Grade 1 winner Idiot Proof was represented by his first winner on March 18, when On Autopilot won a maiden race by 3 1/2 lengths at Hipodromo de las Americas in Mexico City, Mexico. On April 11, his first stateside winner surfaced when Frisco Fog took a two-furlong maiden special weight event at Golden Gate Fields.

Joy Gilbert/Courtesy Spendthrift FarmsInto Mischief

Spendthrift Farms stallion Into Mischief became a late-arriving standout among first-crop sires last fall when a trio of juvenile performers won stakes within a span of 22 days.

The United States Department of Agriculture has included language in its 2014 budget proposal that would prevent horse slaughterhouses from reopening legally in the United States, according to a New York Times report.

USDA secretary Tom Vilsack’s current budget submission, which will be considered by Congress as part of a federal budget bill, specifically denies funding salaries or personnel to inspect horses at slaughter facilities.

First-year Coolmore stallion and 2012 Irish Two Thousand Guineas winner Power will shuttle to Cambridge Stud in Cambridge, New Zealand for the 2013 Southern Hemisphere breeding season.

The son of Oasis Dream currently stands at Coolmore’s operation in Co. Tipperary, Ireland, for about $16,400 (12,500 euros). His Southern Hemisphere fee will be announced next week.

The career trajectory of Unbridled’s Song is in many ways more prototypical of the modern commercial Thoroughbred than that of A.P. Indy, the horse regarded as the ideal modern Thoroughbred.

One of the essential and time-honored aspects of Thoroughbred breeders’ day-to-day operations – security – is, along with the rest of 21st-century business, undergoing a transformation in the digital age.

The images of a night watchman making his solitary rounds among the stallion barns and of veterinarians and foaling attendants working unobtrusively as they assist in an early-morning birth are familiar to breeders, who have traditionally relied on the human element to ensure their horses’ safety and well-being.

While a camera in a foaling barn is nothing new, Mare Stare has upped the ante by allowing the public to witness equine births while also providing a valuable security service to mare owners.

Founded in 2004, Mare Stare is a hosting site in which owners with a camera installed in their barns can make that feed publicly accessible to viewers, who can then alert them when a mare goes into labor.

Patrick Smithwick has been awarded the seventh annual Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, for his 2012 autobiographical work Flying Change: A Year of Racing and Family and Steeplechasing.

The Castleton Lyons Book Award was created in 2006 by Ryan, the founder of Europe’s Ryanair airline and a lover of horse racing. Although Ryan died in 2007, the contest has been carried on by his son, Shane, current president of Castleton Lyons breeding farm in Lexington, Ky. The award offers a first-place prize of $10,000.

The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Incentive Program has announced that it will recognize and honor the 17 riders set to compete with registered Thoroughbreds at the prestigious Rolex Kentucky three-day event, to be held April 25-28 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.

Grade 3 winner Twice the Appeal and multiple Grade 2-placed winner Sway Away have both been retired and will begin their stallion careers at Premier Equine Center in Oakdale, Calif.

Both stallions will stand for free with a private treaty this season, with stud fees for 2014 to be announced at a later date. Breeders must pay all fees associated with the farm.