Golden Eagle Farm, one of California’s leading boarding and breeding operations, will close Oct. 31 after four decades in business.
The 560-acre farm in Ramona, Calif., will be sold, and its lone remaining sire, Stormin Fever, will relocate to Rancho Temescal in Piru, Calif., for the 2015 breeding season, where he will stand for an advertised fee of $2,500.
Turf champion and young sire Cape Blanco will relocate to Japan for the 2015 breeding season, Racing Post reports.
The 7-year-old son of Galileo was previously based at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., during the Northern Hemisphere breeding season. He will ship directly to the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association’s base in Hokkaido, Japan after completing the current Southern Hemisphere season at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand.
Cape Blanco’s first foals are yearlings of 2014. He covered 141 mares during this year’s breeding season.
Declaration of War, a Group 1 winner in England, will stand at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., for the 2015 breeding season, for a fee to be announced at a later date.
The 5-year-old son of War Front stood his initial season at Coolmore’s headquarters in Co. Tipperary, Ireland, for an advertised fee of about $50,651 (40,000 Euros).
The Jockey Club released its Report of Mares Bred statistics for the 2014 breeding season, which revealed the first increase in North American mares bred since 2005.
The breed organization reports that 1,547 stallions covered 34,540 mares in North America in 2014, representing approximately 92 percent of the mares that will eventually be reported as bred this year. According to historical trends, The Jockey Club expects to receive reports representing an additional 2,000 to 3,000 mares bred during the 2014 breeding season.
Nelson Bunker Hunt, one of the most prominent figures in the Thoroughbred industry during the second half of the 20th century and a three-time Eclipse Award winner, died Tuesday at 88. The Associated Press reported that Hunt died at an assisted-living facility in Dallas after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Foreign Policy, a 12-year-old son of Danzig, will stand the 2015 breeding season at River Oaks Farm in Sulphur, Okla., for an advertised fee of $1,250.
Foreign Policy has sired five crops of racing age, led by multiple stakes winner Foreign Sultress and stakes-placed Cheyenne Blues. He stands as property of Scattered Acres LLC.
Grade 2 winner Wimbledon will stand the 2015 breeding season at Joe Kerby’s Key Ranch in Salado, Texas for an advertised fee of $2,000.
The 13-year-old Wild Rush horse, who has been sold to Texas-based Jack Cook, previously stood at Valor Farm near Pilot Point, Texas.
Wimbledon is the sire of six crops of racing age, led by Worldventurer, who was named Texas Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male in 2013, after being named the state’s champion 2-year-old male. Wimbledon’s other stakes winners include Daphne Angela, Chicks a Flyin, and Circustown Rose.
The annual eBay auction of Moneigh paintings by Breeders’ Cup participants will be held Oct. 29 to Nov. 5.
A Moneigh is an original, abstract, watercolor painting made by the horses using their muzzle, whiskers, tail, hoof, or paintbrush held in their teeth. Proceeds from the auction will benefit horses in the ReRun program, a charity that rehabilitates, retrains, and rehomes retired Thoroughbred racehorses.
Lane’s End has purchased an interest in classic winner Tonalist, and the 3-year-old will presumably stand at the Versailles, Ky., farm upon the conclusion of his racing career.
Tonalist, a son of the leading sire Tapit, won this year’s Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup and will make his next start Nov. 1 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The colt, who now will race in partnership for R.S. Evans and Lane’s End, is trained by Christophe Clement. Lane’s End did not indicate whether Tonalist would retire for 2015 or return to race as a 4-year-old.
Spendthrift Farm has released the 2015 advertised fees for its 26-horse stallion roster based at farms across North America.
Flagship stallion Malibu Moon is once again Spendthrift’s highest-priced offering, standing at the operation’s Lexington, Ky. farm for $95,000. The 17-year-old son of A.P. Indy’s fee remains unchanged from the 2014 breeding season.
