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Tapit Son Heartwood To Stand First Season At California’s Rancho San Miguel

Heartwood, a multiple graded stakes-placed multiple stakes winner by leading sire Tapit, will initiate his stallion career at Rancho San Miguel in California at the conclusion of his racing career in early 2021. The $486,891-earner will stand for a fee of $2,500, live foal guarantee.

The 6-year-old horse, who races for the partnership of Stuart Tsujimoto and David Bernsen, has won or placed in six black-type races at six different racetracks to date, and is scheduled to make two final starts in graded stakes company at Santa Anita Park in January before retiring to stallion duties.

Bred in Kentucky by Blue Heaven Farm, Heartwood sold for $500,000 as the highest-priced weanling at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale, and went on to win three stakes races from the ages of 3 to 5: the $200,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes at Mahoning Valley Race Course in 2017, the $75,000 Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial Stakes at Mountaineer in 2018 and the $100,000 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park in 2019. The well-traveled sprint specialist also placed in three stakes races in 2018: Aqueduct's $206,100 Fall Highweight Handicap (G3), Gulfstream Park's $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) and the $101,800 Bet on Sunshine Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Heartwood is the first foal out of Forestry's Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Maple Forest, a daughter of the Grade 2-placed stakes winner Maple Syrple and half-sister to French Group 3 winner Golden Century who has also produced the multiple stakes-placed winner Luzmimi Princess. His ninth dam is 1946 Broodmare of the Year Bloodroot.

“We are excited to offer West Coast breeders a stallion prospect of this magnitude by North America's most successful sire of the modern era,” said Rancho San Miguel Owner / Manager Tom Clark. “Not only does Heartwood hold distinction as Tapit's only dirt stakes winner available in California, he boasts the same broodmare sire as North America's Leading Freshman Sire of 2020, Nyquist.”

“As a direct male descendant of the breed-shaping stallion A.P. Indy, he also complements our existing stallion roster, which includes sires from the Mr. Prospector, Relaunch and Storm Cat lines.”

In addition to newcomer Heartwood, Rancho San Miguel stands the Grade 1-siring shuttle stallion Sir Prancealot (Ire), 2020 California Leading Second-Crop Sire Curlin to Mischief, multiple Grade 2 winner Danzing Candy, graded stakes winner Northern Causeway, two-time Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) winner Richard's Kid, Grade 1-placed multiple stakes winner Slew's Tiznow and Grade 1 winner Tom's Tribute. Inspections of all stallions are available by appointment.

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Instilled Regard Retired to Taylor Made

Grade I winner Instilled Regard (Arch–Enhancing, by Forestry) has been retired from racing and will take up stud duties at Taylor Made. The 5-year-old will stand for a fee of $12,500 S&N for the 2021 season.

Bred by KatieRich Farms, Instilled Regard RNA’d for $110,000 at Keeneland September, but brought $1.05 million from Larry Best’s OXO Equine at the OBS March Sale. Turned over to Jerry Hollendorfer, he began his career on dirt, finishing second in the 2017 GI Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity S. and captured the 2018 GIII Lecomte S. Fourth in the GII Risen Star S. that term, the dark bay filled the same spot behind eventual Triple Crown hero Justify (Scat Daddy) in both the GI Santa Anita Derby and GI Kentucky Derby.

Transferred to Chad Brown, Instilled Regard was off the board in the GI Pennsylvania Derby, after which he was switched to turf, finishing third in the GI Hollywood Derby. Winless in his first three starts of 2019, he finished off the season with a victory in the GII Fort Lauderdale S. Third in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. in January, the OXO Equine colorbearer was off the board in the GII Mervin Muniz Memorial S. Mar. 21, but closed out his career with victories in the June 6 GII Fort Marcy S. and July 4 GI Manhattan S. Instilled Regard retires with a record of 18-5-3-4 and earnings of $983,240.

The post Instilled Regard Retired to Taylor Made appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Sad Circumstance Allows Researchers To Study How Feral Horses Perceive Death

Researchers in Portugal who witnessed the decline and death of a foal in a feral herd were given a unique opportunity to see how wild horses reacted to the situation. Drs. Renata Mendonça, Monamie Ringhofer, Pandora Pinto, Sota Inoue and Satoshi Hirata watched the foal, who had been injured in a presumed wolf attack, for six hours; they noted his behavior as well as that of his dam and other herd members in the vicinity. Every two minutes, they recorded things like the distance between the horses and the injured foal; every five minutes they recorded horses moving, resting, eating and interacting with others.

The herd walked during the first several hours and the foal moved when prompted by his dam. He eventually went down and could not rise. His dam stayed near him and nuzzled him occasionally. After 15 minutes, the herd left the mare and foal behind. The stallion returned and attempted to move the mare from the foal, and succeeded on the seventh try. The dam whinnied to the foal 10 times and the foal responded once.

A second group of horses arrived and stood within 20 yards of the foal for 40 minutes. Though all members of the group were interested in the foal, two mares remained interested after the others had left to graze. These mares licked and sniffed the foal for several minutes, while the foal's dam watched from a distance.

During this interaction, the dam whinnied for the foal 44 times, but the stallion prevented her from returning to her foal. The foal responded only once after the other mares had left.

The dam returned to the foal once and fought with bachelor stallions who were interested in her. She left the foal to join the herd that was about 200 yards away. The foal stood and called for her one time after she left, then fell and died within an hour.

The research team notes that the mare moving away even though her foal was alive makes sense from an evolutionary context; it ensured her own survival, which allows her to reproduce again and benefit the species. The scientists were surprised by the reaction of the other two mares toward the foal. Traditionally, horses are antagonistic toward foals that are note their own; that the two mares were not could mean that they perceived something different about the foal.

Though there is still much to learn about how horses perceive death, the research team advises that owners and managers take equine emotions and reactions into account when dealing with the death of a domesticated herd mate.

2,000 Guineas Winner Kameko Will Retire To Tweenhills After Breeders’ Cup Run

QIPCO 2,000 Guineas winner Kameko will be retired to stand at Tweenhills, home of the Qatar Racing stallions, at the end of his 3-year-old campaign in 2020.

Kameko was the fastest ever winner of the 2,000 Guineas and Qatar Racing's third European Gr.1 Classic winner after Simple Verse and Just The Judge. He was also an impressive winner of the Gr.1 Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes at two and successfully gave weight to world-class older horses in the Gr.2 Joel Stakes.

The son of Kitten's Joy – the same sire as Qatar Racing's late world champion Roaring Lion – joins Zoustar, Champion First-, Second- and Third-Season Sire in Australia, Gr.1-winning sire Havana Gold and champion older miler Lightning Spear at Tweenhills for the 2021 breeding season.

Looking back on Kameko's success, Sheikh Fahad Al-Thani, Chairman of Qatar Racing, said: “My brothers and I are delighted to own another superstar in Kameko, whose record-breaking two- and three-year-old campaigns will live long in our memory. We cannot wait to unveil him to breeders.”

Trainer Andrew Balding added: “Kameko is without doubt the best horse I've trained. He has all the attributes of a top-class miler and is a striking horse to look at. I feel very honored to have had the opportunity to train a horse of such class.”

Kameko was a first British Classic winner for jockey Oisin Murphy, who said: “I felt from the very beginning that this could be a special horse. He's the perfect model – he has size, durability and a great character. To ride, he has super balance, a great turn of foot and a good mind – you can put him anywhere in a race. He's a machine.”

Kameko will run at the Breeders' Cup and on his return will be paraded for breeders, along with other Tweenhills stallions, at Longholes Stud in Newmarket during the Tattersalls December Mare Sale. His 2021 stud fee and syndication plans will be announced in due course.

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