Soldat, a graded stakes winner on turf and dirt, has been retired after injuring a suspensory ligament in his left hind leg, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. No stud plans have yet been made for Soldat.
Soldat had been pointing to Saturday’s Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
McLaughlin said that Soldat “took a couple of funny steps” at the end of a half-mile workout at Palm Meadows on Jan. 26.
New York Thoroughbred Breeders held its first meeting of the year on Monday, re-electing two key positions on its board.
The board unanimously re-elected Thomas J. Gallo III to serve as board vice president and Vivien Malloy as secretary-treasurer to two-year terms in their respective positions. President Barry Ostrager will serve the second year of a two-year term in 2013.
New to the board is Mallory Mort, who was elected last year to serve a two-year term beginning in 2013. Mort is the manager of Gallagher’s Stud in Ghent, N.Y.
Multiple Grade 3 winner American Lion was represented by his first foal on Jan. 31 when a filly born at Red Riding Hood Stables in Holly, Mich. The filly is out of the stakes-placed Klinsman mare Klinsman's Luck, who is a half-sister to stakes winners Regal Pusher and Born to the Bad.
Multiple Grade 1 winner Marquetry, sire of two Eclipse Award-winning sprinters, was euthanized on Feb. 1 at Michael Blowen’s Old Friends retirement home for Thoroughbreds in Georgetown, Ky.
The 26-year-old son of Conquistador Cielo was euthanized after suffering an injury in his stall at Old Friends. Veterinarians from Hagyard Medical Institute attended to Marquetry, according to Blowen, and a full necropsy report will be filed.
Grade 1 winner Here Comes Ben was represented by his first foal on Jan. 31, a filly born at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
The filly is out of the winning Forestry mare Double Dinghy Day. Her dam, the Unbridled mare Windsong, was multiple graded stakes-placed. It is the family of stakes winners Falconese, Shackles, and Open Meadows.
The well-bred stakes winner Causeway's Kin was represented by his first foal on Jan. 30, a filly born at Stonewall Farm Ocala in Ocala, Fla.
The filly is out of the unraced Victory Gallop mare Bold Maiden. Their dam, the stakes-placed Spirited Maiden, is a half-sister to Group 3 winner Eishin Lombard. It is the family of multiple graded stakes winner Salty Strike.
Champion sprinter Orientate will relocate to stand the 2013 breeding season at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md.
The 15-year-old Mt. Livermore horse, owned by a syndicate, will stand for a fee of $5,000 when the foal stands and nurses.
Orientate had stood his entire career to date at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky., where he entered stud in 2003. He most recently stood for a fee of $7,500 in 2012.
It has practically been a year in the making.
From the first announcements of horses retiring in the spring, through the farewell efforts at the Breeders’ Cup, the roster of new stallions set to debut in breeding sheds in 2013 has grown. When the breeding season begins in mid-February, those horses move into the next phase of their lives.
The board of directors for the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders announced changes to voter eligibility for their annual Kentucky-bred Champions and Broodmare of the Year awards. The amendments, announced on Jan. 31, expand voting privileges among the organization's membership and will facilitate voting by giving members the opportunity to cast their ballots online.
Getting mares to stallions today may be as hard as ever. The number of mares bred has fallen 39 percent from 2006 to 2011, and the foal crop in North America is at levels not seen since 1972.
Books for the most popular stallions have risen over the past several decades, negatively impacting many mid-level and lower stallions, and the pressure to get large books for any stallion is high. Without a lot of mares – and of high quality – the chance for a stallion to become successful diminishes greatly.
