LEXINGTON, Ky. - California-based owner and breeder B. Wayne Hughes has privately purchased the famed Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., in a deal that closed Friday.
Hughes and his trainer, Ron Ellis, visited the 700-acre nursery in April.
"He's been back and forth there a few times, and once he decided to buy it, the deal closed pretty quickly," Ellis said Friday. The price was not disclosed.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sons of the Mr. Prospector stallion Gone West are the hottest properties in breeding today, and there is no wonder. Among third-crop stallions (the oldest foals only 4) this season, the two leading sires by earnings are Elusive Quality and Grand Slam, both by Gone West. They rank first and fifth in the general sire list, with two other sons of Gone West, Mr. Greeley and West by West, also in the top 50.
The popular racing adage that a good horse can come from anywhere will come to life in Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate at Woodbine.
Robert Krembil and his son, Mark, who have been breeding horses on their multi-million dollar Chiefswood Farm in King, Ontario, for just three years, have two homebreds in the Plate, while Larry Regan, who has spent 53 years in the business, finally has his first homebred starter.
The Krembils, who caught the racing bug from Robert's father, Jake, began purchasing horses at yearling sales in 1992 and had moderate success.
After a decade-long absence, a horses of racing age sale in California reappears on the calendar with Tuesday's Barretts summer sale at Fairplex Park in Pomona. The one-day sale offers 75 2-year-olds in training and 48 horses of racing age.
With no recent history of such a market, sale organizers have modest expectations. Barretts president Gerald McMahon on Thursday said he expects the 123-horse sale to have an average price "in the teens."
Hundreds of Florida breeders will not be getting any breeders or stallions premiums down the road, because Myung Geol Leg, an executive with the Korea Racing Association, has been on a shopping spree these past few months. And, according to his tally, the KRA has bought 142 2-year-olds in training, with most of these having Florida connections.
During the recent Ocala Breeders' June sale of 2-year-olds in training, Leg talked about Thoroughbred racing in South Korea and the future of the horses he bought at the Florida sales this year.
Brandala has been a wonderfully consistent runner for her owner and breeder, Dr. Jim Kirvin, but until last Sunday she had not won a stakes in 12 tries.
A 6-year-old New York-bred, Brandala got her first stakes win in the restricted Mount Vernon Handicap at Belmont Park. Brandala, who races for Kirvin's Sorin Stables, won the second division of the 1 1/8-mile turf race by three-quarters of a length. The win boosted Brandala's earnings to $360,686 from a record of 7-5-6 in 38 starts.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - In a deal that bloodstock industry insiders say puts Smarty Jones's total stallion value at about $48 million, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner will stand at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky upon his retirement from racing.
The colt's owners, Roy and Pat Chapman, have privately sold the Midway, Ky., farm a half-interest in the colt. Three Chimneys will syndicate their half.
LAS VEGAS - They're off and running. The 2004 group of freshman sires have not wasted any time in establishing themselves as win-early stallions. Breeders and farm owners are always eager to get their first-crop stallions off to a fast start and 2-year-olds by these freshman sires are usually well meant in the early 4 1/2- and five-furlong maiden races against juveniles by older stallions already established.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Negotiations for Smarty Jones's stud rights were still under way in central Kentucky on Friday afternoon, with four or five farms still in the running. Bloodstock market watchers predict that Smarty Jones, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, could end up with a total stud value of between $35 million and $40 million - or more.
The hot competition for Smarty Jones reveals a stallion market that takes both bottom-line considerations and intangible factors like "buzz" into account, giving sellers like Smarty Jones's owners, Roy and Pat Chapman, a windfall.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Smarty party is not over. Although there is no longer the level of Triple Crown publicity surrounding Smarty Jones, breeders continue to have interest in the colt who has become the darling of the general public. The attention on Smarty Jones as a stallion prospect will intesnify in the next week or so with the announcement of plans for hisretirement to stud.