Mepache, the dam of multiple Grade 3 winner and leading Texas sire Valid Expectations, died Feb. 21 from the infirmities of old age. She was 33.
The Iron Constitution mare had been living as a pensioner on the farm of Royce Clay in Edmond, Okla., where she had resided since 2007.
“I was lucky enough and blessed enough to have her for seven years,” Clay said. “She was a grand old lady.”
Bruce and Cass Maller’s E Z Kitty took home three accolades during the Washington Champions Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday, highlighted by the state’s 2013 Horse of the Year honors.
The banquet was held at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Wash., and honored the state’s top Washington-bred runners, connections, and other industry figures.
The promotional bodies of three major European racing nations have agreed to enter a strategic alliance with the goal of attracting global investment into the European racing and bloodstock industry.
Irish Thoroughbred Marketing, Great British Racing International, and the French Racing and Breeding Committee will join together for the first time to raise awareness toward the global success of European-breds in top races around the world.
The course of great sire lines is sometimes decided by chance, but more often by careful planning, and there is no more careful planner in the Thoroughbred world than John Magnier, master of Coolmore. Magnier’s stated purpose in purchasing an interest in current star Australian 2-year-old Rubick is to replace his aging sire, dual Australian leading sire Encosta de Lago, but the chain of events that led to Rubick illustrates the role of both chance and planning in the fortunes of the Thoroughbred.
Training centers across the country house sizable horse populations with varying needs, and that requires a balancing act year-round, but particularly in the first half of the year, as 2-year-olds-in-training sales demand young horses to show their best to potential buyers. Meeting the different needs of racehorses, sales horses, and their connections while keeping as many stalls full as possible is the responsibility of training center managers.
Dr. Charles Raker Sr., a retired professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, died Feb. 16 at the Tel Hai Retirement Community in Honey Brook, Pa. He was 93.
Raker was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 1942, and returned to serve as its director of clinics and professor of veterinary surgery after eight years as a private veterinarian.
Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Norman Asbjornson has been retired from racing and will stand the 2014 breeding season at Pin Oak Lane in New Freedom, Pa.
The 6-year-old son of Real Quiet will stand his initial season for an advertised fee of $2,500, or $1,500 for multiple mares.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs Farm has purchased an undisclosed interest in Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man from owners Dean and Patti Reeves, the two parties announced on Friday.
The agreement takes effect immediately and is for both racing and breeding purposes.
Dr. Midge Leitch, an equine veterinarian best known for her work at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, died of cancer on Feb. 15. She was 67.
A native of Ambler, Pa., Leitch was among the first women to do a surgical residency at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center, after graduating from the school in 1973. She was also one of the first female equine practitioners to become board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, which she achieved in 1982.
Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Horse of the Year, will not be bred in 2014. The news was reported by Paulick Report, citing officials with Stonestreet Farm in Lexington, Ky., where the 8-year-old Medaglia d’Oro mare resides.
Rachel Alexandra has produced two foals since beginning her broodmare career – a Curlin colt named Jess’s Dream in 2012 and a Bernardini filly in 2013. She experienced complications after each foaling that led to stays at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington.
