Grade 1 winner Taste of Paradise will stand the 2013 season at Pope McLean’s Crestwood Farm in Lexington, Ky. for a free of $2,500.

The 13-year-old Conquistador Cielo horse stood the 2012 season at Fanlew Farms in Louisiana for the same fee.

Taste of Paradise won the Grade 1 Vosburgh Stakes before finishing second by a head in the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in his final start. He also won the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap in 2003 and the Grade 3 Vernon O. Underwood Stakes in 2004. He concluded his career with 6 wins from 28 starts for earnings of $1,019,455.

In March 2007, Coolmore Stud’s John Magnier faced a difficult decision. None of the dozens of mares his new star stallion, George Washington, had covered since the beginning of the breeding season had been scanned as being in foal. With more than 100 high-class mares booked to Europe’s 2005 champion 2-year-old male and 2006 champion 3-year-old male, how could Coolmore accommodate those mares and honor the breeding contracts since George Washington appeared to be infertile?

Prices picked up Friday at the Tattersalls December foal sale in Newmarket, England, where the penultimate session had increases in total sales, average, and median.

The third of four sessions sold 182 weanlings for $22,145,424, posting an average price of $121,678 and an $83,160 median. Compared year-to-year in the local auction currency, guineas, total sales were up 9 percent from last year’s equivalent session, when 176 foals sold. Average price gained 6 percent, and the median rose 4 percent. Buybacks were 17 percent, down from 19 percent in 2011.

McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds released its 2013 stallion roster and fees Friday, headlined by Teuflesberg, sire of Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Trinniberg in his first crop.

Teuflesberg, who moved to the Saratoga Springs, N.Y., farm from Journeyman Stud in Ocala, Fla., will stand the 2013 season for $5,000. He stood for $3,500 in 2012.

The Thoroughbred industry has a number of indicators to show where the market stands, those measures include the number of mares bred, prices paid for yearlings at public auction, and stud fees.

Stud fees are a major economic engine of the breeding industry and go a long way toward determining the health of the sector, which has been under pressure since the Great Recession started in 2008. Stud fees have fallen significantly on average over the past four years as prices for yearlings have declined as have the number of mares bred.

Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla., announced its 2013 stallion roster with fees Friday, raising prominent regional sire Put It Back’s fee to $6,000.

Put It Back, a 14-year-old son of Honour and Glory, stood for $5,000 in 2012 and currently ranks a close second on the Florida general sire list. His progeny have earned more than $4.2 million in 2012, highlighted by Grade 2 winner Yara and Grade 3-winning juvenile Brave Dave.

Thunder Moccasin, who was unbeaten in his brief career, has been retired and will enter stud in 2013 at Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla.

The 3-year-old A.P. Warrior colt will stand for $2,500 when the foal stands and nurses.

“Thunder Moccasin is just the right type for what the Florida breeders are hungry for,” Bridlewood general manager George G. Isaacs said. “He is a tremendous physical [horse] and showed brilliance on the racetrack. We welcome the breeders’ inspection, he’s a must-see individual.”

A new stud farm, standing three Thoroughbred stallions, will open in 2013 near Ocala, Fla.

Sovereign Farm of Ocala, operated in partnership by Mary Beth Stanton, DVM, and Dani Dougherty, is located in Morriston, Fla. Stanton is a board certified reproductive specialist, while Dougherty will manage the stallion operation. The news was first announced by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association’s Wire to Wire.

Acclamation, the champion older male of 2011, is scheduled to begin a stallion career at Old English Rancho in Sanger, Calif., in 2013 and could return to racing in the second half of the year, owner Bud Johnston said Thursday.

Acclamation is scheduled to be sent to the farm in December. He will stand for $20,000, live foal.

The $20,000 fee for Acclamation equals the highest fee in the state.

Unusual Heat, California's leading sire by progeny earnings, stood for $20,000 earlier this year.

The Tattersalls December foal sale continued Thursday in Newmarket, England, with mixed results at its second of four sessions.

Thursday’s session sold 207 foals sold for $9,253,440; compared year-to-year in Tattersalls’ auction currency, guineas, the total was up 2 percent from last year’s figures for 191 foals sold. Average price, however, fell 5 percent to the equivalent of $44,703. The median price, $33,600, was unchanged.

The buyback rate improved significantly from last year, dropping from 20 percent to 13 percent.