Ben’s Cat capped another outstanding season in 2012 by being voted repeat winner as Maryland Horse of the Year, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association announced on Monday when it released the results of its annual poll for divisional awards among state-breds.

Frankel, two-time recipient of the Cartier Award as European Horse of the Year, is set to begin his stud career at Juddmonte Farms’ Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket, England, when the breeding shed opens later this week, and a star-studded roster that befits Frankel’s reputation as one of the finest racehorses in history will await him.

Multiple Grade 2 winner D’ Funnybone’s first foal was born on Feb. 5 at Dr. Bernardo Mongil’s Monhill Farm in Pine Plains, N.Y.

The foal, a filly bred by Mike Schrader, is out of the winning Saint Ballado mare Ballado Hill, who has produced two winners from four foals to race. It is the family of champion, classic winner, and sire Temperence Hill.

WinStar Farm awarded 15 stallion contracts for 2013 to breeders as part of its “Breed to Win” promotion during the grand opening of its new 18-stall stallion complex on Feb. 9. The opening event showcased 22 WinStar stallions in their new residence at Versailles, Ky., farm and rewarded 15 breeders with 2013 contracts to stallions standing for $20,000 or less.

Breeders who had signed a contract by noon on Feb. 8 for a participating stallion were eligible for the promotion, which granted an additional complimentary contract to the stallion.

courtesy Taylor Made FarmUnbridled's Song

ARCADIA, Calif. – Willa B Awesome, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in 2012, has been retired, breeder and co-owner Terry Lovingier said Thursday.

Willa B Awesome was recently sent to Kentucky and will be bred to Medaglia d’Oro, Lovingier said.

A 4-year-old, Willa B Awesome won 5 of 19 starts and $648,896, all for Lovingier, Phil Daniels, Patsy London, and John Winters. Aside from the Santa Anita Oaks, Willa B Awesome won three other stakes, including the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita in January 2012.

Fortunately for Thoroughbred racing, and indeed for humanity in the larger sense, the inference behind Billy Joel’s catchy refrain “Only the good die young” is simply not true. Although memories of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison burn bright in the rock star firmament, so do the rather more enduring flames of the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen, among many others.

The last time racing fans saw Always a Princess was March 12, 2011, when she stepped onto a horse ambulance at Santa Anita Park. Many Southern California fans and horsemen still stop her owner, Arnold Zetcher, and ask how his popular homebred is doing, and now he has some good news to share. Always a Princess delivered her first foal, a Medaglia d’Oro colt, on Jan. 26 at Winter Quarter Farm in Lexington, Ky. They’re both doing great, say Zetcher and Winter Quarter owner Don Robinson.

The Darley Flying Start program is one of the most unusual programs in racing, and 2013 marks its 10th anniversary, having produced almost 100 graduates employed in the horse industry internationally. The two-year program combines course instruction, visiting lectures, hands-on experience, and an abundance of networking opportunities to its trainees, and graduates from the program during its early years are beginning to make an impact in a myriad of professions for some of Thoroughbred racing’s most prominent and successful breeding, racing, and sales operations.

Questing, who won consecutive Grade 1 stakes last year en route to being voted champion 3-year-old filly, has been retired by Godolphin. The 4-year-old filly had a minor chip successfully removed from a hind ankle earlier this winter but developed a lingering case of pneumonia while preparing for a return to training.