At the halfway point of this year, Into Mischief again finds himself atop North America’s sires, by a number of metrics, and is also more than halfway to his own single-season earnings record.

Stormy Atlantic, the sire of stakes performers including Eclipse Award champion Stormy Liberal, has been pensioned from stallion duty. The 27-year-old Storm Cat horse, who most recently stood at Hill ‘n’ Dale farm in Kentucky, has returned to his birthplace, Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla., to live out his days.

You’resothrilling provided her accomplished family with another thrilling moment as her daughter Joan of Arc won the French Oaks on Sunday, becoming the brilliant broodmare’s third European classic winner.

Unbeaten two-time European Horse of the Year Frankel was among the leading sires at last week’s Royal Ascot meeting, leading the charge for his own sire, Galileo, who continued to expand his legacy.

Frankel, who stands at owner-breeder Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Farm in Newmarket, was represented by three winners at the five-day Royal Ascot meeting. He notched victories with Mohaafeth in the Group 3 Hampton Court, Juan Elcano in the Wolferton Stakes, and Amtiyaz in the Copper Horse.

Denise Martin, who with husband Perry Martin co-bred and co-campaigned two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, died June 14 at age 61.

Denise Martin, a trained chemist, worked for the United States Air Force as a civilian employee at McClellan Air Force Base, and later was CEO of Martin Testing Labs in Sacramento, Calif., from its creation in 2000 to its sale in June 2020.

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Entering this week’s Royal Ascot meeting, one of the major events on the international calendar, Make Believe and his grandsire Dubawi lead the European sires list by earnings – although Make Believe’s accomplishments are largely attributable to one horse.

Classic sire Tapit, who is already a successful sire of sires, has several sons in this freshman sire class. The first to make his presence felt on the leaderboard is Iron Fist, off to a solid start with three winners from his first three starters.

Nominations for the North American edition of the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards are now open, running through Aug. 2.

After last year's awards were presented virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 award recipients will be honored at an in-person event planned for Oct. 15 at Keeneland.

Caravaggio and Astern, among the stallions adding international flavor to this North American freshman sire class, were among the several in that class to record early career milestones over the past week.

Caravaggio recorded his first stakes winner on Sunday in France. Meanwhile, Astern, already represented by a pair of stakes winners in his native Australia, recorded his first U.S. winner on Friday – one of five North American freshman sires to do so thus far in the month of June.

There were 18 stakes races run from Thursday through Sunday on a marquee weekend at Belmont Park. Although there were some common themes among the victorious sirelines, the only stallion with two of his direct progeny finding the winner’s circle on the competitive weekend was breakout young sire Maclean’s Music, who could be poised for an upswing.