Big Blue Kitten’s First Winner At Stud Comes At Churchill Downs

Grade 1 winner Big Blue Kitten was represented by his first winner at stud on Oct. 25, when Miss Adeline prevailed by a neck in a turf maiden special weight at Churchill Downs.

Miss Adeline was set up three-wide in the front pack early by jockey Edgar Morales, then moved up to challenge for the lead and held off the charge to prevail by a neck, stopping the clock in 1:48.42 in the 1 1/16-mile race over good turf. Adolfo Macias trains Miss Adeline for owner William Pribble.

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, Miss Adeline is out of the winning A.P. Indy mare Vuemont, who is herself a full-sister to two-time Canadian champion Marchfield and a half-sister to stakes winner Congor Bay.

Big Blue Kitten, a 12-year-old son of Kitten's Joy, stands at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky., for an advertised fee of $10,000.

He won 14 of 33 starts during his on-track career for earnings of $2,983,350, highlighted by victories in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational Stakes, G1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes, and two runnings of the G1 United Nations Stakes, along with triumphs in the G2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes, and G3 Fort Marcy Stakes. He earned the Eclipse Award as champion turf male of 2015.

Big Blue Kitten is out of the placed Unaccounted For mare Spent Gold, putting him in the family of champion Stevie Wonderboy, Grade 2 winner Fair Judgement, Grade 3 winner Mystical Mood, and Peruvian champion Juliana.

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Gunnevera To Enter Stud At Florida’s Pleasant Acres Stallions For 2021

Pleasant Acres Stallions is excited to announce that multiple graded stakes winner and multimillionaire Gunnevera will stand in Florida for the 2021 breeding season with a $6,000 fee.

Gunnevera retired with six wins from 21 starts, where he hit the board in a total of six Grade 1 events, with earnings of $5,561,800 and an average of $264,848 per start.

“Helen and I, and the entire team at Pleasant Acres Stallions, are thrilled to have Gunnevera begin his stallion career at our farm,” said Joe Barbazon, owner of Pleasant Acres Stallions. “He has had a very exciting career – earning more than $5.5 million dollars – while beating multiple Grade 1 horses like Always Dreaming ($2,415,860), West Coast ($5,803,800), Practical Joke ($1,795,800), and Classic Empire ($2,520,220) on the track – Some of which he beat more than once.

“In Florida, there are two stallions standing that Gunnevera defeated twice each,” he continued. “One is Girvin in the Travers Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, and the other is Seeking the Soul in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes and the Woodward Stakes.”

Gunnevera was victorious in three starts at two – including the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes and the $1-million G3 Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes. At three, he took the G2 Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes and then finished third in the G1 Florida Derby. In the same year, Gunnevera won Gulfstream's black type Tangelo Stakes and was runner-up in the G1 Travers Stakes, as well as the G2 Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes.

As a 4-year-old, Gunnevera placed second in the G1 Woodward Stakes and the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic, and third in the G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational. His last race was the G1 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline in 2019, where he placed third.

Gunnevera is by G1 Florida Derby and G3 Holy Bull Stakes Winner Dialed In. A leading forth-crop sire in 2019, Dialed In already has eight black type horses in 2020. Dialed In is by A.P. Indy's Horse of the Year Mineshaft, out of multiple stakes-producing dam, Miss Doolittle, by Storm Cat.

Gunnevera is out of Unbridled Rage, by Unbridled. Unbridled had 24 starts and was on the board 20 times with eight firsts, six seconds, and six thirds. With earnings of $4,489,474, Unbridled won the G1 Florida Derby, the G1 Kentucky Derby, and the G1 Breeders' Cup.

Gunnevera started life off as a bottle-fed orphan at 10 days old. The big chestnut colt went on to race, win, and place at the highest level and in some of the most prestigious races around the world. He was a precocious 2-year-old that won the G2 Saratoga Special Stakes one month after winning his maiden special weight. He then went on to win the G3 $1-million Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes just three months later.

Gunnevera joins stallions Amira's Prince, Bucchero, Handsome Mike, Long On Value, Neolithic, Ride On Curlin, Squadron A, Sweetontheladies, and Treasure Beach at the 220-acre farm located just northwest of Ocala. Pleasant Acres Stallions has received many accolades for excellence, including 2017 Florida Freshman Sire of the Year for Poseidon's Warrior, 2017 DRF Florida-bred Beyer Award, 2009 Florida Breeder of the Year, 2009 Florida Broodmare of the Year, Breeder of the 2009 Florida Horse of the Year, and was ranked third in the nation for leading breeders in 2009 by average earnings per starter with 10 or more starters.

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In The Stud Presented By Kentucky Equine Research: West Coast, First Crop Weanlings Of 2020

West Coast has a champion's resume on his pedigree page and on the racetrack, and his debut foals get closer by the day to proving the same to be true for him as a stallion.

In this week's episode of In The Stud, we speak with Bill Farish of Lane's End about the Eclipse Award-winning son of Flatter whose first foals are weanlings of 2020.

Out of the champion juvenile filly Caressing, West Coast became a champion in his own right during his 3-year-old campaign, notching victories in the G1 Travers Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby, the G2 Los Alamitos Derby, and the non-graded Easy Goer Stakes.

West Coast then squared off against the top older horses in the world, turning in-the-money efforts in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes, Dubai World Cup, and Awesome Again Stakes. He retired with earnings of $5,803,800.

The In The Stud video series, put together by our friends at EquiSport Photos, features up-and-coming names in the stallion ranks, with a focus on those whose first foals are weanlings of 2020. Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills interviews farm staff about the stallion's appealing qualities and what mares might work best with them, while giving viewers and potential breeders a chance to see the stallion on the walk and on the racetrack.

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Bucchero Breeds 291 Mares In 2019-20; Leads All Florida Sires

While Mendelssohn and Justify never faced Bucchero on the track, it was Bucchero that filled out the trifecta for most mares bred by second year sires in 2020 according to the Report of Mares Bred issued by the Jockey Club on Friday.

After breeding to 130 mares in his first season at stud, multiple graded stakes winner Bucchero followed up his first-year success by breeding to 161 mares in 2020. Second in Florida only to Khozan, his total topped standout second year sires such as Collected, Bolt d'Oro and City of Light. His 291 mares bred in 2019-20 made him the most-popular stallion in Florida over the past two years.

“Kantharos and Bucchero's direct family is as hot as any up-and-coming family in America” said the ownership group's managing partner Harlan Malter. “Between his sire Kantharos and Bucchero's three-quarters relative, multiple Grade 1 winner World of Trouble, this direct family bred to 421 mares in 2020. I think this really says a lot about how breeders feel about the explosive potential of this 'Freaky Fast Family.'”

Bucchero is the first son to stud by Kantharos, whose tremendous success as a Florida-based sire resulted in his being transferred to Kentucky to continue his career at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa. Kantharos's current 15 2-year-old winners from his first Kentucky-conceived crop is more than American Pharoah, Munnings and Tapit.

Bucchero enters his third year at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Florida in 2021, where he will continue to stand for $5,000.

“We were excited to bring the Kantharos bloodline back to Florida and once the breeders were able to see him in person, he really sells himself” commented Joe Barbazon, owner of Pleasant Acres. “Breeders realize that the Florida program and 2-year-old sales put a lot of emphasis on speed and precociousness, and they see that Bucchero checks these boxes. We have had the chance to see many of his first crop foals and breeders report back that he is really stamping them –  smart, correct and fast looking.”

A winner of 11 races, with earnings of $947,936, Bucchero won stakes going long and short, on dirt and turf, and was stakes placed on synthetic.

Bucchero won seven black-type races, including the $200,000 Grade 2 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland in both 2017 and 2018. He was stakes-placed seven times, including second in the $200,000 G2 Shakertown Stakes and third in the $150,000 G3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes.

Bucchero was the rare horse who was both precocious and durable. Debuting as a 2-year-old in stakes company, and finishing second by a half-length, he then broke his maiden at second asking running a Thorograph 4. Durable and sound, he raced 31 times at 13 different tracks, winning his second Woodford at the end of his 6-year-old campaign.

An “Early Bird” discount of $1,000 will be offered for bookings made before Jan. 1, 2021.

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