LEXINGTON, Ky. - Badge of Silver, who ended his racing career on Saturday with a second-place finish in Discreet Cat's Cigar Mile, will take up stud duties at Airdrie Stud in 2007 at a fee of $15,000. Badge of Silver arrived at Airdrie, in Midway, Ky., on Monday.
A 6-year-old Silver Deputy horse, Badge of Silver was bred in Kentucky by a partnership that included Liberation Farm, Trackside Farm, and Oratis Thoroughbreds. His dam, Silveroo, is a winning daughter of Silver Hawk.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - An athletic dark brown filly with a star on her forehead, Empiress was a child of destiny from birth.
A daughter of Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker, Empiress is out of the Dixieland Band mare Regal Band, also the dam of Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos.
With relations of the most exalted stature, there was never any question that this young filly would be a figure of interest among breeders and racing people.
The stud fee of Swiss Yodeler, the top-ranked stallion in California, has been increased from $7,500 to $10,000 for the 2007 breeding season.
The decision was made earlier this month by stallion owner Heinz Steinmann, and was announced a few weeks after Swiss Yodeler's son Thor's Echo won the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs.
Thor's Echo, who was scheduled to start in Saturday's Grade 1 Frank De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel, is Swiss Yodeler's leading money winner this year, with earnings of $1,658,937.
LEXINGTON, Ky. Thoroughbred owner James McIngvale has made it well known that he would like to see penalties added to the code of ethics the bloodstock sales industry developed in 2004. He has proposed that the Thoroughbred auction industry penalize violators of the code by banning them from horse sales.
But the legal issues around identifying and punishing such agents even those convicted of fraud make it unlikely that auction houses will support McIngvales proposal, legal experts and sale executives say.
Marked by top performances last weekend in New York and Kentucky, statebreds continued to shine in open stakes races in November.
Accountforthegold won the Grade 3 Stuyvesant Handicap at Aqueduct, in which two other New York-breds, Carminooch and Organizer, finished second and third. The classy turf filly J'ray closed with a rush to finish second in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Handicap at Churchill Downs.
The Florida Thoroughbred Farm Managers Inc. has been in the charitable and philanthropic mode since 1963. As part of its fund-raising program, the farm managers hosts a stallion showcase combined with a family outing which includes as entertainment trick horses and high-stepping Hackney ponies. This year the annual fund-raising party will be held Sunday, Nov. 26, at the Ocala Equestrian Complex, located adjacent to the northern boundary of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company. Festivities begin at 10 a.m. and will continue until mid-afternoon.
Strut the Stage, a turf specialist who earned more than $1.5 million for Sam-Son Farm, will enter stud at Colebrook Farms Stallion Station in 2007.
Strut the Stage, a Kentucky-bred 8-year-old, will stand as the property of Sam-Son Farm for a fee of $5,000 (Canadian) at Colebrook, which is located in Uxbridge, Ontario, and owned by John Burness.
"We're happy to have such a stallion, with his record and breeding," said Burness.
"And, I think he'll probably be a welcome addition for Woodbine's new Polytrack surface, which is leaning toward turf-type horses."
Grade 1 winner Midas Eyes will stand at Kurt Butenhoff and Jamie Lamonica's Empire Stud in Hudson, N.Y., for the 2007 breeding season. He will stand for a fee of $7,500.
A son of Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold, Midas Eyes stood his first season last year at Mill Ridge Farm near Lexington, Ky.
Lamonica feels that Midas Eyes, whom he calls a "strong stallion," is a good fit for the New York racing and breeding program.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - These days, the sun shines bright on the Pennsylvania home breeder. Prospects for the breeding incentive program in the Keystone State are certainly looking up as the state's racetracks begin to implement gaming that is expected to boost purses and earnings significantly for horses racing in the state.