Vessels Ranch, a 1,390-acre Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse breeding farm in Bonsall, Calif., has been put up for sale with a $55.6-million price tag.

The farm has undergone a significant downsizing since the death of owner Frank “Scoop” Vessels III in 2010, shifting its focus from standing stallions to owning mares. Vessels Ranch currently stands Thoroughbred stallion Square Eddie and offers frozen semen for the late Quarter Horse sire First Down Dash.

The property has been listed with Sotheby’s International Reality.

A census study by United States Department of Agriculture—National Agriculture Statistics Service found that the U.S. equine population has decreased by about 10 percent during the five-year period between 2007 and 2012.

The USDA-NASS conducts its Census of Agriculture every five years to track the equine population in each state, as well as the number of farms and ranches.

Ide Be Cool, who won all four of his starts last year at 2, was named the 2013 Louisiana-bred Horse of the Year on Saturday, according to an announcement on the website of the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association. The horse’s connections were honored during the group’s annual membership meeting at the Equine Sales Company of Louisiana in Opelousas, La.

European champion Duke of Marmalade has been sold to Drakenstein Stud in South Africa, and will stand there in the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season, Racing Post reports.

The 10-year-old son of Danehill previously stood at Coolmore Stud in Ireland, where he entered service in 2009. Duke of Marmalade has sired three crops of racing age, led by Group 3 winners Venus de Milo, Quaduna, and Lady Cumquat.

The results of the first three American classics and the first four European classics of the season exemplify the different directions in which Thoroughbred genetics appear to be headed on the eastern and western sides of the North Atlantic. As we mentioned in the May 11 issue of DRF Breeding, the A.P. Indy male line produced the winners of both the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks for the second straight year.

Champion sprinter Trinniberg will stand the Southern Hemisphere breeding season at Haras Ponta Pora, Brazil, beginning later this year.

The 5-year-old son of Teuflesberg is in the midst of his first season at stud at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, N.Y., where he stands for an advertised fee of $7,500.

“A horse of this caliber absolutely warrants interest from South American stud farms,” said Lere Visagie of Rockridge Stud. “We want to give the horse the best chance possible to succeed, and dual-hemisphere breeding will certainly give him that added chance.”

The stallion business is ultimately a forward-looking endeavor, but the past performances of the Pin Oak Lane roster are hard to ignore.

Malibu Moon began his stud career at Country Life Farm near Bel Air, Md., in 2000. Fourteen years later, his son Freedom Child launches his own second career in Maryland, with Malibu Moon situated among the most respected stallions in the country.

Freedom Child, a Grade 2 winner, is part of an intriguing cast of stallions new to stud or new to the state in 2014, along with a Kentucky Derby winner and a champion at a new stallion facility and the sire of a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner at one of the state’s long-established hubs.

Lucky’stormwarning became the first winner for freshman sire Lookin At Lucky on Friday, taking a 4 ½ furlong maiden race at Gulfstream by 2 ¾ lengths.

The 2-year-old filly stopped the clock in :51.42 seconds in her debut start, and was ridden by Manoel Cruz. She is trained by Wesley Ward for the Coolmore partnership of Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith.

While the Preakness Stakes may be the shortest race of the Triple Crown, the mile and three-sixteenths distance will still be longer than most of the field will regularly have to handle again.

Aside from the three horses returning from the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby, the Preakness shapes up to be the longest race this field will have faced to date. This leaves the remaining seven entries with something to prove.