The nascent Maryland-based Determined Stud operation continued an active season of buying at the Keeneland January sale, where it was among the programs taking advantage of high-profile dispersals to bolster its stock.

The family of Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who died earlier this week, has announced that his Juddmonte Farms will continue its breeding and racing operations internationally.

Multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words has been retired from racing and will enter stud at co-owner Spendthrift Farm, where he will be the latest offering under the farm’s innovative Share the Upside program.

Thousand Words, by classic sire Pioneerof the Nile and out of graded stakes winner Pomeroys Pistol, was a $1 million Keeneland September yearling purchase by Spendthrift and Albaugh Family Stables

Champion and classic winner Lemon Drop Kid, a consistently successful stallion who hails from some of the cornerstone families of Lane's End Farm, has been pensioned and will continue to live out his retirement at his longtime home on that farm. The son of former Lane's End sire Kingmambo is 25 this year.

Thoroughbred Charities of America's annual stallion season auction, its largest fundraiser, is underway with an altered format this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Online bidding on over 200 seasons for stallions standing in 14 states began online Wednesday and will continue through Friday with staggered ending times. Seasons available in the online auction include consistently prominent sires Ghostzapper, More Than Ready, and Speightstown; successful young stallions Liam’s Map and Palace Malice; Horse of the Year Gun Runner, whose first foals race in 2021; and others.

Champion and Hall of Fame racemare Azeri has been pensioned from her broodmare career in Japan.

The Korean Thoroughbred industry has built its foundation on American stock, as it is one of the other international jurisdictions with a predilection for dirt racing. While there may be a drop in the number of American-bred young horses racing in Korea in coming years, as that nation, like everywhere else, continues to struggle with the global COVID-19 pandemic, American stallions will continue to play a prominent role in the industry. That continued demand was seen with the recent purchase of multiple Grade 1 winner Dortmund to stand in South Korea beginning in 2021.

Changes rolled through the Thoroughbred bloodstock world in 2020. Some of those, were a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic and may be temporary. Others were seismic changes, as new industry rules, the deaths of major stallions and the emergence of others, and the loss of major farms will have an impact on the bedrock of the industry.

The world was saddened early in the year by the loss of Hall of Famer and breed-shaping sire A.P. Indy, who died at Lane’s End Farm on Feb. 21 at age 31. 

Multiple graded stakes winner Mr. Money will enter stud at Journeyman Stud in Ocala, Fla., in 2021. The move brings a prominent representative of the nation's leading sire line, which is known for its strong juvenile runners, to Florida, a state with a racing and commercial marketplace built around young horses.

Clubhouse Ride has a smaller bench than many of California’s other leading sires, being bred to smaller books of mares. However, he has been consistently finishing among the state’s top 10 sires by earnings. He did so again in 2020 and is garnering notice because of his results.