Stallion News

[Diver52]

Hill N Dale at Xalapa

Army Mule - $7,500 ($10,000)
Bayern - $7,500 ($15,000)
Curlin - $175,000 (unchanged)
Flintshire - $10,000 ($15,000)
Good Magic - $30,000 ($35,000)
Kantharos - $30,000 (unchanged)
Kitten's Joy - $60,000 ($75,000)
Lost Treasure - $5,000 (unchanged)
Maclean's Music - $20,000 (unchanged) - this is for contracts signed before the Breeders Cup. If Jackie's Warrior takes the Juvenile they are raising his fee.
Midnight Lute - $15,000 (unchanged)
Stormy Atlantic - $20,000 (unchanged)
Violence - $25,000 (unchanged)
World of Trouble - $15,000 (unchanged)

No changes from who stood there in 2020, Secret Circle was announced in 2020 but moved before the breeding season started.

I forgot to mention, I wonder if they are trying to bring Charlatan back to the races because I thought Hill N Dale had acquired his breeding rights.

There was a video of him galloping at Santa Anita on xbtv a few days ago, so it seems they plan on bringing him back if possible.

[Slinky_Malinky]

Add North Light to that list. It was exciting when Adena announced that they'd be standing a Derby winner, I still can't believe his advertised was $50,000 his first season. He still ended up a dud.

I'm bummed that Noble Mission and Flintshire both haven't taken off. When they were announced as standing in Kentucky I was hoping it would be a throwback to yesteryear when top turf racehorses became world class stallions in Kentucky.

Eh, they still do -- provided they are raced in North America and they start out at a low-enough fee for North American breeders to be worth taking the risk, OR they had dirt form as well as the turf pedigree:

Kingmambo and Lemon Drop Kid -- grass pedigree, dirt form
Mizzen Mast -- grass on both sides of his pedigree, dirt form, was always priced below $30,000
War Front -- dirt form, Danzig can do anything to a pedigree, started out at $7500
Scat Daddy -- dirt form, Storm Cat can do anything to a pedigree, started out maybe $7500?
English Channel -- IIRC he started at $20k after running for 4 years and being one of the best sons of Smart Strike to go to stud at that point
More Than Ready -- dirt form on both sides of his pedigree, started as a dirt horse until people figured out how well his progeny ran on grass
Medaglia d'Oro -- grass on top (El Prado), dirt on bottom, I believe he started for $15k at Hill'n'Dale.
Dynaformer -- stood in Florida for a beer and a ham sandwich
Bernstein -- raced on turf in Europe out of a US-bred dirt family, Storm Cat can do anything to a pedigree and he did

Kitten's Joy, of course, is quite sui generis.

The last Euro champion grass horse I can think of to be a successful stallion in the US is El Prado, who threw to his US-bred dirt-producing female line rather than his male line instead of the Sadlers Wells side. Giant's Causeway had successful dirt form in the US, even though he had about equal success as a stallion on both grass and dirt and Coolmore started him out in Ireland. When his fee was at its peak, about $250,000, he was priced to directly challenge Kingmambo as king of the lawn.

[Northport]

Claiborne announced their 2021 fees. War of will is new for 2021. War front gets a fee drop to 150k

Wonder what Runhappy will end up at- likely to drop I would guess.

I have no idea what they're waiting for to announce his fee, it's not like he has any horses targeting the BC Juvenile, does he? Seems like they're trying to save face a little. He only has 4 winners and one of them has died already.

[Mylute]

As expected, Bayern down to $7,500 from $15K.

[KatieK101]

Claiborne announced their 2021 fees. War of will is new for 2021. War front gets a fee drop to 150k

Wonder what Runhappy will end up at- likely to drop I would guess.

I have no idea what they're waiting for to announce his fee, it's not like he has any horses targeting the BC Juvenile, does he? Seems like they're trying to save face a little. He only has 4 winners and one of them has died already.

My thoughts exactly.

[KatieK101]

Claiborne announced their 2021 fees. War of will is new for 2021. War front gets a fee drop to 150k

Wonder what Runhappy will end up at- likely to drop I would guess.

I have no idea what they're waiting for to announce his fee, it's not like he has any horses targeting the BC Juvenile, does he? Seems like they're trying to save face a little. He only has 4 winners and one of them has died already.

My thoughts exactly.

[Gemini]

Pardon my sarcasm, but the only reason RunHappy is still in anyone's mind is because his owner pushed ads for him like he was on the NASCAR circuit.

[Slewfan2]

Delete

[Slewfan2]

I still think he is doing okay. He has 3 GSWs (1 G1, 1 G2 and 1 G3) and 2 other SWs. Sure he could be doing better but he seems like the best stallion Three Chimneys has had in awhile, in terms of a young stallion.

As with every year, I'm looking forward to the Report of Mares bred which should be out this week unless its delayed because of covid. Its going to be really interesting this year.

I’m confused, because you have said that Honor Code has been bad (we’re talking this year)...yet PM has been doing fine ? He’s 12th on the 2nd crop sire list ...even with Mr. Monomoy and Fly on Angel this year. That’s not good (and I’m not stumping for HC - he hasn’t been that good- though I think he’s been inconsistent much more than outright bad).

I judged them both off their cumulative records and earnings never factor in. Its their overall numbers and Palace Malice is doing better than HC. He has 5 SWs (3 GSWs), compared to HC's 2 GSWs. I don't think he is doing good either but he is doing okay, which is slightly better than bad.

Ok, well thank you for your response...we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one (and I was referring specifically to this year, where PM is near the bottom of the second crop sire crop lists. My point was that $20,000 is excessive).

[Flanders]

Airdrie Stud Fees

American Freedom - $6,000 ($10,000)
Cairo Prince - $15,000 ($25,000)
Collected - $17,500 (same)
Complexity - $12,500 - New
Creative Cause - $7,500 ($15,000)
Divisidero - $5,000 ($7,500)
Include - $5,000 ($7,500)
McCraken - $6,000 ($10,000)
Preservationist - $10,000 (same)
Summer Front - $10,000
Upstart - $10,000 (same)

Only horse missing from 2020 announced lineup was Mark Valeski who was moved before the breeding season started.

[Northport]

Confirmed that Guineas winner Kameko will retire to Tweenhills in 2021

https://www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/b ... ign/455294

Disappointing decision after what, so far, has been a disappointing season for Kameko, in my opinion. They call his 3 year old season "record breaking".... record for best horse to finish 4th 3 times in a row over 3 different distances? I know that connections needed to see if he would stay a mile and a half and a mile and a quarter, which he doesn't, but he's only won a G1 and G2 this year. I think they spent a lot of 2020 figuring out a lot about him, and now that they know his conditions, they could really light up the miler division next year.

Hopefully he runs well at Keeneland, though he doesn't like soft conditions, which is why he scratched from the QEII at Ascot this week, and it seems more than likely that they won't be getting firm ground in Kentucky in November.

[Flanders]

Confirmed that Guineas winner Kameko will retire to Tweenhills in 2021

https://www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/b ... ign/455294

Disappointing decision after what, so far, has been a disappointing season for Kameko, in my opinion. They call his 3 year old season "record breaking".... record for best horse to finish 4th 3 times in a row over 3 different distances? I know that connections needed to see if he would stay a mile and a half and a mile and a quarter, which he doesn't, but he's only won a G1 and G2 this year. I think they spent a lot of 2020 figuring out a lot about him, and now that they know his conditions, they could really light up the miler division next year.

Hopefully he runs well at Keeneland, though he doesn't like soft conditions, which is why he scratched from the QEII at Ascot this week, and it seems more than likely that they won't be getting firm ground in Kentucky in November.

Qatar Racing is pretty fast on retiring their colts.

I've looked a couple times but haven't seen if its been announced where Siskin is going. Have you seen anything? It was a big secret when his breeding rights were sold, which is always weird to me.

[Northport]

Confirmed that Guineas winner Kameko will retire to Tweenhills in 2021

https://www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/b ... ign/455294

Disappointing decision after what, so far, has been a disappointing season for Kameko, in my opinion. They call his 3 year old season "record breaking".... record for best horse to finish 4th 3 times in a row over 3 different distances? I know that connections needed to see if he would stay a mile and a half and a mile and a quarter, which he doesn't, but he's only won a G1 and G2 this year. I think they spent a lot of 2020 figuring out a lot about him, and now that they know his conditions, they could really light up the miler division next year.

Hopefully he runs well at Keeneland, though he doesn't like soft conditions, which is why he scratched from the QEII at Ascot this week, and it seems more than likely that they won't be getting firm ground in Kentucky in November.

Qatar Racing is pretty fast on retiring their colts.

I've looked a couple times but haven't seen if its been announced where Siskin is going. Have you seen anything? It was a big secret when his breeding rights were sold, which is always weird to me.

Yeah, Qatar Racing is an operation that says they want to be commercial and self sufficient when they retire their stallions after they get a G1 win (took Lightning Spear forever to get that done), then they go and spend 3,500,000 guineas on a horse like Darain at Tattersalls October. It just seems like for a Middle Eastern royal family, they pick and choose when they want to seem frugal.

I was thinking about Siskin the other day, because it really seems like he's disappeared after a poor run in the Moulin, which sucks since he seemed to have the world at his feet in June. I still have no clue who bought the breeding rights to him and really can't believe nothing has leaked about it. I hope he'll at least be around in 2021 to get some redemption.

Can you tell that I'm just really annoyed in general about the state of three year old milers of 2020? With the exception of Palace Pier. Don't get me started on the handling of Pinatubo.

[CorridorZ75]

Wasn't it Qatar Racing that was not paying bills in the recent past?

[Mylute]

Wasn't it Qatar Racing that was not paying bills in the recent past?

I thought that was Al Shaqab.

[Northport]

Wasn't it Qatar Racing that was not paying bills in the recent past?

It was Al Shaqab, Sheikh Joaan Al Thani's operation, Qatar Racing is Sheikh Fahad his brother Hamad al Thani, they're Joaan's cousins.

Sheikh Joaan still has a handful of horses in England, but after his financial scuffle there, I don't think it's a coincidence that most of his horses are in France now. I also don't think he's had a major horse-in-training purchase since Brametot in 2017. I know most of his horses now are middle-market yearling purchases and homebreds, but it's interested to see how sharply his operation has scaled back considering it's only 7 years old. Big purchases like Treve, Toronado, Olympic Glory, Ruler of the World, Planteur, Ectot, Galileo Gold, etc. Buying Al Naamah as a yearling for US$8,450,925 in 2013, buying 7 of the 10 top lots at Arqana 2015, buying Khozan for $1,000,000 as a two year old at Fasig Tipton in 2014, etc.

Do Sheikhs get allowances? Did his get cut back?!

[JohannaSwe]

Donna Devarona by Swipe won the auction race over a mile on the turf at Bro Park. His offspring are winning more and more, doesn't look like they are very early but they are running well now.

https://www.atg.se/video/archive/645315 ... 10-18_48_4

[Squeaky]

Deleted

[TurfLover]

Confirmed that Guineas winner Kameko will retire to Tweenhills in 2021

https://www.racingpost.com/bloodstock/b ... ign/455294

Disappointing decision after what, so far, has been a disappointing season for Kameko, in my opinion. They call his 3 year old season "record breaking".... record for best horse to finish 4th 3 times in a row over 3 different distances? I know that connections needed to see if he would stay a mile and a half and a mile and a quarter, which he doesn't, but he's only won a G1 and G2 this year. I think they spent a lot of 2020 figuring out a lot about him, and now that they know his conditions, they could really light up the miler division next year.

Hopefully he runs well at Keeneland, though he doesn't like soft conditions, which is why he scratched from the QEII at Ascot this week, and it seems more than likely that they won't be getting firm ground in Kentucky in November.

Qatar Racing is pretty fast on retiring their colts.

I've looked a couple times but haven't seen if its been announced where Siskin is going. Have you seen anything? It was a big secret when his breeding rights were sold, which is always weird to me.

Yeah, Qatar Racing is an operation that says they want to be commercial and self sufficient when they retire their stallions after they get a G1 win (took Lightning Spear forever to get that done), then they go and spend 3,500,000 guineas on a horse like Darain at Tattersalls October. It just seems like for a Middle Eastern royal family, they pick and choose when they want to seem frugal.

I was thinking about Siskin the other day, because it really seems like he's disappeared after a poor run in the Moulin, which sucks since he seemed to have the world at his feet in June. I still have no clue who bought the breeding rights to him and really can't believe nothing has leaked about it. I hope he'll at least be around in 2021 to get some redemption.

Can you tell that I'm just really annoyed in general about the state of three year old milers of 2020? With the exception of Palace Pier. Don't get me started on the handling of Pinatubo.

I guess they’re pretty keen to get a son of KJ to replace Roaring Lion. It’s a real shame because he was really asked to dance all distances despite a mile being his best trip. That said...he might still have a chance a Champion 3 yo if he does well at BC.
Honestly, the three year old colts have been abysmal this year. Pinatubo cried out for a quick mile to 7f. Pyledriver ran everything from 10 to 14f. Siskin disappeared almost as soon as his unbeaten record. Even Palace Pier has only managed two G1s. No champion 3 yo this year?

[CorridorZ75]

Wasn't it Qatar Racing that was not paying bills in the recent past?

It was Al Shaqab, Sheikh Joaan Al Thani's operation, Qatar Racing is Sheikh Fahad his brother Hamad al Thani, they're Joaan's cousins.

Sheikh Joaan still has a handful of horses in England, but after his financial scuffle there, I don't think it's a coincidence that most of his horses are in France now. I also don't think he's had a major horse-in-training purchase since Brametot in 2017. I know most of his horses now are middle-market yearling purchases and homebreds, but it's interested to see how sharply his operation has scaled back considering it's only 7 years old. Big purchases like Treve, Toronado, Olympic Glory, Ruler of the World, Planteur, Ectot, Galileo Gold, etc. Buying Al Naamah as a yearling for US$8,450,925 in 2013, buying 7 of the 10 top lots at Arqana 2015, buying Khozan for $1,000,000 as a two year old at Fasig Tipton in 2014, etc.

Do Sheikhs get allowances? Did his get cut back?!

Ah, thanks