retirements | Horse Racing Free Tips

Graded Stakes Winner Blended Citizen Retired From Racing; Stud Plans Pending

Sayjay Racing LLC, Greg Hall, and Brooke Hubbard's multiple graded stakes winner Blended Citizen has been retired from racing.

Bred by Ray Hanson, Blended Citizen is by Gone West's most underrated son, two-time Kentucky Oaks sire Proud Citizen, out of the multiple stakes-winning Langfuhr mare Langara Lass. This makes him a half-brother to stakes-winning millionaire Lookin At Lee, runner-up in the 2017 Kentucky Derby.

Blended Citizen was a classic contender himself after graded wins in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks over Turfway Park's all-weather surface and a score in the G3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park. He proved to be one of the most durable, well-traveled and versatile members of his generation. He raced at 10 tracks and remained a graded performer this year at age five, ultimately being awarded the Jan. 18 G3 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds via disqualification.

Blended Citizen's first win came in November of his juvenile season over the Del Mar turf course where he defeated future Grade 1 winner River Boyne in a maiden special weight. He was purchased eight months earlier at the OBS March 2-Year-Old in Training sale after a sparkling work, commanding the highest price for a juvenile by his sire in 2017.

The Gone West sire-line is responsible for some of the most important stallions in North America; namely Speightstown and Quality Road. Blended Citizen is bred on the prolific Gone West/Langfuhr cross similar to leading Pennsylvania sire Uptowncharlybrown.

A stud deal is pending for Blended Citizen. He's cataloged as a stallion prospect in the upcoming Keeneland November auction with South Point Sales.

The post Graded Stakes Winner Blended Citizen Retired From Racing; Stud Plans Pending appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Multiple Graded Winner Yorkton Retired To Crestwood Farm

Yorkton, a multiple graded stakes winner by top-class sire Speightstown, will enter stud at Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm in 2021. He will stand his first year at stud for $5,000 LF, and breeders will be offered a $1-million breeders' incentive program.

Bred and raced by Chiefswood Stables, Limited, Robert Krembil said, “Yorkton comes from an elite family of Grade 1 winners, champions and sires. Yorkton showed superior athleticism and brilliant speed during his racing career, winning at distances from [six furlongs] to a mile. Chiefswood Stables is committing a significant number of our well-bred broodmares to Yorkton and look forward to giving him every chance to succeed.”

“We are very excited to add Yorkton to our stallion roster” said Marc McLean. “In addition to being an impressive racehorse from a top female family, Yorkton is an outstanding and correct physical with great muscling and size. We are also excited to offer a quality son of Speightstown, who continues to prove himself as a respected sire of sires. Chiefswood Stables is a top quality organization and they are deeply committed to maximizing Yorkton's opportunities to succeed in the breeding shed and on the racetrack.”

Yorkton's trainer, Stuart Simon remarked, “Yorkton was a classy and versatile horse to train. He possessed brilliant speed which carried him to graded stakes wins and placings on three different surfaces.”

Yorkton displayed precocity, front running speed, durability and class. He broke his maiden at two, and won stakes races at three, four, and five. Yorkton's career included stakes victories from 6 1/2 furlongs and up to a mile, with a career top Beyer Speed Figure of 103. Yorkton won or placed in 10 stakes races, with earnings of $546,332.

The post Multiple Graded Winner Yorkton Retired To Crestwood Farm appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

American Anthem To Enter Stud at Sierra Blanca Equine In New Mexico For 2021

Reliance Ranches, LLC of Guthrie, Okla., announces the purchase of American Anthem, by Arkansas Derby winner and classic-placed sire Bodemeister.

American Anthem, a multiple graded stakes winner began his career by winning his first start at two and following up with a successful 3-year-old season posting back-to-back graded victories in the Grade 3 Lazaro Barrera Stakes at Santa Anita and the G2 Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont. He followed his graded wins with third-place finishes in the G1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Saratoga and the G1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

As a 4-year-old, he won the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes and raced into his 6-year-old year, finishing third in the G1 Runhappy Carter Stakes in 2020. American Anthem finished on the board in 16 of 21 starts and earned a total of $848,490.00.

Bred in Kentucky by Winstar Farm, American Anthem won his stakes races wearing the silks of China Horse Club and Winstar Farm, et al.

The sale of American Anthem for stud duty was brokered by Patrick Morell of Morell Bloodstock, LLC.
He will stand at Sierra Blanca Equine in Alamogordo, N.M.

Contact Kim Saunders at Sierra Blanca for stud fee pricing.

The post American Anthem To Enter Stud at Sierra Blanca Equine In New Mexico For 2021 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Grade 1 Winner Bellafina Out Of Breeders’ Cup, To Be Bred To Uncle Mo In 2021

Multiple Grade 1 winner Bellafina was scheduled to have a farewell start in the upcoming Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland, but trainer Simon Callaghan told the Daily Racing Form that it would not come to be, owing to a “minor issue.”

The 4-year-old daughter of Quality Road will instead prepare for her first mating in 2021 with champion Uncle Mo, a resident of Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., who has rapidly become one of North America's top commercial sires.

Owned by Kaleem Shah and the Coolmore partnership, Bellafina has won seven of 18 career starts for earnings of $1,617,975. She was one of the top juvenile fillies of 2018, notching victories in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes and G1 Chandelier Stakes, as well as the G2 Sorrento Stakes.

Bellafina then won her first three starts as a 3-year-old, taking the G2 Santa Ynez Stakes, G2 Las Virgenes Stakes, and G1 Santa Anita Oaks. Later that year, she finished second in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

The filly's 4-year-old campaign included a victory in the G3 Desert Stormer Stakes, and runner-up efforts in the G1 Ballerina Stakes and G2 Great Lady M Stakes.

Uncle Mo, a 12-year-old son of Indian Charlie, stands at Coolmore's Ashford Stud for an advertised fee of $175,000.

His initial crop of runners helped him set the record for progeny earnings by a freshman sire in 2015, led by Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and champion Nyquist. The same horse won the following year's Kentucky Derby. Since then, Uncle Mo has established himself as one of the breed's most reliable sources for high-level runners and high-dollar auction horses.

The standout SoCal filly Bellafina won't run in the @BreedersCup Filly-Mare Sprint and has been retired, per @simon_callaghan. “Minor issue” precluded her from one final start. G1-winning earner of $1.6M goes to Uncle Mo early next year.

— Marty McGee (@DRFMcGee) October 28, 2020

The post Grade 1 Winner Bellafina Out Of Breeders’ Cup, To Be Bred To Uncle Mo In 2021 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post