Argentinian leading sire Pure Prize, who produced top-level performers in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, died last weekend at Haras La Providencia in his adopted country, according to Turf Diario. The son of Storm Cat and Hall of Fame racemare Heavenly Prize was 23. 

Classic sire Malibu Moon, a foundation sire for B. Wayne Hughes's program at Spendthrift Farm, died Tuesday in his paddock of an apparent heart attack, the farm reported that evening. The son of A.P. Indy was 24 and was owned by Spendthrift, fellow Kentucky farm Castleton Lyons, and Country Life Farm, all of which played a role in building his career.

“He started Spendthrift for us,” Hughes, who also bred and raced Malibu Moon, said in a press release. “Without Malibu Moon, we are not where we are today. It takes a special horse, and he was just that. This is a sad day.”

The 15 stakes races at Pimlico between Friday and Saturday were won by runners representing 15 different sires and 15 different broodmare sires. Only one stallion was represented on both lists, as Congrats sired Grade 3 Pimlico Special winner Last Judgement and is the broodmare sire of The Very One winner Caravel.

Congrats, a 21-year-old son of A.P. Indy, stands at WinStar Farm. His standouts are Grade 1 winners Emma’s Encore, Haveyougoneaway, Turbulent Descent, and Wickedly Perfect.

The Thoroughbred foal crop of 1992 in New Jersey numbered 517 foals, according to statistics from The Jockey Club. One of those was Ultrafleet, who went winless in four starts, all for John and Diane Fradkin, who purchased her for $10,500 at the Keeneland September yearling sale.

“We decided to retire her and make her a broodmare,” John Fradkin said. “Pretty much everybody said that was stupid, but we did it anyway, and it turned out pretty well.”

With his victory in the Preakness Stakes, Rombauer is now a winner on dirt, turf, and synthetic racing surfaces. He has followed in the footsteps of sire, Twirling Candy, a graded stakes winner on all three surfaces and a similarly versatile sire who can now also be called a classic sire.

Twirling Candy stands at the Farish family’s Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky., alongside his own sire, Candy Ride, and freshman sire Unified, another son of Candy Ride. Gift Box, by Twirling Candy, joined the roster this year as Lane’s End continues to invest in this sireline.

The global coronavirus pandemic turned life, including the Thoroughbred racing and sales calendar, upside down in 2020. But the shuffling of the sales calendar actually played out in favor of the small breeding program of John and Diane Fradkin.

The Fradkins had planned to offer for sale their homebred Rombauer, but the auction he was intended for was postponed. As a result, they campaigned Rombauer, and on Saturday he won the Preakness Stakes.

One day before Rombauer runs in the Preakness Stakes, his older half-brother Treasure Trove will contest the Grade 3 Pimlico Special.

The 3-year-old Rombauer, by Twirling Candy, and the 5-year-old gelding Treasure Trove, by Tapizar, were both bred in Kentucky by John and Diane Fradkin. They are third-generation products of that program, which began when John Fradkin purchased the Afleet mare Ultrafleet for $10,500 as a yearling in 1993.

Several Maryland-breds, including defending winner Harpers First Ride, will fly the flag for their home state in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special on Friday.

Harpers First Ride won the Deputed Testamony last year at Laurel to propel him into the Pimlico Special, which he won last October. He concluded a fine season in his home state by finishing second in the Maryland Million Classic before winning two more stakes at Laurel.

Mandy Pope has spent well over $50 million on broodmares for her Whisper Hill Farm operation in the last nine Novembers at Kentucky’s elite sales. The total purse of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes is $1 million, with $600,000 going to the winning connections. But a victory by Pope’s homebred Unbridled Honor would be priceless.

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Champions Gun Runner and Classic Empire each sired his first winner in the past week at Churchill Downs.

Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year, is the sire of Red Run, who was sent away favored in his May 9 debut and scored by 1 3/4 lengths on a sloppy track. Red Run, like his six-time Grade 1-winning sire, is trained by Steve Asmussen. He races as a homebred for Winchell Thoroughbreds, which co-campaigned his sire with Three Chimneys Farm. Gun Runner, by Candy Ride, now stands at Three Chimneys.