Month: March 2023

The Price Of Success: North America’s Leading Graded Stakes Sires Of 2023 By Stud Fee

How much does a graded stakes win cost?

The answer can go in plenty of directions, but one of the most obvious is tied to the stud fee paid to conceive a graded stakes winner in the first place.

That initial fee can go a long way in dictating expectations for a Thoroughbred, setting a general level for the caliber of buyer that might dig in for them at auction, or the bar for profitability for a breed-to-race operation. When it comes to graded stakes races, the stud fee can be used as one sign to indicate whether a sire and his runners are punching above their weight, meeting expectations, or need to be sent down the commercial ladder.

In the following charts, we'll take a look at the active stallions with the most North American graded stakes winners in 2023 through the end of February, organized into four stud fee tiers, to chart who is providing the most bang for their buck.

To be considered for this list, stallions must be active in North America in for the 2023 breeding season, with an advertised fee. With runners being conceived at different stud fees in different years, this was the simplest way to keep a horse to one line. Plus, it provides a window to the stallion's current market standing, and not where it was a few years ago.

Let's get to it.

Leading Sires Of 2023 Graded Stakes Winners, $100k Fee and Up

To the surprise of no one, the sire that set the North American progeny earnings record in 2022 has started white-hot in 2023, leading all North American sires by graded wins and winners by comfortable margins. Considering the Spendthrift Farm resident also stands for the continent's highest stud fee, the pace has lived up to the price.

Into Mischief's first two months have been led by Atone, who took a wide rally to the winner's circle in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. For a stallion that has already scaled plenty of mountains in his career, Godolphin-bred Atone might have kicked off Into Mischief's 2023 with his most significant turf win to date.

Into Mischief has also been well-represented on the prep trails for the Kentucky Derby and Oaks, with Rocket Can taking the G3 Holy Bull Stakes, Newgate winning the G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, and General Jim taking the G3 Swale Stakes, while Pretty Mischievous carried the Oaks contenders with a triumph in the G2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes.

Leading Sires Of 2023 Graded Stakes Winners, $99k to $50k

One of the most dependable names in the stud book, Lane's End resident Candy Ride leads this price tier with a pair of Derby trail prospects: G2 Rebel Stakes winner Confidence Game and G3 Withers Stakes winner Hit Show.

Frank Mitchell recently wrote about Candy Ride, and one of his recent non-graded stakes winners Candy Man Rocket, in his Bloodlines column.

Support our journalism

If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.
Subscribe

Leading Sires Of 2023 Graded Stakes Winners, $49k to $20k

Two stallions at different points of their careers top this tier: One, a contender for Kentucky's most underrated sire and a fast-emerging broodmare sire, and the other, the leading freshman sire of 2022.

Claiborne Farm resident Blame has serious contenders on the Kentucky Derby and Oaks trails with G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Litigate and G3 Honeybee Stakes winner Wet Paint, respectively.

On the heels of topping North America's freshman sires by progeny earnings last year, Spendthrift Farm's Bolt d'Oro is back with G3 Lecomte Stakes winner Instant Coffee on the Derby trail and G3 Kitten's Joy Stakes winner Major Dude making an impact on the grass.

Leading Sires Of 2023 Graded Stakes Winners, $19k and Below

The first two months of 2023 have seen Ashford Stud's Classic Empire take a huge step forward, already equaling his number of graded stakes wins from all of last year.

That charge has been led by upset G2 Risen Star Stakes winner Angel of Empire, who will aim to add more graded stakes wins to his sire's column further down the Derby trail. He is joined by Classy Edition, who took the G3 Royal Delta Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Classic Empire was named First Team All-Weather Sire on the 2022-23 All-Value Sire Team, spotlighting the top stallions standing for $20,000 or less. That analysis can be read here.

The post The Price Of Success: North America’s Leading Graded Stakes Sires Of 2023 By Stud Fee appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Turfway Park Cancels Friday Night Program Due To High Wind; Charles Town Cuts Card Short After One Race

Out of an abundance of caution to all participants, officials from Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., have announced they will cancel Friday night's eight-race program due to dangerous high winds.

Charles Town in West Virginia cancelled the remainder of its Friday night card after the first race.

The National Weather Service forecast in Florence called for showers and thunderstorms with a high near 63 degrees at first post. The breezy conditions were scheduled to continue through the evening hours with sustained winds of 23 to 28 mph and gusts as high as 55 mph.

Friday's program featured a $99,210 carryover to the Late Pick 5 (Races 4-8) and that amount will be added to Saturday's Late Pick 5 pool (Races 5-9).

Saturday's program at Turfway Park is scheduled to get under way at 5:55 p.m. (all times Eastern). The National Weather Service forecast calls for sunny skies with a high temperature of about 54 degrees at first post. The low will drop to 35 degrees.

The Road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks will head to Florence on Saturday with the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial (Race 8) and the $150,000 Cincinnati Trophy Stakes (Race 6).

Charles Town canceled the remainder of its Friday night card as wet weather and windy conditions are forecasted to continue move through the area throughout the evening. In addition to substantial rainfall in the area throughout the day on Friday, up to 50 mile per hour wind gusts were expected throughout the latter half of the card.

After the first race was run without incident, Charles Town management consulted with the jockey colony and decided to cancel the remainder of the card out of an abundance of caution.

Live racing at Charles Town is slated to resume on Saturday, March 4 ,at its standard first race post time of 7:00 p.m. ET.

The post Turfway Park Cancels Friday Night Program Due To High Wind; Charles Town Cuts Card Short After One Race appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

California First to Sign Voluntary Agreement, Pay HISA 2023 Fees

The Golden State is the first jurisdiction in the country to sign a voluntary agreement with the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) to continue performing a host of vital roles when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) drug control program goes into effect Mar. 27, according to a statement Friday by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB).

In another first among the nation's racing jurisdictions, the CHRB also agrees to pay HISA's 2023 fee assessment. The total figure for the state is more than $6.7 million. However, after HISA's credits have been applied, the final amount that California owes HISA comes out to roughly $1.5 million, according to the voluntary agreement.

“The CHRB has been enforcing and complying with safety regulations that HISA introduced July 1, 2022. Under the new agreement, the CHRB will implement rules under the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which are scheduled to go into effect March 27, 2023,” the CHRB's Friday statement read.

Under the voluntary agreement–shared by CHRB executive director Scott Chaney with TDN–the CHRB agrees to continue performing certain tasks for the HISA Authority and for HIWU, including the collection of equine samples, and the testing of these samples at the University of California, Davis's Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Laboratory.

In turn, U.C. Davis's “Maddy Lab” also becomes the first laboratory to officially sign onto HIWU's drug testing program.

Because state racing commissions and their respective industries already pay for many of HIWU's anti-doping and medication control program components, HISA is offering credits as subsidies to its annual fees.

According to California's voluntary agreement, the commission's total “state testing credit” will be $4.7 million. This includes some $1.2 million for sample collection and $3.5 million for laboratory costs such as race-day testing, research, and the analysis of samples from other states.

California also receives an additional out-of-competition testing credit estimated to be around $450,000 annually.

“If the costs for out-of-competition testing outside of Race Day pursuant to this Paragraph exceed $450,000 at the end of 2023, the Commission will receive an additional credit for 2024 in the amount of the excess costs,” the voluntary agreement reads.

“The CHRB is proud of our work and record in safety and animal welfare, and therefore we want to have a role in shaping policy going forward,” said Chaney in the statement issued Friday. “We have partnered and supported the national effort from the beginning and appreciate the dedication of the Authority and HIWU.”

The CHRB's statement adds: “The CHRB and representatives of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, 1st Racing, the Thoroughbred Owners of California, and UC Davis have been advising HISA all along, promoting California's strict regulatory program, and partly for that reason the federal rules are similar to those in California, meaning participants in California horse racing will need to make fewer adjustments than some of their counterparts in other racing jurisdictions.”

The post California First to Sign Voluntary Agreement, Pay HISA 2023 Fees appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights