Their New Kentucky Homes: When Veteran Stallions Move To The Bluegrass State

Sooner or later, just about every important North American stallion ends up in Kentucky. Some just take longer to get there than others.

For some, moving to a Kentucky farm from a regional or international market is akin to a minor league prospect being called up to the majors after proving he can improve the mares in his state to produce important national runners. For others, the relocation is more transactional, with stallions moving to and from different outposts residing under the same umbrella.

Names as influential as Mr. Prospector, Fappiano, and Saint Ballado got their starts in Florida, while City Zip entered stud in New York before moving to Lane's End in Kentucky, and Malibu Moon saw his first breakthrough as a Maryland resident.

Today's stallion landscape is dotted with plenty of horses who earned their places on Kentucky rosters by proving themselves elsewhere.

Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa has a couple transplants in Kantharos, who stood his first six seasons in Florida; and Stormy Atlantic, who started his career at Florida's Bridlewood Farm. WinStar Farm has Congrats, who moved to the Bluegrass State after his first Florida-sired 2-year-olds hit the track. Buck Pond Farm brought young New York stallion V. E. Day south in 2018, while Taylor Made Stallions brought Daddy Long Legs north from Chile in 2019 after he was named that country's leading juvenile sire.

This year's class of notable incoming transfer sires is an eclectic one, both in terms of background and the reason why they were brought to the state, but the goal remains unflinching: Take advantage of Kentucky's unparalleled broodmare reserves to further improve their stock at stud.

The highest-profile transfer for 2021 is Laoban, a son of Uncle Mo who began his career at Sequel New York, and had three juveniles from his first crop enter Breeders' Cup races, including Grade 1 winner Simply Ravishing. He was moved to WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., for the 2021 breeding season, where he will stand for an advertised fee of $25,000.

“It's a new venture,” said WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden. We're extremely excited about Laoban, and feel like the kind of success he's had out of the mare quality in New York, and what you'd typically get in a regional market, would bode well for his future here in Kentucky. I know the mares that we've got marked for him so far…speaking with Becky Thomas (of Sequel New York), she said they were all better than anything he's ever bred in his career. He's going to get a big move up in mares, and it's going to hopefully be a real positive for him.”

Though Laoban is the first transfer stallion WinStar has picked up in recent memory (Congrats spent time at Vinery's Kentucky base before moving to WinStar), Walden said his team makes an annual scan of the regional stallion markets to see if anyone's stock is rising too quickly to deny.

“It's not something new,” he said. “You're always looking for the next stallion that moves up his mares, and Laoban has done that.”

Ashford Stud reached out even further to add a new member to its roster for 2021, moving Group 1 winner Caravaggio from its Irish base. He will stand for $25,000.

“He was raised here at Ashford Stud, and he was such an exceptional horse,” said Ashford's Charlie O'Connor. “Being by Scat Daddy out of an American mare (Mekko Hokte, by Holy Bull), we just thought it would be a good move to bring him back and give the American breeders a chance to breed to him. So far, he's been very well-received.”

This is a familiar move for the Coolmore operation, which also started Giant's Causeway and Declaration of War in Ireland before moving them stateside. Caravaggio stood his first two seasons in Ireland, putting him in the unique position of having yearlings to show potential breeders in his new locale, but no racetrack results.

O'Connor said Caravaggio's case was advanced by a strong performance at this year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The stallion had seven yearlings go through the ring at the sale for an average price of $212,833, led by a $400,000 filly.

“They showcased themselves at the September sales,” O'Connor said. “There was a number of them on the grounds, so a number of American breeders saw them, and liked what they saw. Wesley Ward was one in particular who bought one.”

Also moving to Kentucky in 2021 is leading Washington sire Atta Boy Roy, who will stand at War Horse Place in Lexington for a fee of $7,500. The 15-year-old Tribunal horse sent Bodenheimer to this year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and he's seen national success with the well-traveled Mr. Jagermeister.

Both horses are trained by Valorie Lund, who also conditioned Grade 2 winner Atta Boy Roy during his own on-track career. Lund recently purchased her former star runner with her sister, prompting the move.

In the past, War Horse Place brought in Kitalpha, a full-brother to Kingmambo, after standing his first six seasons in Zimbabwe, where he became the country's perennial leading sire.

War Horse Place's Dana Aschinger said comparing a stallion with runners in Zimbabwe and South Africa might seem like apples to oranges when stacked against American runners, but talent and speed are universal.

“When Kitalpha had the first four finishers in [the G3 Zimbabwe Guineas], my husband (the late Gerry Aschinger) always said 'There's still 60 seconds in a minute,'” Dana Aschinger said. “They're running the same times there that they are here.”

Kitalpha sired multiple graded stakes winner Martini Glass after moving stateside. He died of cancer at age 13.

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Leading New York Freshman Sire Laoban Relocating To WinStar Farm

Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes winner Laoban, a son of champion and perennial leading sire Uncle Mo, is relocating from Sequel Stallions in New York to WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky.

A limited number of seasons will be offered at $25,000 S&N until the Breeders' Cup. The fee is subject to change pending results as Laoban has contenders in the $2-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, the $2-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and the $1-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

The leading New York freshman sire with debut winners sprinting and routing on dirt and turf, Laoban is represented by the undefeated Simply Ravishing, a dominating 6 1/4-length winner of the G1 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland where she ran an 89 Beyer, the fastest 2-year-old Beyer of Keeneland's fall meet. Prior to that eye-catching score, she strolled home a 6 1/2-length winner of the P.G. Johnson Stakes at seven furlongs on the dirt at Saratoga, which followed a maiden-breaking win at 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Saratoga in her career debut for trainer Ken McPeek.

Additional top performers include graded stakes-placed runners Keepmeinmind, second in Keeneland's G1 Breeders' Futurity and Ava's Grace, third in the G2 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga.

“My phone lit up before the filly crossed the wire at Keeneland,” said Becky Thomas of Sequel Stallions. “In the following days, we were overwhelmed with calls from all of the very top stallion farms in Kentucky.

“Laoban is stamping his foals and proving to be a cookie-cutter of the Uncle Mo style of stretch and athleticism,” Thomas continued. “Since receiving the foals from New York, they certainly looked the part, but once we started training them at Winding Oaks, I knew that he was going to be something special. Talking with other horsemen in Ocala who were training his first crop of 2-year-olds and seeing them perform consistently, he was the buzz horse all season. Then, for him to become the first New York stallion to sire a Grade 1 winner in his first crop is absolutely incredible. It is truly a humbling experience to be a part of what is becoming such an important young stallion. WinStar is a great fit for him and he is sure to get a wide variety of nice mares coming from all their partnerships and support. We couldn't be more excited about his future.”

In winning the 2016 Jim Dandy in wire-to-wire fashion over a top-class field, Laoban defeated Belmont Stakes and G1 Arkansas Derby winner Creator and multiple graded stakes winners Mohyamen and Destin. The handsome dark bay did not need to take his track with him, making nine starts at eight different tracks in 10 months, banking $526,250. In addition to his impressive Jim Dandy victory, Laoban was runner-up in the G3 Gotham Stakes and placed in the G3 Sham Stakes.

A complete outcross in his first four generations, Laoban, a $260,000 Keeneland September sale yearling bred in Kentucky by Respite Farm, is produced from Chattertown, a stakes-placed daughter of leading sire Speightstown and a three-quarter sister to multiple Grade 1 winner and multi-millionaire I'm a Chatterbox.

“I have tremendous respect for Becky and her Sequel operation,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. “We are excited to partner with her and the original shareholders and we are appreciative of the efforts of Siena, Taylor Made, and Breeze Easy in bringing Laoban to Kentucky. Laoban is a beautiful son of Uncle Mo who might have three horses in the Breeders' Cup and we believe Uncle Mo is an important sire line for the next generation. Having Laoban join third-leading freshman sire Outwork on our roster gives us two of his exciting three sons with 2-year-olds this year.”

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Sequel New York Carries Banner For Home Team At Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase

The cancellation of the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale due to COVID-19 made the state's commercial breeders more nomadic than usual for the 2020 yearling sale season, with Fasig-Tipton offering sections focused on New York-breds in several of its upcoming sales to make up for the lost venue.

The first stop on that tour was Wednesday's opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase Sale, which had yearlings bred in the Empire State lead off the proceedings. Looking down the list of offerings, though, the sire ranks represented in the New York portion were almost entirely Kentucky-based.

The biggest exception to that trend came from the stallion roster of Sequel New York, which accounted for every spot among the top five most expensive New York-sired offerings during the New York-bred portion of the Yearling Showcase.

Becky Thomas of Sequel New York described it as a tough marketplace for the handful of horses that were both bred and sired in New York, owing to a variety of factors that were largely out of anyone's control, but became a daunting condition under which to sell horses when stacked on top of each other.

Thomas said the change in venue, well away from New York, affected the types of buyers that were available for horses with full-blooded New York backgrounds, with most instead leaning on the names they recognized more readily. The positioning of the state-bred session on the front end of a marathon few weeks of yearling sales – especially surrounded by national-level offerings on the sales grounds – might have made it harder to stand out, versus how the same offerings might have fared selling in Saratoga Springs with their own kind.

“We're in COVID territory, and unfortunately there's a lot of uncertainty, so the New York-bred, New York-sired horses suffered dramatically,” Thomas said. “New York is under a strong quarantine situation, so we have a fraction of the trainers that are here from New York that would be going to Saratoga to buy these. It was pretty brutal for those sires…It's no one's fault, we were just a victim of circumstances.”

There was a two-way tie amongst the New York-sired offerings for the highest sale price, each bringing $75,000.

Consistent with his position as a perennial leader on the New York sire list, Freud was responsible for one-half of the top duo when Calumet Farm bought Hip 141, a colt named Elusive Freud, for $75,000.

The dark bay or brown colt is out of the winning Elusive Quality mare Follow My Luck, whose first foal to race is a winner by Cross Traffic. Follow My Luck was purchased by breeder Allen Hallett for $24,000 at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale, with Grade 1-winning third dam Strategic Maneuver being the pivot point for runners including Grade/Group 3 winners Ishiguru, Jennifer Lynnette, and Shumoos.

Elusive Freud also has a healthy bit of local flavor on his page in Good Luck Gus, a four-time stakes winner against New York-bred stakes competition.

Vinery Sales consigned Elusive Freud as agent for Hallett.

Freud, a 22-year-old son of Storm Cat, stood the 2020 breeding season for an advertised fee of $6,500.

Completing the exacta was Hip 12, a colt from the second crop of Laoban who sold to Northshore Bloodstock, agent.

The second foal out of the winning Street Cry mare Lapinski is notable for his third dam, the 2006 Broodmare of the Year Cara Rafaela – the dam of champion Bernardini and Grade 1-placed Ile de France. The colt was bred by Milfer Farm Inc., and consigned by Bluewater Sales, agent.

Laoban, New York's leading freshman sire, also sent through Hip 98, a colt out of the unraced Bodemeister mare Anna's Angel, who sold to Steven Young, agent, for $35,000. The dam is a half-sister to Grade 1 winners Spun Sugar and Daaher. Bluewater Sales also handled this colt at the sale.

A 7-year-old son of Uncle Mo, Laoban stood the past season for $5,000.

The Yearling Showcase also marked a coming out party for Union Jackson, who sends his first yearlings through the ring this season.

Leading the way for the 8-year-old son of Curlin was Hip 25, a dark bay or brown filly out of the winning Wildcat Heir mare Mochima who sold to Autrey Bloodstock for $37,000. Bred by Larry Botting, the colt hails from the family of Grade 3 winners Feline Story and Notacatbutallama. Gainesway consigned him, as agent.

Union Jackson was also represented by Hip 152, a colt out of the unraced War Pass mare Hey Wheresmydinner who hammered to Meah/Lloyd Bloodstock, agent for David McCarty, for $30,000.

The colt was bred in partnership by Sequel Stallions NY and Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, the two entities that stand Union Jackson. Sequel New York also consigned the colt on Wednesday.

“People really liked them, and got to appreciate them,” Thomas said about the Union Jackson yearlings. “I think people will go away with a good feeling with what they look like.”

The next opportunity for buyers to shop for New York-breds en masse will come a bit closer to home at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale on Oct. 5-6 in Timonium, Md. About three-quarters of the auction's opening session will be dedicated to New York-breds.

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Kentucky Derby Consignor Standings Presented By Keeneland: Final Countdown Sees Sequel New York, Taylor Made On Top

When a young horse goes through the ring at any auction, a few cents of every dollar in the hammer price is spent on the hope that the horse will one day end up in the Kentucky Derby. Before they can be bought, though, they have to be found.

At the end of a Derby trail that had a four-month detour, we have a final picture of which consignors had the most success producing horses who earned Derby qualifying points for this year's race, both in quantity and quality. Of the 18 horses with intentions to run as of Monday afternoon, 15 went through the ring at least once at public auction, and all but two of those earned points for their consignors in this year's Kentucky Derby Consignor Standings.

Tiz The Law has been the de facto leader of his division for much of the Derby prep season, and when he ascended to the top of the points standings, his consignor Sequel New York joined him. The son of Constitution was Sequel's only graduate to earn points on this year's Derby trail, but the postponement of the race from May to September left him and Sequel with an astronomical 372 points as the runners descend on Churchill Downs.

Tiz the Law's accumulation journey began at Churchill Downs, where he earned two points for a third-place effort in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. He then picked up 10 points when he won the G3 Holy Bull Stakes, and he cemented himself as a top contender following a 100-point triumph in the G1 Florida Derby. From there, Tiz the Law piled it on during his summer campaign, earning 150 points by winning the Belmont Stakes, and another 100 points in the G1 Travers Stakes.

Sequel was the top consignor by Derby points, both in the overall standings and among consignors of yearlings. The top point-getter among consignors specializing in 2-year-old sales was Randy Bradshaw, who had 150 points on the lone strength of Nadal.

A son of Blame, Nadal picked up 40 points in the G2 Rebel Stakes, then earned 100 points by winning the second division of the G1 Arkansas Derby.

Nadal was an incredibly successful pinhook for Bradshaw, who bought him for $65,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, then sold him for $700,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

Taylor Made Sales Agency led all consignors on this year's Kentucky Derby trail by the number of horses that earned qualifying points, with nine.

The group was led by Shotski, a Blame colt who picked up 19 points with a win in the G2 Remsen Stakes, a second in the G3 Withers Stakes, and a fourth in the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. The Taylor Made Grade 1 graduate board added another name last fall when Eight Rings, by Empire Maker, won the G1 American Pharoah Stakes and earned 10 points. Texas Swing, a son of Curlin, also earned 10 points with a third in the G2 Tampa Bay Derby.

Other Taylor Made graduates to pick up points on the Derby trail include Three Technique (Mr Speaker, 9 points); Scabbard (More Than Ready, 9 points); Arkaan (Into Mischief, 4 points); Cosmo (Distorted Humor, 4 points); Earner (Carpe Diem, 2 points); and Super John (Super Saver, 2 points).

Taylor Made will also send graduate Mr. Big News, a son of Giant's Causeway, into the Derby starting gate without any qualifying points.

A pair of juvenile consignors tied for the most point-earners, each with three.

Top Line Sales graduates picked up a combined 131 points on the Derby trail, led by Ny Traffic, a son of Cross Traffic who earned 110 points with runner-up efforts in the G1 Haskell Stakes, G2 Louisiana Derby, and G3 Matt Winn Stakes, along with a third in the G2 Risen Star Stakes.

The Top Line consignment also featured Candy Tycoon, an earner of 20 points by Twirling Candy, and Gozilla, by Flatter, who earned one point.

Wavertree Stables also saw three graduates earn points, including Country Grammer, a first-crop Tonalist colt who got 50 points for winning the G3 Peter Pan Stakes.

Independence Hall, also from a first-crop sire in Constitution, picked up 14 points with a win in the listed Jerome Stakes and a runner-up effort in the G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes. Rounding out the trio of first-crop point-earners was Wrecking Crew, who picked up five points with a third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and a fourth in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity.

Though the horse enters the first Saturday in September with no qualifying points, Wavertree Stables' graduates on this year's trail also include Money Moves, a son of Candy Ride who is a likely Derby starter.

As the field of potential Derby starters stands through Monday afternoon, Lane's End is the only consignor with multiple graduates scheduled to enter the starting gate.

Max Player, a first-crop son of Honor Code, has 60 points after winning the G3 Withers Stakes and finishing third in the Belmont Stakes and G1 Travers Stakes. Sole Volante, also a first-cropper by Karakontie, picked up 30 points with a victory in the G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes and a runner-up effort in the G2 Tampa Bay Derby.

Lane's End finished with the second-most point-earners on this year's Derby trail, with five.

The group was topped by Wells Bayou, a Lookin at Lucky colt with 104 points from winning the G2 Louisiana Derby and running second in the G3 Southwest Stakes. Arkaan, by Into Mischief, who earned four points with a third in the listed Pegasus Stakes. Express Train, by Union Rags, earned one point for running fourth in the American Pharoah Stakes.

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