Some have now faded from everyday use, and for this fan the Ballymacoll Stud colours are much missed. Certain silks have such resonance that one almost doesn't need to have a race card handy to have an educated guess at the standard of certain races about to happen, and if the colours of the Niarchos family are spotted in the parade ring then it's a safe bet that there's a classy maiden or Pattern race in store. 

Happily, those distinctive colours are not about to disappear, though the restructuring of the family's bloodstock operation has brought about a proper 'bloodstock event', and one which offers a mouthwatering opportunity for other breeders to buy into some of the best Niarchos pedigrees. 

Forty of their fillies and mares will be offered at Goffs next week. Friday's session is likely to be the liveliest of the November Breeding Stock Sale since the Wildenstein Stables dispersal of 2016 or the Paulyn dispersal a decade ago when Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), sold for €6 million to Coolmore, became the most expensive horse ever to sell in Ireland.

“We had a big draft last November at Goffs but this one is exceptional because the offerings include three homebred Group 1 winners,” says Alan Cooper, who has been the Niarchos family's racing manager for almost 40 years.

He adds with no little understatement, “It's a very special gathering of the family's stock.”

Before we run through some of the bluebloods on offer, it is worth emphasising that the Niarchos family will still be developing these equine families through the young stock being retained. More than 100 horses, including those in training, remain within their ownership.

“It's not a dispersal,” says Cooper. “These are going to auction but from each of the core families, we've got several fillies who are either foals, yearlings, or two-year-olds of this year going forward. We're not cutting the tie with any of the top families. That is important because Maria and her father and her brothers have built this up, and it's still ongoing.”

Stavros Niarchos, the Greek shipping tycoon, made a significant impact on the world of Thoroughbred breeding in the second half of the twentieth century, and his passion for the sport was shared by his daughter Maria Niarchos-Gouaze, one of his five children, who took on the running of the bloodstock sector of her father's empire following his death in 1996. 

Earlier this year, Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard, the Normandy farm bought by Stavros Niarchos in 1979, was put up for sale. It had previously been home at different times in their lives to such luminaries of the turf as Nureyev, his incredible daughter Miesque, and her influential son Kingmambo (Mr. Prospector). Other top names include Hernando (Ire) (Niniski) and his son Sulamani (Ire), both of whom were winners of the Prix du Jockey Club, and the Breeders' Cup Mile victrix Six Perfections (Fr) (Celtic Swing {GB}).

Members of those families and more are included in the draft for next week's sale. As referred to above, three Group 1 winners form the cornerstone of that elite group. 

Albigna (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), the Prix Marcel Boussac winner whose first foal by Wootton Bassett (GB) sold for €460,000 as a yearling this season, is offered as Lot 1212 from Baroda Stud and is in foal to St Mark's Basilica (Fr). She also has a weanling filly by Dubawi (Ire) on the ground. 

Later, as Lot 1240 from Kiltinan Castle Stud, comes Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), the G1 Coronation S .winner who was runner-up in the G1 Prix de Diane, G1 Jacques Le Marois ad G1 Prix de l'Opera. She is in foal to Frankel (GB) and had a colt foal by the same stallion.

It remains to be seen which of the draft becomes the jewel of the crown in broodmare terms, but as a racehorse it is easy to argue the case for Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), who sells last of all as Lot 1263 from Norelands and is in foal to Sea The Stars (Ire), carrying what will be her fourth offspring. On the track she was both the European champion three-year-old filly and champion three-year-old miler of 2018, when her wins included the Irish 1,000 Guineas, Coronation S., Falmouth S., and Prix Jacques Le Marois, which ran under the long-term sponsorship of the Niarchos family. 

Alpine Star and Alpha Centauri are half-sisters and daughters of the Rahy mare Alpha Lupi, representing the family which has become synonymous with the name Niarchos. Their granddam was another Jacques Le Marois winner and dual Classic heroine, East Of The Moon (Private Account), herself a daughter of one of the most revered mares of the modern era, Miesque. The latter's many Group/Grade 1 triumphs included back-to-back wins in both the Jacques Le Marois and Breeders' Cup Mile, as well as victories in the 1,000 Guineas, Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, Prix Marcel Boussac, Prix de la Salamandre, and Prix d'Ispahan. And that was just the entree to Miesque's celebrated career at stud.

The Hall of Famer produced the aforementioned Classic winners Kingmambo and East Of The Moon, as well as the Group 3 winners Miesque's Son (Mr. Prospector) and Mingun (A.P. Indy), Listed winner Moon Is Up (Woodman) and stakes-placed Inventing Paradise (Mr. Prospector). Another daughter, Second Happiness (Storm Cat), is the dam of  the Prix du Jockey Club winner and young sire Study Of Man (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), while another, Kingmambo's full-sister Monevassia, is the dam of Group 1 winner Rumplestiltskin (Ire) (Danehill).

Along with the aforementioned Group 1 winners, Miesque's direct line is also represented in the three-year-old Frankel filly Humankind (Lot 1104). Meanwhile, another branch of the family appears through Miesque's half-sister Yogya (Riverman), the dam of Six Perfections whose daughter Raja Ampat (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) features as Lot 1259 and is carrying a member of the first crop of Baaeed (GB). 

Six Perfections's unraced four-year-old granddaughter See (War Front) is Lot 1105, and that filly's full-sister La Fiamma is Lot 1181, and is sold in foal to Mehmas (Ire).

Another family which has stood the operation in great stead is that of Coup De Folie, the Halo mare bought from her breeder EP Taylor as a yearling who went on to win the G3 Prix d'Aumale. She later become the dam of Machiavellian (Mr. Prospector), his fellow Group 1 winner and full-sister Coup De Genie, and Exit To Nowhere (Irish River {Fr}), who was yet another winner of the Jacques Le Marois in the Niarchos silks.

That line thrives still, notably through Coup De Genie's daughter Moonlight's Box (Nureyev), the dam of Arc winner Bago (Fr) (Nashwan), dual Group 1 winner Maxios (GB) (Monsun {Ger}) and Listed-placed Malicieuse (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), whose Deep Impact daughter Bold As Love (Ire) gets the ball rolling when offered as Lot 1102, the first of the draft.

Worldwide influences loom large among the Niarchos broodmare band, which has ties beyond Europe, to America, South Africa, and Australia. Significantly the family has long had strong links to Japan, before other major owner-breeders caught on to this fertile source of class. 

“Maria was definitely a precursor of the modern age on that,” says Cooper. “And thanks to the good relations we built up with Teruya and Chizu Yoshida, which came through Hector Protector going over [to stud in Japan]. We sent him mares and then sent mares to Sunday Silence and then Deep Impact as well. And we branched out every now and again, we took mares to Bago, of course, and Lord Kanaloa, Daiwa Major.”

He continues, “And we've even got some Australian influence in the draft, with Dawn Wall [by Fastnet Rock] in there and Provocateuse by Pride of Dubai. It's truly global.”

One of those mares sent to the Classic-winning homebred Hector Protector, who was later sold to Zenya Yoshida of Shadai Farm for his stallion career, was Lingerie (GB) (Shirley Heights {GB}), a daughter of another important founder of a dynasty in Northern Trick (Northern Dancer), winner of the G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Prix Vermeille. 

Lingerie's daughter Shiva was foaled in Japan and exported to Europe where she won the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. Her half-sister Light Shift (Kingmambo), also trained by Henry Cecil, later won the Oaks. Five members of Lingerie's family are catalogued, including Shiva's Listed-winning daughter That Which Is Not (Elusive Quality), the dam of Group 3 winner Piz Badile (Ire), who is by another Niarchos-bred stallion in Ulysses (Ire).

The 40 mares are spread between the drafts of Norelands, Baroda and Kiltinan Castle Studs, and are also dotted evenly through the Friday of the catalogue in groups of five or six. 

“All those studs have boarded mares for us,” Cooper explains. “With this number of horses we thought it was best to divide them up between these teams, who all do a wonderful job. We thought it was very manageable that way for us, too. It would be too much for everybody to sit and watch 40 horses go through together.”

Cooper arrived at the Niarchos family's London office in February 1984 to work as assistant to Sir Philip Payne-Gallwey, the former racing manager to Stavros Niarchos who played such a key role in the operation's success through his purchase of Miesque's sire and dam, Nureyev and Pasadoble, as well as Northern Trick, as yearlings in Kentucky.

“He went back to the BBA in 1987 and I've been here ever since,” says Cooper. “Karen Clark was here before me, and she's still very much part of the original team.”

Of the draft itself, he adds, “It goes back to the yearling fillies purchased in the 80s: you've got Pasadoble, the dam of Miesque; Coup De Folie, the dam of Coup De Genie, and so much has come down from those two alone. But then you spread out and another branch of Miesque's family was Yogya, the dam of Six Perfections, another family goes back to Rare Mint, and we've got a great-granddaughter of hers, Celestial Lagoon, represented through several of her daughters. Then you've got Lyrism, the dam of Whakilyric, who is the third dam of Nature Spirits.

“So there's a lot of families that we've had for generations. It's quite a history.”

The post Niarchos Draft: ‘We’re Not Cutting Ties With Any of the Top Families’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Both Saratoga and Deauville benefit from a heady atmosphere that might easily induce a perilous incaution when a yearling stands there shimmering on a sale rostrum. But it was ever thus, and the market at both Fasig-Tipton and Arqana exhibited remarkable buoyancy when measured against historic standards.

We know that bloodstock tends to lag somewhat behind other indices of recession, and conceivably this will prove to be some final, decadent flourish before the bulls start to draw in their horns. But it may also turn out, as when bloodstock showed such startling resilience during the pandemic, that the outlook simply looks different to the affluent elite on whom our industry so candidly depends. Inflation may be a bolting mustang; there may be wars and rumors of wars; political discourse may be ever more acrimoniously polarized. None of it seems to matter to these guys.

To be fair, in certain states American investors can increasingly entertain the possibility that their racetrack programs can aspire to something vaguely resembling viability–even if some benighted horsemen appear masochistically determined to erode that equation with their stubborn litigations. But the parallel strength of the market over the water suggests that a lot of people must also be animated by less tangible dividends.

(To listen to this column as a podcast, click the arrow below.)

That being so, we must always remember how destructive to our sport is the contamination of bad publicity. No shortage of that, of course, in an average week–and this one has been no different. Equally, however, we must acknowledge our debt to those priceless horses and horsemen that do succeed in capturing the public imagination; to those that intrigue outsiders, and inspire them to enter and contribute to our community, whether as fans and handicappers or as buyers of seven-figure yearlings. And it's also been a week, either side of the ocean, that has magnified those positives.

First and foremost, we have had a fresh reminder of the captivating grandeur within the compass of the Thoroughbred. Raised in distance for the first time, Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) also raised his game anew to reach a pantheon lately shared, on European turf, perhaps only by his sire and Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}).

Someone as tediously insistent as me, on the importance of a transatlantic cross-pollination, is hardly going to neglect the opportunity to highlight the way Baaeed's pedigree combines gene pools that have since become disastrously bisected. No fewer than 11 of the 16 contributors to this grass titan's fourth generation were bred in North America. Mr. Prospector is sire not only of Baaeed's fourth dam; but also of his damsire, Kingmambo; and of Miswaki, whose daughter Urban Sea gave us Sea The Stars. And look who's here, as sire of the third dam: the great enigma himself, Arazi!

Galileo, half-brother of Sea the Stars, sire of leading stallion Frankel (GB) | Emma Berry

Sea The Stars, specifically, combines two transatlantic cocktails. Start with his sire Cape Cross (Ire). He's by Green Desert, himself a son of Danzig out of a daughter of Sir Ivor and Courtly Dee; and out of Park Appeal (Ire), whose genes (by Ahonoora (GB) out of a Balidar (GB) mare) are no less evocative of a completely different world. As for Urban Sea, the epoch-making dam of Sea The Stars (and Galileo, of course), she similarly blends a classic American brand (Miswaki was by Mr. Prospector out of a Buckpasser mare) with a mare whose parents both channelled doughty German blood.

Much the same kind of thing happens along Baaeed's bottom line. That Mr. Prospector fourth dam we just mentioned, for instance, is actually out of the British matriarch Height Of Fashion (GB), who was by Bustino (GB) and saturated with other indigenous influences. So, really, can anyone look at Baaeed's pedigree and still understand why most breeders, either side of the Atlantic, no longer want to mix turf and dirt lines?

So much for Baaeed's past. As far as his future is concerned, we must naturally yield to the judgement of those who have brought him this far with such skill. But it must be said that the horse stands in danger of leaving us with the same wistfulness as did Frankel, who similarly spent most of his career beating up proven inferiors at a mile before stepping up in trip only in his penultimate start–and in the same York race that Baaeed won this week. The plan has long been to remain in step with Frankel by also bowing out over 10 furlongs at Ascot, but the door is apparently still ajar to going to the Arc instead.

In declining to run either at Longchamp or at the Breeders' Cup, Frankel was left exposed to the charge that he never went looking for trouble. Suspecting him to be one of the best of all time, everyone was comparing him to specters past–yet he never measured himself against plenty of good ones then alive and well, and available for racetrack competition.

The fact is that Baaeed finished the new trip at York ravenously, and is a full-brother to a Group 1 winner at 12f (and Group winner at 14f). So let's hope that the desire to preserve his immaculate record does not discourage connections of another great horse from exploring the full range of his brilliance.

If a sporting gamble happened to misfire, it wouldn't take a cent off his value. In terms of his legacy, he has nothing to lose and much to gain. And, as we've been saying, there's a wider consideration–one might almost say, a wider obligation–to make this game as engrossing as we can; to showcase charisma, and retrieve the news agenda from the bad guys.

Happily, that is just what is happening at Saratoga this summer, with D. Wayne Lukas back on center stage Saturday with his latest Classic winner squaring up for her decider with Nest (Curlin). Last week we highlighted the way Lukas appears to be reversing the ageing process, as a rejuvenated force in the sales ring as well as on the racetrack. He promptly produced another exciting juvenile in Bourbon Bash (City Of Light), who won his second start by eight lengths and looks eligible to extend his trainer's record of eight wins in the GI Hopeful S.

This is the first foal out of a stakes-winning Violence mare named Buy Sell Hold. Sell or hold is an adequate conundrum for most people right now, trying to read the alarming runes in less singular markets. How long our own marketplace can remain insulated by such unquantifiable factors as horses like Baaeed, and horsemen like Lukas, remains to be seen. But history tells us that we will find out soon enough.

The post This Side Up: Baaeed News is Good News appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Niarchos family breeds and races Thoroughbreds around the world and has done so with great success for decades. More than 125 Group or Grade 1 winners have been bred and/or campaigned under their banner, and they have been long-time supporters of the Breeders' Cup.

The late Stavros Niarchos served as a Greek naval officer in World War II and made his fortune in the shipping business. He first became involved with Thoroughbred racing in the 1950s, took a break, and returned in full force in the 1970s. His first major winner was Pipe of Peace, who won the 1956 Middle Park Stakes.

At the 1978 Keeneland July sale, Niarchos paid the second-highest amount ever, at the time, for a yearling colt. Named Nureyev, he went on to be an extremely influential sire. Among Nureyev's most well-known progeny is Miesque, who raced as a homebred for the Niarchos family and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame of the United States in 1999.

Miesque, who won the Breeders' Cup Mile in both 1987 and 1988, was a champion in England, France, and the United States during her racing career. As a broodmare, she went on to produce elite runner and stallion Kingmambo as well as three-time Group 1 winner East Of The Moon. A multiple Group 1 winner in Europe, Kingmambo became one of the leading stallions in Kentucky, siring classic winners and champions in North America, Europe, and Japan. East Of The Moon, meanwhile, is the granddam of three Group 1-winning sisters in Alpha Centauri, Alpine Star, and Discoveries.

Niarchos was the leading owner in France in 1983 and 1984 as well as the leading breeder in 1989, 1993, and 1994. His daughter Maria took over the family's Thoroughbred business after his death in 1996, and Alan Cooper serves as the family's racing manager.

The Niarchos family has won seven Breeders' Cup races with six homebred colts and fillies. Six of those victories have come in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1): Miesque (1987, 1988), Spinning World (1997), Domedriver (2002), Six Perfections (2003), and Karakontie (2014). Additionally, Main Sequence won the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) in 2014. The six Mile winners were trained in Europe, while Main Sequence began his career in Europe before being transferred to the United States. This record as an owner-breeder at the Breeders' Cup makes the Niarchos family one of the event's most successful participants.

A sampling of other notable international wins for the family as owner or breeder also includes Bago (2004 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe), Divine Proportions (2005 Prix de Diane), Light Shift (2007 English Oaks), Ulysses (2017 Eclipse Stakes and International Stakes, son of Light Shift), Alpha Centauri (2018 Irish Horse of the Year), Study of Man (2018 Prix du Jockey Club), War of Will (2019 Preakness Stakes), and Circus Maximus (2019 St James's Palace Stakes and 2020 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot).

Representatives from both Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), as well as the Breeders' Cup and The Jockey Club, will be in California to celebrate the Niarchos family. As the Official Partner and Official Watch of the IFHA, Swiss watchmaker Longines and the IFHA conjointly created the Award of Merit in 2013. Longines is also an Official Partner, the Official Timekeeper, and the Official Watch of the Breeders' Cup, as well as the title sponsor for the Breeders' Cup Classic, Turf, and Distaff.

Previous winners of this award include John Messara, the owner and chairman of Arrowfield Stud in Australia; the Magnier family and trainer Aidan O'Brien, the driving forces behind Coolmore and the Ballydoyle Racing Stable in Ireland; Yutaka Take, legendary Japanese jockey; the Romanet family, long renowned leaders in both the French and international world of horseracing; Jim Bolger, leading Irish trainer, owner and breeder; Alec Head, past champion trainer and patriarch of prominent stud farm Haras du Quesnay; Seth Hancock of historic Claiborne Farm in America; and the late Marcel Zarour Atanacio, former chairman of the South American organization for the promotion of Thoroughbreds (OSAF).

The post Niarchos Family To Receive 2021 Longines And IFHA International Award Of Merit appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bill has been a valued member of the Lane's End Farm team since 1982, when he was hired in a foreman capacity to work with the farm's first yearling crop and with mares and foals. He became stallion manager at the beginning of the development of the Lane's End stallion division in 1985. In this position, Bill established the foundation of best practices that would ensure the health and safety of the stallions and result in smooth management of the breeding shed.

Will Farish, Lane's End Farm owner, said: “Bill Sellers has contributed significantly to the success of Lane's End as a leading Thoroughbred breeding farm. Billy's exceptional diligence and hard work have been instrumental in building the Lane's End stallion division into a world renowned operation known for the highest level of horse care and management. We take this opportunity to thank Billy for dedicating his career to Lane's End Farm. We will miss him greatly and wish him the very best in his retirement.”

The post Stallion Manager Bill Sellers To Retire From Lane’s End appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Sellers has been a valued member of the Lane's End Farm team since 1982, when he was hired in a foreman capacity to work with the farm's first yearling crop and with mares and foals. He became stallion manager at the beginning of the development of the Lane's End stallion division in 1985. In this position, he established the foundation of best practices that would ensure the health and safety of the stallions and result in smooth management of the breeding shed.

Will Farish, Lane's End Farm owner, said, “Bill Sellers has contributed significantly to the success of Lane's End as a leading Thoroughbred breeding farm. Billy's exceptional diligence and hard work have been instrumental in building the Lane's End stallion division into a world renowned operation known for the highest level of horse care and management. We take this opportunity to thank Billy for dedicating his career to Lane's End Farm. We will miss him greatly and wish him the very best in his retirement.”

The post Bill Sellers to Retire as Lane’s End Farm Stallion Manager appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Not yet. Small, agonizingly flexible words, in the context of a suffocatingly impatient marketplace. By any rational measure, it should still feel like early days in Honor Code's stud career. After all, his forte was always going to be two-turn horses that progress with maturity. And it was only this time last year that one such, Honor A.P., was basking in a decisive defeat of Authentic (Into Mischief) in the GI Santa Anita Derby. Luck would subsequently turn against this vital flagship, thereafter confined to two starts that did inadequate justice to his ability before being forced into retirement–and, indeed, into competition with his sire at Lane's End. But let's not forget that Honor A.P. was the only colt ever to beat the eventual Horse of the Year and, moreover, appeared to do so entirely on merit.

Even so, with only his second crop of sophomores barely halfway through their campaign, Honor Code somehow finds himself at something of a crossroads. For the success of Max Player in the GII Suburban S. last Saturday shone a fairly unsparing light on the fact that for now he remains Honor Code's only other graded stakes winner, besides Honor A.P., with just two other black-type scorers to back them up.

As another graduate of his first crop, of course, the fresh impetus of Max Player may yet be emulated by others responsible for this fitful record to date, which has seen Honor Code's fee halved to $20,000 from an opening $40,000. (A pretty standard slide, of course, as the freshman luster fades.) True, we all need to see Max Player do it again: the track was sloppy, and the runner-up perhaps a little rusty. But he certainly looked like a horse who, having meanwhile joined one of the powerful barns in the land, is belatedly renewing the promise of his GIII Withers S. emergence last year.

Regardless, long experience permits the people behind Honor Code to place in heartening context the teething problems of so many sires who then regrouped to become important contributors to the breed.

“You know, people rush to judgement so early,” says Bill Farish of Lane's End. “And we've seen it over and over again with our stallions: sometimes they just take a little while to get going. Kingmambo's first 2-year-olds just didn't light it up for people, and then he came on like crazy. We had quite a lot of interest in him [at that time] from abroad, but luckily Dad was pretty firm in his belief. And thank goodness. I remember breeding to him I think at $18,000, after he had started at $45,000. And there was a shareholder market significantly below that. What an opportunity that was!”

Before long, in fact, Kingmambo was standing at $300,000.

“We went through a similar experience with Smart Strike,” Farish continues. “And Curlin was another, just the same. It's amazing how everyone forgets now that Curlin went through a tough stretch before he came flying out. In the meantime, unfortunately, he had found a new home. But yes, he went through that same kind of patch. So we're still very optimistic that Honor Code can still go on the same kind of course.”

Having launched a series of new stallions over recent seasons, the farm routinely faces challenging decisions on the distribution of support among the broodmare band. But knowing that Honor Code was hardly likely to produce a bunch of Keeneland sprint maiden winners, he was maintained at full subscription (at least by the wisely temperate standards of this farm) through his first four years at stud. This third group of juveniles, then, represents a book of 154. And, in scanning the horizon for reinforcements, the Lane's End team can already make out the silhouettes of the cavalry.

The retention of several Honor Code yearlings for their racing division reflected a concern that they might be undervalued in a market so shaken by the pandemic. And Shug McGaughey, whose Hall of Fame career includes supervision of Honor Code's own track career, has encouraged them that this strategy will pay off.

“We've got an exciting group of 2-year-olds,” Farish says with enthusiasm. “There's a colt named Informal who's out of the Epsom Oaks winner Casual Look (Red Ransom). He should run in the first grass race up at Saratoga: obviously that makes sense with that female family. Another one who's quite close is Irish Sea, who's out of [multiple graded stakes winner] Irish Jasper (First Defence). I only mention those because they're just a couple of weeks off running, but we have three others that we're very high on. So we'll see.”

Farish acknowledges that some stallions won't make the grade even when, by all the consensus that governs breeding selection, it seems like they just can't miss. But the immediate advent of Honor A.P. really did appear to corroborate the sense of destiny vested in Honor Code, one of 36 named foals in the final crop of A.P. Indy–the breed-shaping farm icon, who finally passed on last year at the venerable age of 31.

Honor Code's maternal family, moreover, complements the aristocratic genes of A.P. Indy: his dam Serena's Cat (Storm Cat) made $1.4 million as a weanling grand-daughter of elite runner and producer Serena's Song (Rahy). And besides extending the Bold Ruler sire-line, Honor Code combines two mares that helped to make Bold Ruler's greatest son Secretariat such an important broodmare sire: A.P. Indy's dam Weekend Surprise, and damsire Storm Cat's mother Terlingua.

A Saratoga debut winner who missed a Grade I by a neck on his second juvenile start, Honor Code was sidelined from the Triple Crown trail by injury but matured into a tremendously charismatic dasher, pouncing from way off the pace in races like the GI Met Mile and, most memorably, the GI Whitney S.

That epic race, where Honor Code nailed Liam's Map on the line, had an intriguing sequel when the first three (Tonalist having also finished well for third) all ended up at Lane's End. And, since renewing their rivalry, they have been somewhat reprising their Whitney performances.

Liam's Map made a similarly explosive start to his stud career, with two Grade I winners among his opening salvo of juveniles immediately elevating his fee from $20,000 to $35,000. Tonalist, in contrast, was away relatively slowly and duly absorbed a series of fee cuts, standing this year at just $12,500. But he has been quietly working his way forwards through this competitive intake (headed by American Pharoah and Constitution): his black-type winners and performers now tally seven and 17, against nine and 16 for Liam's Map, and he recently registered a breakout Grade I success through Country Grammer. Indeed, Tonalist's diligent progress (currently fifth in the third-crop table) makes him look exceptional value–and he could yet become another slow-burning success along the lines of those cited by Farish.

That must also be the hope for Honor Code. This is a notoriously ruthless business and every farm, at some point, must decide when to yield to the prejudices even of a market as foolishly capricious as this one. But Farish is keeping the faith, albeit he acknowledges both that Honor Code needs to retrieve commercial attention and also that he faces an additional challenge in the rivalry of his own son Honor A.P.–introduced as a freshman this spring at a bargain $15,000.

It's a situation that presents difficulties to father and son alike, but they also share a glossy physical allure, showcased in their racing days by the earnest head carriage and raking stride trademarked by A.P. Indy himself.

“People are always a little hesitant to breed to a stallion whose own sire is still young, and hasn't proven himself as a sire of sires,” Farish accepts. “But people that come out and look at them generally end up breeding to them, because they're both very flashy, eye-catching types.”

So while Honor Code's book this time round was evidently down somewhat, from 138 mares in his fourth book and 85 mares in his fifth, he remains absolutely entitled to consideration–not least, in view of that seamless pedigree, by breeders disposed to retain a filly. Perhaps there isn't sufficient commercial oxygen in the modern market for all three of those Whitney protagonists to find a sustainable niche in the Bluegrass. But it's far from clear that the current balance of power, between them, will prove a lasting one. Remember that even their oldest stock has not yet arrived at the point in their careers that they themselves reached that day.

“Tonalist had a decent sort of book this year,” Farish reflects. “I think he's really in the fight, too, along with Honor Code. His race record was phenomenal. People forget that he won the [GIII] Westchester and the [GI] Cigar, and was really a good miler as much as anything. They're not all going to make the grade but they each have the chance to ride it out and come out the other side.

“But yes, while things like Max Player's win are great, you need more than that; you've got to have some new horses, some 2-year-olds coming along. And we're more than hopeful that we do. Sometimes you just need quite a bit of patience. It's interesting how we seem to have more stallions that need a bit of time, where other farms tend to have a bunch of hot 2-year-olds and then it all goes quiet. Ours seem to go a different route. But so long as they show up at some point, I guess it doesn't matter. And there are so many things to like about Honor Code that it's hard to imagine he's not going to come on through.”

The post Max Shows Honor Still Cracking the Code appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Lemon Drop Kid is responsible for siring 98 black-type winners and 46 graded winners worldwide to date, including Grade I winners Beach Patrol, Cannock Chase, Citronnade, Christmas Kid, Lemons Forever, Romantic Vision, Richard’s Kid, Santa Teresita and Somali Lemonade.

He is currently ranked 11th on the cumulative list of leading active sires in North America, with total combined progeny earnings of more than $97 million.

Lemon Drop Kid is also quickly establishing himself as a proven source of Grade I/Group 1 talent as a broodmare sire (67 stakes winners/23 graded winners worldwide) including Bar of Gold, Digital Age, Divisidero, Elusive Kate, Finest City, Forever Unbridled, Tamarkuz, Unbridled Forever, Without Parole, et al.

“Lemon Drop Kid has been a Lane’s End stalwart for 20 years,” said Lane’s End’s Bill Farish. “We are very fortunate to be associated with a horse like him. We want to thank the syndicate members and breeders who have supported him for the past two decades. His legacy will live on through his sons and daughters across the globe.”

A son of champion Kingmambo, Lemon Drop Kid is out of the Seattle Slew mare Charming Lassie, who is a three-quarter sister to the legendary A.P. Indy. Lemon Drop Kid is a half-sibling to graded winners Brulay and Statue of Liberty, and hails from the family of Grade I winners Gay Mecene, Wolfhound, Summer Squall, Duke of Marmalade (Ire), Ruler of the World (Ire), and Court Vision.

He won five Grade I races, including the GI Belmont S., GI Travers S. and GI Whitney H.

Bred in Kentucky by W. S. Farish & W. S. Kilroy, Lemon Drop Kid raced in the colors of Jeanne G Vance. The $200,000 KEESEP yearling was trained by Flint S Schulhofer.

The post Lane’s End Stalwart Lemon Drop Kid Pensioned appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post