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Independence Hall to Stand at WinStar

MGSW Independence Hall (Constitution–Kalahari Cat, by Cape Town) will stand stud at WinStar Farm at the conclusion of his racing career. He will command a fee of $10,000 and will participate in WinStar's Dream Big Program, which offers breeders the opportunity to earn a lifetime breeding right.

Hailing from the first crop of WinStar's red-hot young sire Constitution, Independence Hall was two-for-two as a juvenile, including a win in the 2019 GIII Nashua S. Opening his sophomore season with a win in the 2020 Jerome S., the dark bay was second in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. and was transferred from Mike Trombetta to Mike McCarthy late in his 3-year-old season.

Third in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. in January, Independence Hall was second to Knicks Go (Paynter) in the GIII Lukas Classic S. Oct. 2 and captured Keeneland's GII Hagyard Fayette S. Oct. 30. He is currently being pointed to either the GI Clark H. Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs or the GI Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Dec. 4 and his fee is subject to change following his next start.

“Two-year-old form is so important when standing a stallion,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. “Independence Hall's striking looks combined with his fast figures at two make him a great option at this price point.”

Independence Hall's record currently stands at 13-5-2-2 with earnings of $874,000.

“When we bought into him after he broke his maiden, he reminded me of his daddy–a great-looking horse with speed. He's pure athleticism, that's what I look for,” said Randy Gullatt of Twin Creeks Racing Stables. “We will support him like we did Constitution.”

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Independence Hall To Stand At WinStar Farm At Conclusion Of Racing Career

Independence Hall, a resounding 7 1/4-length winner of the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 30 and a romping 12 1/4-length winner of the 2019 G3 Nashua Stakes (G3) as an undefeated 2-year-old, will stand stud at WinStar Farm at the conclusion of his racing career, the farm announced today.

He will stand for a fee of $10,000 and he will participate in WinStar's Dream Big Program, which offers breeders the opportunity to earn a lifetime breeding right.

Independence Hall is currently being pointed to either the G1 Clark Handicap Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs or the G1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 4 and his fee is subject to change following his next start.

From the first crop of WinStar stallion Constitution, the leading third-crop sire of 2021, Independence Hall was an electric 2-year-old. He was undefeated as a juvenile, winning the first two starts of his career by a combined 17 lengths. In his career debut, he won a maiden special weight by 4 3/4 lengths with speed to spare. He jumped straight into graded company in just his second lifetime start, taking the $150,000 G3 Nashua Stakes in impressive fashion. After stalking the early pace in the one-mile event, Independence Hall simply engulfed his rivals around the far turn and ran up the score in the lane, ultimately winning by 12 1/4 lengths, stopping the clock in 1:34.66 and earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 101—the fastest Beyer of any 2-year-old that year.

In the Fayette, Independence Hall proved uncatchable. Hustled to the early lead by Javier Castellano, Independence Hall set all the pace in the 1 1/8-mile test. He shrugged off a brief challenge from multiple Grade 1 winner Code of Honor at the top of the lane and rolled to the wire to win by daylight, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105 in the sensational effort for trainer Michael McCarthy.

In addition to his impressive stakes victories, Independence Hall finished second to Knicks Go in the $400,000 G3 Lukas Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs on Oct. 2 and was third in the $3 million G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes in January.

All told, Independence Hall has won five of 13 career starts thus far, placed in four others, and earned $874,000 for owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Twin Creeks Racing Stables, WinStar Farm, and Robert and Kathleen Verratti. The dark bay colt, a stakes winner at two, three, and four from 6 1/2 furlongs to nine furlongs over all track conditions, was bred in Kentucky by Woodford Thoroughbreds.

“When we bought into him after he broke his maiden, he reminded me of his daddy—a great-looking horse with speed. He's pure athleticism, that's what I look for,” said Randy Gullatt of Twin Creeks Racing Stables. “We will support him like we did Constitution.”

Independence Hall is out of the multiple stakes-producing Cape Town mare Kalahari Cat, dam of Grade 3 winner Black Onyx, stakes winner and Graded stakes-placed Francois, and Grade 2-placed Quality Council. He hails from the immediate family of Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Desert Stormer and multiple Grade 1 winner Better Lucky.

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Breeders’ Cup Buzz: Trainers Discuss The Event’s Greatest Training Feats

It takes an incredible amount of work to get a horse to the starting gate in any race, much less the Breeders' Cup, but some efforts take a little something extra.

In this installment of Breeders' Cup Buzz, we asked current and former trainers for their opinions on the most impressive training feats in the event's history. For some, the answer lied in an individual horse's performance, while others looked at dominance over the course of a card.

Kenny McPeek

“Dick Mandella winning four in a day (at the 2003 Breeders' Cup). I was there that day, and I think even Dick was in shock.”

Mandella's quartet of winners during the 2003 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park were Halfbridled in the Juvenile Fillies, Action This Day in the Juvenile, Johar in the turf, and Pleasantly Perfect in the Classic.

Elliott Walden

“Da Hoss and Michael Dickinson (in the 1998 Mile). He had a long, long time off, and it was a heck of a performance to come off that layoff.”

After winning the 1996 Breeders' Cup Mile at Woodbine, Da Hoss didn't race for 715 days, hampered by recurring injuries that kept halting his progress on the comeback trail. Dickinson finally got the horse right for a return start in a Colonial Downs allowance less than a month before the 1998 Mile at Churchill Downs. He won the race at Colonial Downs, then won by a head in the Breeders Cup; an effort billed by announcer Tom Durkin “the greatest comeback since Lazarus.”

Steve Asmussen

“Wild Again, because he was the first one (to win the Classic).”

Wild Again, trained by Vincent Timphony, made history as the first Breeders' Cup Classic winner in 1984 at Hollywood Park. He raced 16 times that season, winning six, including the G1 Meadowlands Cup, the G2 New Orleans Handicap, and the G2 Oaklawn Handicap.

Chad Summers

“Da Hoss. Training horses is always stressful – training good horses is many sleepless nights – to take a horse who won the Breeders' Cup and not make it back to the races for almost one year – prep in an allowance at Colonial Downs in his only start in a year, and have the confidence off that race to go on to the Breeders' Cup and win it again – I can't imagine what the day-to-day thoughts were and training job Michael Dickinson did to have him ready to go.

“All connections who have run well in Breeders' Cup should be commended but that was the most impressive one to me.”

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WinStar Farm Announces 2022 Stallion Roster And Fees

WinStar Farm has set 2022 stud fees for its 18-stallion roster, headed by Speightstown who will once again stand for $90,000 S&N and Constitution who will remain at $85,000 S&N for the upcoming breeding season.

Stallions will be available for inspection by appointment from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. during the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale, Oct. 25-28.

“Our 2022 roster is suited for breeders at every level,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. “Speightstown, Constitution, and More Than Ready continue to provide breeders with options from prolific sire lines that American racing thrives on. We have young, exciting Grade 1-winning stallions, including Improbable, Audible, Yoshida, Tom's d'Etat, and Global Campaign who all have the potential to be top sires and lead the new generation of stallions at WinStar. We also have proven sires like Paynter and Take Charge Indy who provide value with the possibility of getting a racehorse at the highest level.”

Perennial leading sire Speightstown, a top three general sire again with progeny earnings of $13,442,775 thus far in 2021, is represented on the track this season by Lexitonian, winner of the $350,000 Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap; Flagstaff, winner of the $500,000 G1 Churchill Downs Stakes and the $200,000 G3 Commonwealth Stakes, and undefeated 3-year-old filly Carribean Caper, winner of five consecutive races, including the $275,000 G3 Dogwood Stakes. Speightstown has sired 22 Grade 1 winners on every surface, from six furlongs to 1 1/4 miles all over the world.

Constitution, sire of last year's Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law from his first crop, is the top-ranked third-crop sire this year with progeny earnings of $8,003,426, 29 black type horses, and four graded stakes winners. He is the sire of 2-year-old stakes winner Major General, winner of the $300,000 G3 Iroquois Stakes; Warrant, winner of the $400,000 G3 Oklahoma Derby; Promise Keeper, winner of the $200,000 G3 Peter Pan Stakes, and multiple stakes winner Americanrevolution, who most recently finished a rallying third in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby.

The legendary More Than Ready will stand the upcoming breeding season for $50,000 S&N. With 212 black type winners—only Galileo and Sadler's Wells have more—More Than Ready also has more Breeders' Cup wins than any other sire in history with seven.

More Than Ready stands poised to add to that total at this year's Breeders' Cup with four juvenile stakes winners in 2021—Slipstream, winner of the $150,000 G3 Futurity Stakes, Bubble Rock, victorious in the $150,000 G3 Matron Stakes, Consumer Spending, winner of the $150,000 Selima Stakes at Laurel, and Koala Princess, winner of the $500,000 Ainsworth Stakes at Kentucky Downs—all under consideration for racing's championship event. More Than Ready is the only sire to have an Eclipse Award champion each of the last four years, and he added a new Grade 1 winner this year in Hit the Road, winner of the G1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile.

With first foals on the way in 2022, Improbable, the 2020 Eclipse champion older male, will stand his second season at stud for $35,000 S&N. Undefeated at two and a spectacular five-length winner of the G1 Los Alamitos Futurity, Improbable rattled off three consecutive Grade 1 victories in 2020, winning the G1 Awesome Again Stakes with a 108 Beyer Speed Figure, the G1 Whitney Stakes in a 106 Beyer, and the G1 Hollywood Gold Cup with a 105 Beyer. By City Zip, Improbable is from the immediate female family of Hard Spun.

Audible, WinStar's most popular first-year sire ever having bred more than 400 mares in his first two years at stud, will stand for $22,500 S&N. The handsome son of Into Mischief was a dominant three-length winner of the $1 million G1 Florida Derby and was a 5 1/2-length winner of the $350,000 G2 Holy Bull Stakes in his stakes debut and with a final time of 1:41.92, he was the fastest winner of the race in the last eight years. Audible will have first yearlings in 2022.

Paynter, who is currently ranked eighth on the general sires list with progeny earnings of $9,679,227, will stand for $7,500. That fee, however, is only guaranteed through the Breeders' Cup where Paynter's son, Knicks Go, the top-ranked horse on the NTRA Thoroughbred Poll and a four-time Grade 1 winner, is the likely favorite for the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

The 2022 roster of stallions and fees (subject to change) for WinStar Farm are as follows:

Stallion	S&N Fee
Always Dreaming	$12,500
Audible	$22,500
Carpe Diem	$5,000
Constitution	$85,000
Exaggerator	$7,500
Global Campaign	$12,500
Good Samaritan	$7,500
Improbable	$35,000
More Than Ready	$50,000
Outwork	$10,000
Paynter	$7,500
Promises Fulfilled	$5,000
Speightster	$7,500
Speightstown	$90,000
Take Charge Indy	$12,500
Tom's d'Etat	$12,500
Tourist	$5,000
Yoshida (JPN)	$12,500

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