Chasing Time

Not This Time – Race Hunter, by Dixie Union

Bred in Kentucky by Tentane Farm ($115,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Royal Flush Racing; $250,000 OBS April 2-year-old purchase by MyRacehorse)

Grade 1 winner Hog Creek Hustle arrived this week at Buck Pond Farm in Versailles, Ky., where he will debut at stud this breeding season, which recently got underway.

Hog Creek Hustle, a 6-year-old son of Overanalyze who earned $774,546, last raced when fourth in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on the 2021 Kentucky Derby undercard, beaten less than a length by Flagstaff, Lexitonian, and Whitmore. He subsequently had a bone fragment removed by Dr. Larry Bramlage, and had resumed training on Jan. 1, according to owner Patty Tipton of the Something Special Racing partnership.

The Jockey Club has rescinded a controversial rule that would have capped the number of mares bred by a single stallion at 140 during a single breeding season, only two years after approving it.

In a statement, Stuart Janney III, the chairman of The Jockey Club, said that the organization was rescinding the rule out of concern that the limitation “may divide the industry at a time when there are many important issues that need to be addressed with unity.”

“We are taking this action for the greater good of the entire industry,” the statement said.

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.

A decade after her first championship campaign, Groupie Doll is emerging as a solid broodmare, with two maiden winners early this year giving her four winners from as many starters.

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.