Two-time Horse of the Year Curlin enjoyed an outstanding weekend at Saratoga as he continues to climb the sire ranks.

His daughter Nest turned a showdown for the lead of the 3-year-old filly division into a runaway, winning the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks by 12 1/4 lengths on Saturday. A day later, in a highly anticipated matchup of Curlin’s daughters, Clairiere defeated Eclipse Award champion Malathaat to win the Grade 2 Shuvee Stakes.

Moira

Ghostzapper – Devine Aida, by Unbridled’s Song

Bred in Ontario by Adena Springs ($150,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by X-Men Racing)

If Moira runs well in the Woodbine Oaks on Sunday she will likely try to become the third Queen’s Plate winner for her sire, Ghostzapper, a homebred and leading sire for the Adena Springs operation.

The death of Eclipse Award champion and perennial leading turf sire Kitten’s Joy last week widens the void atop the North American turf sire ranks, which lost fellow champion English Channel last fall.

Eclipse Award champion turf horse Kitten's Joy, who went on to become a leading sire, has died, co-owner Ramsey Farm announced on July 15. The son of El Prado was 21

The Minkster

English Channel – Cabriole, by Flatter

Bred in Ontario by Dr. Dan Hyka ($39,853 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Ontario division yearling purchase by Ray Burke Sea Glass)

The Minkster, unbeaten winner of the Coronation Futurity and Queenston Stakes, is looking to add to the legacy of late leading sire English Channel, with whom trainer Danny Vella has a history. Vella trained another son of English Channel, Strait of Dover, to win the 2012 Queen’s Plate.

Into Mischief, the nation’s three-time reigning leading sire, added another stakes winner to his 2022 tally on Saturday, as Gerrymander was a three-length victor in the historic Grade 2 Mother Goose at Belmont. With Into Mischief’s chief earner thus far this season, Life Is Good, poised to return to the races, and plenty of prospects revving up for summer and fall racing, the stallion is poised to make a run at additional sire accolades, vying with standout Quality Road.

Triple Crown winner Justify became the first North American freshman sire of the season to register a graded/group stakes winner, as his unbeaten daughter Statuette won the Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes at The Curragh.

Dubawi, Europe’s leading sire, recorded five winners at last week’s Royal Ascot meeting to help power Godolphin to the leading owner title for the second year in a row.

The Adena Springs Kentucky property remains on the marketplace after being officially listed last fall, with Icon Global, the company handling the sale, announcing that the 2,300-acre Paris, Ky., farm is priced at $55 million. 

Jane Lyon’s Summer Wind Farm has assembled a top-notch broodmare band, including Littleprincessemma, the dam of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, and that mare’s Grade 1-winning daughter Chasing Yesterday. But the most exciting mare on the Georgetown, Ky., property at the moment may be Feathered. The 10-year-old Indian Charlie mare is the dam of Flightline, who remained unbeaten with a dynamic victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

“We are extra excited about his dam,” Summer Wind, which co-owns Flightline, posted on its social media accounts.