William Boorhem, a leading owner and breeder in Louisiana, died May 31 in Dallas, Texas. He was 91.
Boorhem’s Foxwood Plantation in Belcher, La., was named Louisiana’s breeder of the year for nine consecutive years. Foxwood Plantation’s biggest breeding successes include 1996 Arkansas Derby winner Zarb’s Magic and stakes winners Zarb’s Luck, Leslie’s Love, Zarb’s Dahar, Our Love, My Star Runner and Zarbycat.
Group 1 winner French Fifteen has been retired and will enter stud next year at Haras du Logis Saint Germain in Normandy, France.
The 4-year-old Turtle Bowl colt was a multiple stakes winner in France as a juvenile, capturing the 2011 Group 1 Criterium International for his signature victory and also finishing second in the Group 3 Prix Thomas Bryon.
Lexington’s Rood and Riddle equine hospital will buy the Saratoga Equine Veterinary Service in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., giving the firm a local foothold near the major New York summer racing center of Saratoga Racecourse.
Rood and Riddle initially established a presence in the Empire State when one of its veterinarians and shareholders, Dr. Scott Ahlschwede, began providing ambulatory veterinary services in New York.
There were no graded stakes scheduled at Belmont Park on Saturday but still plenty of quality racing, as members of one of the strongest state-bred programs in the nation took center stage in seven stakes races on New York Showcase Day.
Sequel Stallions New York’s Freud picked up two victories on the program with Bouwerie Stakes winner Lovely Syn and Mount Vernon Stakes winner Shakeira.
Australian champion More Joyous has been retired and will ship to England to be bred to unbeaten champion Frankel on Southern Hemisphere time, her owner John Singleton has announced.
Priscilla Godsoe, a young show-jumping trainer and foxhunter in Pennsylvania, has a couple of special reasons to root for Kentucky Derby winner Orb if, as expected, he runs in the June 8 Belmont Stakes. Their names are Cause of Freedom and Well Well.
Cause of Freedom is Orb’s 7-year-old half-brother by Alphabet Soup, and he’s a foxhunter and show-horse sale prospect at Godsoe’s Pennsylvania farm. Well Well, Godsoe’s retired show hunter and fox-hunting partner, now serves as a stable pony for Shug McGaughey’s barn and is Orb’s regular companion during morning training.
Oxbow’s May 18 Preakness Stakes win was the first classic win for his breeder, Richard Santulli. It also was a welcome payoff for Santulli’s 10-year investment in the broodmare Tizamazing, a $1 million yearling who never made it to the races.
Yeats, Europe’s champion stayer for four consecutive years, was represented by his first winner on Saturday, as his first starter, Dress Drive, won a 1,400-meter (about seven-furlong) maiden race at San Siro Racecourse in Milan.
The 2-year-old colt out of the unraced Cadeaux Genereux mare Diagon Alley won by two lengths for owner Enrico Di Simone and trainer Daniele Arienti.
Multiple Grade 1 winner and freshman sire Colonel John was represented by his first winner on Sunday when his son Cash Conversion captured a maiden special weight event at Presque Isle Downs.
Cash Conversion, under Deshawn Parker for trainer Timothy Hamm, led throughout, drawing clear to win by 2 3/4 lengths and completing 4 1/2 furlongs on the Tapeta Footings all-weather surface in :53.01. It was the second start for the 2-year-old colt, who finished second in his debut on May 16 at Presque Isle.
Grade 1 winner Zensational had his first winner on the track with the first-time starter Sensational Nikki at Hollywood Park on Sunday.
Sensational Nikki ran five furlongs in 1:00.19, winning by three-quarters of a length over Wired for Fun in a six-runner race for 2-year-old maiden fillies. Trained by Peter Miller for Rockingham Ranch, Sensational Nikki was purchased for $75,000 at the Barretts March sale of selected 2-year-olds in-training earlier this year.
