LEXINGTON, Ky. - Any racing partnership whose first horse turns out to be a classic winner has to be lucky, right? Chuck Zacney, the 44-year-old managing partner of Cash Is King Stable acknowledges that the five-person ownership group had great luck in turning up Afleet Alex.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The great trainer John Nerud has frequently said that "the best milers make the best sires," and there's a good deal of evidence to bear out that observation. Some of the best horses that Nerud trained, such as Dr. Fager and Fappiano, were tremendous milers.
Other top stallions, such as Mr. Prospector, Storm Cat, and Seattle Slew, were probably best suited to a mile, although Seattle Slew was so versatile and athletically gifted that he could race almost any distance.
The five-month Florida 2-year-olds in training sales season comes to an end with the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company June auction of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age on June 21-22. The sale has cataloged 635 2-year-olds and 23 horses of racing age.
When Avery Hall won the recent Open Mind Handicap at Monmouth Park, she became the 10th stakes winner for New York stallion A. P Jet. A 3-year-old filly, Avery Hall defeated older females in the Open Mind.
The victory helped make A. P Jet, a son of Fappiano, the leader among active New York stallions, with 2005 progeny earnings of $1,137,939 through May 31.
Maryland's Glade Valley Farms has long held a reputation for breeding solid, classy runners. And a 3-year-old filly named Lunachick is building on that history.
Sold for only $6,000 at the 2003 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale, Lunachick (by Partner's Hero) has earned nearly 12 times that amount in California this season. She became a stakes winner with an apparently effortless victory in the Vallejo Stakes last Sunday at Golden Gate Fields.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Eric Kruljac had a simple reason for selling Kick the Can for $27,000 at a yearling sale in Arizona in 2003.
"I was putting two kids through college," he said.
Sunday, Kruljac, who trains a stable at Santa Anita, will be rooting for Kick the Can when the 3-year-old filly starts as a longshot in the $175,000 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park.
A win or placing by Kick the Can in the Grade 2 Honeymoon would greatly enhance the value of her dam, Bint Alriyadh, whom Kruljac owns.
"I've got my fingers crossed," Kruljac said.
LAS VEGAS - Pulpit is a rising star in the stallion ranks. His runners win going short and long, and are equally proficient on dirt and turf. Pulpit had a particularly memorable weekend at Belmont Park last week when his offspring won the Peter Pan and Jaipur stakes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Stakes wins by Lil' Sister Swiss and Wild Uncle Kurt in recent weekends at Hollywood Park have carried the California stallion Swiss Yodeler to the top of the national 2-year-old sire list and the state's overall sire list.
Through Thursday, foals by Swiss Yodeler had earned $1,360,944 this year, leaving him slightly ahead of In Excess ($1,352,888) on the state's overall sire list. Swiss Yodeler's lead is tenuous, at best. One victory by an In Excess offspring would reverse those standings.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - If there is anything better than a classic winner for a stallion's reputation, don't tell Northern Afleet. The dramatic Preakness victory of his son Afleet Alex was the crowning moment in an outstanding year for the stallion, who has nearly completed his first season at stud in Kentucky at Taylor Made Farm.
And although siring a winner of the Preakness is a grand accomplishment, Kentucky breeders were high on the potential of the young stallion before the Maryland classic.
