Last week D. Wayne Lukas disparaged the Belmont Stakes, or at least its distance, referring to the third jewel of the Triple Crown as an "anachronism," an assessment with which this observer heartily agrees. There is little point in asking a horse to run a mile and a half on dirt in June of his 3-year-old season when there are so very few opportunities for him to do so again later on down the road.
After more than two decades in racing, Nick Alexander decided to shift his emphasis a few years ago. Out went the claimers, and the turnover associated with that aspect of the sport, and in came the broodmares and a small farm in the Santa Ynez Valley in central California.
Alexander, the 66-year-old owner of a BMW dealership in Los Angeles, decided to go boutique.
"We've had mostly claiming horses for 28 years," he said in the Hollywood Park paddock last weekend. "I was getting older and it wasn't working the other way."
Overbrook Farm stallion Pioneering appears headed to Brazil. A group of breeders is close to signing a deal to purchase the 16-year-old Mr. Prospector stallion for stud duty at Haras Castelo.
"We have entered into an agreement," confirmed Overbrook adviser Ric Waldman, who added that the deal is likely to be done before the end of June.
Grade 2 winner A. P. Arrow will enter stud in South Africa after a private deal in which Michael and Leonora Paulson will sell him to Summerhill Stud, Drakenstein Stud, and an unidentified European investor.
Summerhill Stud in the province of KwaZulu-Natal will stand the 7-year-old A. P. Indy horse.
The Allen E. Paulson Living Trust bred A. P. Arrow from the Mr. Prospector mare Garimpeiro. She also is the dam of Grade 1 winner Geri, Grade 3-placed Stage Shy, and stakes winners Almonsoon and Clure.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The widespread economic downturn has prompted dramatic changes in the way many stallion owners do business. Competition for broodmares has been fierce all breeding season, and farms have slashed stud fees and offered creative incentives to lure breeders to their stallions' books.
Now, with the end of breeding season drawing near, another by-product of the recession is likely to become obvious in the stallion business, bloodstock agents say: a slower market for selling and syndicating stallion prospects.
Paul Girdner describes himself as "an old horse bum."
After 50 years involved in various aspects of horse racing, the 77-year-old Girdner is entitled to make such a claim. Earlier this month, Girdner, who lives in Boise, Idaho, added to his Thoroughbred holdings when he paid $120,000 for a California-bred Chief Seattle filly at the Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Former leading sire Broad Brush was euthanized on May 15 due to the infirmities of old age, Gainesway Farm in Lexington announced Tuesday.
The Ack Ack horse was 26 and had been pensioned at Gainesway since June 2004.
Broad Brush led the North American stallion ranks in 1994, the year his son Concern won the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's May 2-year-old auction ended Tuesday afternoon with losses after a quiet final session.
The two-day auction sold 246 juveniles for $10,497,500, down 33 percent from last year's gross for 327 horses. This sale's average price, $42,673, was 11 percent lower than last year's, and the $25,000 median also was off by 11 percent. But buybacks improved sharply, ending at 23 percent as compared to 34 percent in 2008.
