Smile Happy
Runhappy – Pleasant Smile, by Pleasant Tap
Bred in Kentucky by Moreau Bloodstock and White Bloodstock ($175,000 Keeneland November weanling purchase by Cooper Bloodstock; $185,000 Fasig-Tipton showcase yearling purchase by Lucky Seven Stable)
Two Kentucky state legislators have introduced a bill seeking to stymie an effort by The Jockey Club to enforce a cap on the number of mares bred each year.
The bill would add language to the state’s racing-law framework that says “a registrar of Thoroughbreds shall not restrict the number of mares that can be bred to a stallion or otherwise refuse to register any foal based upon the number of mares bred to the stallion.” It also would require the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, a state agency, to “select and utilize” a registrar that complies with that language.
It’s typically known in the fall which stallions will be retiring for the upcoming breeding season, with the Breeders’ Cup marking an unofficial end to the campaign for many. The several months between retirement announcements and the start of the breeding season allows potential breeders time to inspect the stallion prospects, to do bloodstock research, and to plan matings for their mares – or to acquire mares during the mixed-sale season for specific stallions.
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah got off to a fast start in his stud career with a number of strong turf runners, including 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Four Wheel Drive, who helped him to the freshman sire title. American Pharoah has continued his success and is now off to a fast start in 2022 with three graded stakes winners since the turn of the calendar – all on dirt.
Grade 3 winner Speightster, who arrived in Canada last month to continue his stud career, was euthanized Sunday after suffering an irreparable injury to a hind leg in his stall.
The 10-year-old son of Speightstown formerly stood alongside his sire at WinStar Farm. He had been purchased by Jay and Christine Hayden to stand at Sherry McLean’s Northern Dawn Farm in Ontario.
When the Eclipse Awards are presented Thursday night at Santa Anita, Essential Quality will be spending a quiet evening at his birthplace, Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky., while continuing to prepare for his upcoming first season at stud, with breeding sheds set to open in the coming week in Kentucky.
Alphabet Soup, the upset winner of the 1996 Breeders' Cup Classic, was euthanized Friday at Old Friends in Georgetown, Ky., after battling chronic kidney disease. At the time of his death, the 31-year-old son of Cozzene was the oldest living Breeders' Cup Classic winner.
Alphabet Soup, who stood for Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs in various locations, had been pensioned at Old Friends since 2015.
“There was something about Into Mischief that Wayne always gravitated toward,” Spendthrift Farm general manager Ned Toffey recalled of the late Spendthrift Farm owner B. Wayne Hughes. “He was always very, very optimistic about his chances of being a sire.”
Too Much Bling, a perennial leading sire in Texas, was again the leading stallion with state-sired progeny in 2021.
He’ll have more competition moving forward.
Texas, which takes the spotlight Sunday with the $1 million Houston Racing Festival, has seen an influx of new stallions in recent years. The state has five newcomers for the 2022 breeding season, including Mr Speaker and Poseidon’s Warrior, both Grade 1 winners who have sired Grade 1 winners.
