Courtesy WinStar FarmArtie Schiller
The opening weekend at Keeneland’s fall meet produced its usual share of compelling story lines, many of them related to the upcoming Breeders’ Cup World Championships, as reigning Eclipse Award winners Wise Dan and Groupie Doll both suffered defeats in their final preps.
The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program’s 2013 Thoroughbred of the Year, Loveable Rascal, will be honored in the winner’s circle at Thistledown before the fourth race on Friday, Oct. 11.
The T.I.P Thoroughbred of the Year Award recognizes a Thoroughbred that has excelled in a non-competitive career. Loveable Rascal, an 11-year-old son of Yankee Victor, has served as a therapy horse at Fieldstone Farm Therapeutic Riding Center in Chagrin Falls, Ohio for six years.
Grade 2 winner Bear’s Kid will relocate to Colebrook Farm in Uxbridge, Ontario, for the 2014 breeding season and will stand for an advertised fee of $2,410 ($2,500 Canadian).
The 10-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid previously stood at T. C. Westmeath Stud Farm in Shelburne, Ontario. His first foals are 2-year-olds of 2013, and his first winner came on Aug. 24, when Asserting Bear won a maiden special weight at Woodbine.
Peter Pryor DVM, a Lexington, Ky.-based veterinarian whose clients included Lane’s End Farm, died of esophageal cancer on Sept. 28 at the age of 58.
A native of Denver, Colo., Pryor attended Colorado State University for three years and received early admission to the School of Veterinary Medicine, receiving his graduate and undergraduate degree simultaneously in 1980.
Courtesy Claiborne FarmWar Front
Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky. has released its advertised stud fees for the 2014 breeding season.
Two of the farm’s stallions will stand for an increased rate in 2014, led by War Front, whose stud fee rises from $80,000 to $150,000.
Grade 1 winner Currency Swap has been retired from racing and will stand the 2014 breeding season at Woodford Thoroughbreds in Reddick, Fla., for an advertised fee of $3,500.
The 4-year-old son of High Cotton is best known for winning the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes in 2011 at Saratoga, defeating eventual champions I’ll Have Another and Trinniberg in the process.
He followed up in his sophomore campaign with victories in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes and the listed You and I Stakes, as well as a runner-up effort in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes.
Helissio, European Horse of the Year and winner of the 1996 Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, died Oct. 8 of a suspected heart attack, Racing Post reports. He was 20 years old.
The son of Fairy King last stood at Scarvagh House Stud in Northern Ireland. Last week, the farm lost another stallion, Exit to Nowhere.
Valid Expectations, the all-time leading sire in Texas who is now 20, has been retired from commercial stud duty, confirmed Danny Shifflett, general manager of Lane’s End Texas. Shifflett said the horse arrived Tuesday at Mt. Brilliant Farm in Lexington, Ky., where he will reside as the sole property of Greg Goodman.
Grade 1 winner Liaison has been retired and, as previously announced, will begin his stud career in 2014 at B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky. He will stand for $10,000, stands and nurses, while participating in the farm’s ‘Share The Upside’ program.
The 4-year-old Indian Charlie colt, conditioned by Bob Baffert for owners Arnold and Ellen Zetcher, finished sixth in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes on Sept. 28 at Santa Anita Park in his career finale.
David Greathouse, a longtime breeder and consignor in central Kentucky and an integral member of both his family’s Glencrest Farm and the Four Star Sales operation, died on Tuesday following a battle with cancer. He was 63.
