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First Foal Is A Colt For Grade 1 Winner Yoshida

WinStar Farm's Yoshida, a Grade 1 winner on dirt and turf, sired his first reported foal when a colt was born at WinStar on Saturday night, Jan. 9. Bred by Anastasie Astrid Christiansen-Croy, the bay colt, who arrived at 10:58 p.m., is out of the Monsun mare Gravata and hails from a family replete with black type.

“We're thrilled to welcome the first Yoshida foal here at WinStar Farm on behalf of our client Ms. Christiansen-Croy,” said Liam O'Rourke, WinStar's director of bloodstock services. “Yoshida has repatriated the Sunday Silence line to America and these foals represent the next generation of that world-class sire. Yoshida was an elite and versatile racehorse and will be strongly supported again in his second year at stud in 2021.”

A son of Heart's Cry, one of the leading sires in Japan by dual classic winner and influential sire Sunday Silence, Yoshida earned $2,505,770 in a sensational racing career for WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and Head of Plains Partners. Trained by Bill Mott, Yoshida was a versatile four-time stakes winner on dirt and turf. He competed on three different continents and recorded five triple-digit Beyers over both surfaces—108, 106, 105, 103, and 102.

Yoshida won the $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga in his first career start on dirt, defeating five Grade 1 winners. That same year at four in 2018, he defeated eight graded stakes winners, including three Grade 1 winners, in the $500,000 G1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs. He also won the 2017 G3 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont and was named a TDN Rising Star in a stylish maiden-breaking win at Keeneland in his 3-year-old bow.

Bred in Japan by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm, Yoshida is the second foal produced from Hilda's Passion, who captured the 2011 G1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga before selling for $1.2 million at that year's Fasig-Tipton November sale.

Yoshida bred 148 mares in his first book in 2020 and he will stand the upcoming breeding season for $15,000 S&N.

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Colt is First Reported Foal for Yoshida

Multiple Grade I winner Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}–Hilda’s Passion, by Canadian Frontier) was represented by his first reported foal when a colt out of Gravata (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) was born at WinStar Farm Saturday night. The foal was bred by Anastasie Astrid Christiansen-Croy.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the first Yoshida foal here at WinStar Farm on behalf of our client Ms. Christiansen-Croy,” said Liam O’Rourke, WinStar’s director of bloodstock services. “Yoshida has repatriated the Sunday Silence line to America and these foals represent the next generation of that world-class sire. Yoshida was an elite and versatile racehorse and will be strongly supported again in his second year at stud in 2021.”

Campaigned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club International and Head of Plains Partners and trained by Bill Mott, Yoshida won the 2018 GI Woodward S. and the GI Old Forester Turf Classic.

Yoshida bred 148 mares in his first book in 2020 at WinStar and he will stand the upcoming breeding season for $15,000 S&N.

The post Colt is First Reported Foal for Yoshida appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Leading North American Breeders For 2020: A Different Take

Last week, The Jockey Club released its list of leading North American Thoroughbred breeders for 2020, proclaiming Calumet Farm as the top breeder for the second year in a row.

Sure enough, the historic Lexington, Ky., farm owned since 2012 by reclusive billionaire Brad Kelley was atop the list of individual breeders with more than $9.7 million in 2020 North American earnings by horses it bred. If you take partnerships into account, Kenny Troutt's WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky. – second behind Calumet on the individual list – was the North American leader with $11.7 million in earnings.

I don't judge the quality of restaurants or decide where to eat by looking at who generates the most revenue. If I did, I'd wind up at McDonald's three meals a day. So it stands to reason that there must be another way to look at this year-end list, which includes statistics for the top 100 breeders by North American earnings. The data includes starters, starts, wins, seconds, thirds, earnings and black type stakes winners.

I took the liberty of adding a few statistical columns that provide some context to the leading breeders list, including average number of starts per starter, percentage of wins from starts, average earnings per start and percentage of black type winners from starters.

The list below (which excluded a handful of breeders with fewer than five starters each) ranks North American breeders by average earnings per start. Topping the list in this category is Knowles Bloodstock ($55,847 per start), which had just six starters but included Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou among them. Second is Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, whose $22,705 average was buoyed considerably by the $7,170,000 earned by probable Horse of the Year Authentic.

Ranked 74th on the list of leading breeders by average earnings per start is Calumet Farm, whose 479 runners averaged $3,776 per start. WinStar Farm, with 214 starters, ranks 19th nationally with $8,122 earnings per start – more than twice that of Calumet.

Another way of looking at excellence in breeding is black type winners. Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin and Barbara Banke's Stonestreet led the way with each breeding 13 North American stakes winners. WinStar and Calumet were next with 10 each.

If you look at the list by percentage of black type winners from starters (minimum five starters), Knowles Bloodstock again leads the way with 33.33% (2-of-6), followed by China Horse Club International Ltd, with 16.67% (4-of-24).

Stonestreet ranks ninth by percentage of stakes winners from starters, at 8.55%, with Godolphin 12th at 8.02%. WinStar Farm is 33rd at 4.67% and Calumet Farm is 62nd at 2.09%.

So who was the top North American breeder in 2020? If you go by quantity, it's Calumet, which had 75% more starters than runner-up WinStar Farm. In my opinion, quality trumps quantity.

Category leaders listed in bold/italics.

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Wigley Joins WinStar Farm Bloodstock Team

WinStar Farm has announced the hiring of Gareth Wigley as the newest member of its stallion season sales team.

Originally from Birmingham, England, Wigley grew up on the southern coast of England where he developed a passion for horse racing at an early age and spent most weekends and school holidays working for local trainers. After riding for five seasons as a steeplechase jockey in England, Wigley pursued his ambition to work in the United States and made Kentucky his permanent home in 2006.

In the U.S., Wigley rode predominantly at Keeneland for trainers such as the late Bobby Frankel but mainly worked with the Godolphin operation. He gained valuable experience traveling the circuit as an assistant trainer to Joan Scott and most recently worked as a cardiovascular analyst with Epona Technological Company where he performed heart scans and directed data collection for numerous clients, including WinStar Farm.

“I had the pleasure to meet Gareth during his time at Epona, and he has a passion for this business that will help our clients meet their goals,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. “With his background, Gareth brings a unique perspective that helps him see the inside of a horse. We are excited about him joining our bloodstock team headed by Liam O'Rourke.”

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