LEXINGTON, Ky. - Lyphard, who at 36 was the oldest living elite Thoroughbred sire and one of the oldest horses in the world, died on June 10 at Gainesway Farm in Lexington.
The stallion was euthanized because of the infirmities of old age, a farm official confirmed. "Lyphard has been a part of the Gainesway family for 27 years," Antony Beck, Gainesway's president, said in a statement. "He was a tremendous racehorse and sire. We are saddened by his passing."
Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Darley organization has privately purchased Consolidator, a Grade 1 winner, from Bob and Beverly Lewis, and will stand him at its Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky., beginning in 2006.
The farm expects to set a fee in the fall.
European champion Seeking the Pearl, the first Japanese-trained horse to win a European Group 1 race, has died in Versailles, Ky., at Lane's End Farm.
An 11-year-old Seeking the Gold mare, Seeking the Pearl was found dead in her pasture on June 10. The exact cause of her death is unknown, according to Reynolds Bell, bloodstock manager for the Jayeff "B" Stables of Richard Santulli and George Prussin. Bell said that the mare showed no signs of injury or struggle, indicating her death had been sudden, perhaps caused by lightning.
Jolie's Halo, the 18-year-old sire of dual Grade 1 winner Hal's Hope and other graded winners, has died after a paddock accident in Japan, according to a Blood-Horse report.
A son of Halo, Jolie's Halo has stood at East Stud on the Japanese island of Hokkaido since the 1997 season. A homebred for Arthur Appleton, Jolie's Halo had started his breeding career at Bridlewood Farm in Florida but was sold privately to Japanese interests in 1996 after standing three seasons in Ocala.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers president Ken Wilkins opened a June 7 meeting about possible distribution programs for the state's new breeder awards fund, he said, "This is really a math problem."
The bottom line, he said, is a simple question: "How big is the pie, and how does it look split different ways?"
LEXINGTON, Ky. - No 3-year-old will have a chance to win the Triple Crown this year, but the stallions from the Coolmore group's international array of sires will have taken a classic in their third country in the past eight days should Andromeda's Hero get home in the Belmont.
Last Saturday, Motivator (by Coolmore sire Montjeu) won the Derby at Epsom, and then Shamardal (by Ashford sire Giant's Causeway) won the French Derby (Prix du Jockey Club) at Chantilly.
While looking for a stallion during the last couple of years, Gus Schoenborn Jr. had in mind the characteristics of two outstanding former Empire State stallions, Talc and Cormorant.
They were known for getting hard-hitting and sound runners who could sustain their form for a long period of time.
When he came across Crafty C. T., Schoenborn found one that filled the order for his Contemporary Stallions stud farm in Coxsackie, N.Y.
Crafty C. T. stands for $5,000 live foal, and his first crop this spring is pleasing his owners.
The Ocala Breeders' June sale of 2-year-olds in training on June 21-22 will have its under-tack shows next weekend. Those cataloged for the first sales session will go under tack on Saturday, and those in the second session will go Sunday. Starting times for both under-tack shows is set for 8 a.m.
The June 21 sales session has 330 2-year-olds in training cataloged. The second session has 304 2-year-olds plus 22 horses of racing age. Starting time for each of the two days of sales is 10:30 a.m.
Hot on the heels of a record-breaking 2-year-old sale, Fasig-Tipton Midlantic will conduct a summer sale of 2-year-olds and horses of racing age on June 28 at the sales pavilion in Timonium, Md. The sale has 111 cataloged, many from local consignors, and begins at 11 a.m. The under-tack show will be held the day before at 10 a.m.
"We were swamped for the May sale and knew we weren't able to accommodate all of them," said Paget Bennett, director of Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sales. "We spoke with a couple of people who were willing to wait and then quickly added this sale."
Fans at Woodbine for Sunday's Labatt Woodbine Oaks are going to have a love-in with a team of fillies from Harlequin Publishing giant Dick Bonnycastle, whose Manitoba homebred Gold Strike will rule as the heavy favorite.
Bonnycastle, who founded Harlequin in 1949 and then began publishing his company's famous romance novels in 1964, has been in racing and breeding for more than three decades.
His familiar black and white diamond silks have been seen at numerous Canadian racetracks over the years, aboard such horses at Nice Dancer, Pleasure Bent, and Caught Out.
