The booming upper market for select yearlings continued in the Southern Hemisphere Tuesday when a Stravinsky colt brought a seven-figure price at New Zealand Bloodstock's premier yearling sale in Karaka, New Zealand.
The colt sold for $2.2 million in New Zealand funds, or about $1,508,319 U.S., making him the second-most-expensive colt ever sold at the auction. The record is $3.6 million (New Zealand) for the Zabeel son Don Eduardo at the sale's 2000 edition.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Stonestreet Stables owner Jess Jackson took time out of a crowded schedule to meet with Kentucky state legislators on Thursday. His message: pass HB 446, a bill introduced on Jan. 24 by Rep. Denver Butler (D-Louisville).
Supporters like Jackson hope the bill will offer additional protection for horse owners who believe they have been cheated in the purchase or sale of a horse.
Groovy, 1987 champion sprinter, was euthanized Thursday at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky. The stallion had been pensioned for the last several years because of what WinStar's president, Doug Cauthen, termed "neurological issues" that worsened recently. Groovy was 23.
Groovy campaigned from 1985 to 1987, winning 12 stakes races. Pointed for the Triple Crown in 1986, he managed only a 16th-place finish in the Derby and a sixth-place finish in the Preakness. Sent sprinting, he found his calling.
Interest in the state's program brought Chief Seattle, a handsome son of the great Seattle Slew, to New York for the 2006 breeding season.
Owned by Darley, Chief Seattle stands at Empire Stud, in Hudson, N.Y., for a fee of $7,500 live foal. He formerly stood at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky.
Chief Seattle is managed by James LaMonica, who was taken by the appearance of the stallion's early foals, several of whom would bring more than $200,000 at juvenile sales in 2004.
A colt and filly from that crop were purchased for $450,000 and $400,000, respectively.
The West Virginia Thoroughbred breeding industry has experienced extreme highs and lows over the last few decades, but there has remained one constant presence - James W. Casey and his farms full of sire power. For more than three decades, Casey's stallions have been fixtures on the state's leading sire lists.
Led by Hollywood Gold Cup winner Lava Man, the 2005 California-bred divisional champions were announced by the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association earlier this week and include four other Grade 1 winners: Brother Derek, Dream of Summer, Leave Me Alone, and Proud Tower Too.
Eight horses were honored: Brother Derek, 2-year-old male; Sierra Sweetie, 2-year-old filly; Proud Tower Too, 3-year-old male; Leave Me Alone, 3-year-old filly; Lava Man, older male; Dream of Summer, older female; Valentine Dancer, turf horse; and Bordonaro, sprinter.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Successful young sire Wild Wonder, sire of Grade 1-winning 2-year-old filly Wild Fit, died Wednesday at Buck Bond Farm. A preliminary necropsy report indicates that the 12-year-old stallion died of a ruptured aorta, according to Buck Pond owner Doug Arnold.
Wild Wonder had been due to stand this season at Buck Pond for a $7,500 fee. Buck Pond recently had sold a three-quarter interest in the Wild Again horse to undisclosed investors, a move that had helped fill the stallion's book quickly for the coming season.
Glitter Woman, a Grade 1 winner, millionaire, and dam of last year's Nashua Stakes third-place finisher, Political Force, has died in Kentucky after colicking. A Glitterman mare, she was 12.
Glitter Woman had been due to foal a Fusaichi Pegasus filly at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., but she became colicky the morning of Jan. 12, according to Claiborne manager Gus Koch. Veterinarians determined that her stomach had ruptured. The mare died at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. The hospital was able to save her foal initially, but the filly later died, Koch said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Jess Jackson, owner of Stonestreet Stables, has formed a nonprofit organization to help investigate owners' claims of fraud in transactions for horses, and he is lending his support to state legislation designed to prevent such fraud.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The mating of the relatively unknown stallion Proud Irish to the mare Dora's Tower nearly a decade ago was one of convenience - two horses owned by Daniel Cardenas's Tricar Stable. It has developed into the cornerstone of a two-state racing and breeding operation.
Saturday at Santa Anita, Proud Tower Too, the third foal of that mating, will start in the $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic for California-breds and Florida-breds.
