entered stud at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky this past season, will not stand in 2024 due to problems with breeding.
The son of Gun Runner was not on the stallion roster when Ashford released its fees for the upcoming year on Tuesday. The Thoroughbred Daily News was the first to confirm why Early Voting was not on the roster.
