Martin O’Dowd, general manager of Runnymede Farm in Paris, Ky. will open a new bloodstock management venture while continuing to oversee the farm’s international breeding and racing operations.
O’Dowd will work for clients, including Runnymede, at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale and the Tattersalls December breeding stock sale. Day-to-day operations at Runnymede will now be overseen on an interim basis by James Profit.
Alphabet Soup and Touch Gold have returned to Adena Springs Kentucky in Paris, Ky., to stand the 2014 breeding season for fees yet to be announced.
The two stallions stood the past three seasons at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Grade 1 winner Any Given Saturday will relocate to Pin Oak Lane in New Freedom, Pa., for the 2014 breeding season to stand for an advertised fee of $5,000.
The 9-year-old son of Distorted Humor retired to stud in 2008, standing his entire career thus far at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky. Pin Oak Lane also partnered with Darley to stand Offlee Wild.
Close Hatches will have her own piece of history on her side as she faces two-time defending winner Royal Delta and championship contender Princess of Sylmar in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
The Juddmonte Farms homebred, the winner of the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes and Cotillion Stakes by open lengths, hails from one of the most influential families in the three-decade history of the Breeders’ Cup, via her fourth dam, Best in Show. The prolific mare already has been represented by five descendants who have won or placed in Breeders’ Cup races.
Although the Kentucky Derby – and to a lesser extent the Preakness and Belmont – might enjoy more widespread popularity and recognition among the sporting public, the Breeders’ Cup represents the highest-quality racing on the North American continent each year. As such, it is both entirely predictable and entirely fitting that cumulative Breeders’ Cup results over its 29-year history reflect the distribution and evolution of major American and international sire lines.
Oxbow, winner of the 2013 Preakness Stakes, has been retired from racing and will begin his stallion career in 2014 at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Ky., for an advertised fee of $20,000.
The 3-year-old son of Awesome Again retires with three wins from 13 career starts for earnings of $1,243,500 racing for Brad Kelley’s Calumet Farm and trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The colt sustained an ankle injury while finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational July 28 at Monmouth Park in what proved to be his final career start.
Louisiana sire Lone Star Special will relocate to stand the 2014 breeding season at Special T Thoroughbreds in Temecula, Calif.
The 8-year-old Malabar Gold horse, owned by his breeder, Tigertail Ranch, will stand for a fee of $1,500 at Special T. He spent the 2013 season at Moon Lake Farm of Louisiana, standing for $1,000.
A two-time stakes winner in 2008 at Louisiana Downs, Lone Star Special retired with earnings of $105,320. He has sired one winner from three starters in his first crop, stakes-placed Chickasaw Bayou
Wildcat Heir will lead the stallion roster at Brent and Crystal Fernung’s Journeyman Stud in Ocala, Fla., for 2014, standing for a fee of $10,000, stands and nurses.
The 13-year-old son of Forest Wildcat is currently third on Florida’s general sire list. He stood for $8,000 in 2013.
Behind Wildcat Heir on the 13-stallion roster is Awesome of Course, sire of champion filly Awesome Feather. He will stand for $7,500.
Grade 2 winner Prospective, who was retired from racing in September, will begin his stallion career in 2014 at J. Michael O’Farrell Jr.’s Ocala Stud in Ocala, Fla.
The 4-year-old son of Malibu Moon finished his on-track career with seven wins in 17 starts for earnings of $719,130. His resume is highlighted by wins in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and the Grade 3 Grey Stakes and Ohio Derby.
A $250,000 purchase at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, Prospective raced for owner John Oxley and trainer Mark Casse.
