Dolphus Morrison, the 86-year-old breeder of Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, plans to disperse his Thoroughbred holdings during the Keeneland November breeding stock sale this year.
Gainesway Sales will handle the 22-horse consignment, which includes a yearling full sister to Rachel Alexandra (by Medaglia d’Oro out of Lotta Kim, by Roar).
It’s summertime at the races, and once again you can’t throw a rock without hitting a fundraiser for retired racehorses.
From New York to California, there are galas and wine tastings and poker tournaments and silent auctions and all manner of ways to inspire kind folks to pony up charitable dollars in what everyone agrees is a pretty good cause. After all, the idea that a racehorse deserves a life of dignity and care even after that racehorse is no longer of commercial value is hardly a stretch. Put it up there alongside mom and apple pie, at least around the racetrack.
Breeders and stud farm owners in Kentucky looked at Michael Blowen like he was crazy when he first pitched his idea to them a decade ago: Open a retirement farm for pensioned stallions and make the most famous of those retirees a tourist attraction for racing fans and horse lovers.
The response wasn’t encouraging. Most people didn’t think a retired film critic for the Boston Globe was qualified to handle stallions, and many considered him overly sentimental about breeding stock.
Fasig-Tipton Texas has cataloged 170 yearlings to its Aug. 27 auction at Lone Star Park, which will have a 4 p.m. start time. The sale is expected to run to about 9 p.m., making it the first night auction that Fasig-Tipton Texas has had at Lone Star.
Stallions represented with offspring in the auction include Afleet Alex, Bluegrass Cat, Hard Spun, Monarchos, Scat Daddy, Touch Gold, and War Pass, as well as Visionaire and Zensational, whose first foals are yearlings of 2012.
Peaks and Valleys, who as a 3-year-old was named Canada’s Horse of the Year in 1995, has died at Gardiner Farms in Canada of the “infirmities of old age,” according to his breeder, Pin Oak Stable. Peaks and Valleys was 20.
A son of Mt. Livermore out of the Green Dancer mare Strike a Balance, Peaks and Valleys won Canada’s richest race, the Molson Export Million at Woodbine Racecourse in Toronto, during his 3-year-old campaign. He had earlier finished second in the Col. R. S. McLaughlin Stakes, also at Woodbine.
Big Brown, the Three Chimneys stallion whose yearlings sold for an average of $82,712 at auction in 2011, will not shuttle to the Southern Hemisphere this year “due to a laceration to a hind leg” that became infected, Three Chimneys said. The infection was not serious, according to the farm, but “veterinary advice has recommended against shuttling the horse,” Three Chimneys said. Big Brown covered 140 mares during the Northern Hemisphere breeding season.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Led by a 2-year-old filly maiden race winner who sold for $200,000, 26 horses of racing age sold for an average of $48,980 at Sunday’s first-ever paddock sale at Del Mar.
The filly, by the Indian Charlie stallion Lifestyle, was purchased by Mersad Metanovic Bloodstock from the consignment of SGV Thoroughbreds.
Named Fightin Mean Mad, she won a maiden special weight race at Arlington Park on June 20 by 3 3/4 lengths in her career debut, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 83.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The gross and average prices of Sunday’s Paddock Sale at Del Mar will provide conventional barometers for the 44-horse sale.
Another assessment of the Sunday evening event will be its long-term impact through the number of horses who remain active in Southern California, and whether the first-year event can attract new owners to the sport.
WATCH LIVE VIDEO: Del Mar Paddock Sale
Ice Box, the winner of the 2010 Florida Derby who stood his first year at stud in 2012, will be moved from Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky., to Three Chimneys in Midway, Ky., for the 2013 season, Three Chimneys announced on Thursday.
A son of Pulpit out of the Tabasco Cat mare Spice Island, Ice Box covered 94 mares at Calumet during the 2012 breeding season, according to Three Chimneys. He stood for $7,500 live foal, and his fee will remain the same for 2013, Three Chimneys said.
