LEXINGTON, Ky. - Given the impact of the great sire Sadler's Wells on racing and breeding in Europe, he should be equally popular and successful in America.
Historically, that has been the case with stallions who have made an impact in England, France, and Ireland. Nearco, Phalaris, St. Simon, and Hyperion had a strong influence not only on the breeding of Thoroughbreds in Europe but also in America.
The Thoroughbred breeding operation at Pepper Oaks Farm in Santa Ynez, Calif., will be downsized in the next year. Farm owner Patricia Youngman announced that she will sell some of her breeding stock, and is moving several stallions off the property.
Some things will not change. Swiss Yodeler, one of the leading stallions in California, will remain there, but he will be the lone stallion. Swiss Yodeler will stand for $7,500 in 2007.
Grade 2 winner and millionaire Bowman's Band will relocate to Lane's End near Versailles, Ky., for 2007. He will stand for a $6,000 fee, the same fee he had this year.
Bowman's Band previously stood at the Maryland Stallion Station in Glyndon, Md., which operates as a joint venture with Lane's End.
Bowman's Band is an 8-year-old Dixieland Band horse out of the Pleasant Colony mare Hometown Queen, a stakes winner and runner-up in the 1987 Kentucky Oaks. Bowman's Band's first foals were born this year.
The late Steve Stavro always gave his full attention to every business he operated, whether it was his successful Knob Hill grocery chain, his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, or his stable of racehorses.
From his first stakes winner, Bert James in 1985, through the big years of his Canadian Horses of the Year Benburb (1992) and Thornfield (1999), the Knob Hill runners were regularly prominent during the Ontario racing season.
Stavro died this past April and the stable underwent changes - hiring its third different trainer, Kevin Attard, in the last seven years.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's November sale isn't the only place to buy big-name mares this week. Across town at Sunday's Fasig-Tipton November selected mixed auction, they have a few headliners, too.
Last year, the multiple Grade 1 winner Riskaverse brought the day's top price of $5 million from Eaton Sales, agent. Riskaverse was one of seven lots to bring $1 million or more last year, and Fasig-Tipton officials hope the 2006 auction can perform as well for them.
The roster of stallions who will enter stud in Florida for the 2007 season continues to grow. Hartley/DeRenzo-Walmac South has added yet another son of Storm Cat to its roster. Newcomer With Distinction takes the exported Storm Cat sire Tiger Ridge's place in the Hartley/DeRenzo lineup, joining Storm Cat scions City Place and Roar of the Tiger.
Bandini, winner of the 2005 Blue Grass Stakes, will begin his stud career in 2007 at a $17,500 fee, Walmac Farm announced Tuesday.
A 4-year-old Fusaichi Pegasus colt, he arrived at Walmac in Lexington, Ky., on Tuesday. He will be syndicated.
In addition to his Grade 1 victory in the Blue Grass, Bandini also won the Grade 3 Skip Away Handicap this year at Gulfstream.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - One of the contenders for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile with the fewest questions about his capacity to run a distance is Skip Code. He is the son and grandson of horses who showed their best form when racing nine and 10 furlongs in Skip Away, Skip Trial, and Sunny's Halo, and Skip Code appears to have inherited some of the quality, as well as the stamina, of his ancestors.
As a racehorse, the gallant gray Skip Away inspired legions of fans to follow racing for years as his career spun out on racetracks across the country and on sports pages around the world.
Phil Fanning has always considered his victory aboard Ned's Flying in the 1958 running of the Maryland Hunt Cup as "the peak of my existence." But, at age 82, Fanning may change his mind.
If Great Hunter, a colt bred by Fanning at his Ivy Dell Farm near Unionville, Pa., wins this year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Fanning says he'll "be inclined to forget about the Maryland Hunt Cup."
With her victory in last Sunday's Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park, Chestoria became the 21st New York-bred to win an open stakes race in 2006.
A 2-year-old daughter of Chester House, Chestoria first hinted at her potential in her second start, when she scored a nine-length maiden win on the Belmont turf in restricted company on Oct. 6. She followed by winning the Miss Grillo, in which she finished 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.82. By comparison, Pickapocket needed 1:52.62 to win the 1 1/8-mile Pilgrim Stakes, the male counterpart to the Miss Grillo which was run three races later.