All Equine All The Time

When El Prado (Sadler’s Wells) was imported to the United States after being purchased from Coolmore by Frank Stronach in the early 1990s, very few breeders were willing to give El Prado a shot.  "No one wanted a son of Sadler’s Wells in America,” Dermot Carty, who bought the horse for Stronach, told Blood-Horse when the stallion died. “Everyone saw him as just a grass horse, but now he’s a broodmare sire, a sire of sires, and he’s made history. It was a gamble … to buy a son of Sadler’s Wells was a major move, but it paid off." But over 20 years later, El Prado has made a major impact on the breed in North America. El Prado started his breeding career at Airdrie Stud in Kentucky for Stronach, who didn’t have a stallion operation at the time. Within a few years, Stronach’s opened up Adena Springs stallion facility and El Prado became one of the cornerstones of the operation.   Video courtesy of Thoroughbred Horses in Kentucky "He put us on the map,...

City Zip at Lane's End in 2014 Retiring in late 2001 as a 3-year-old after winning nine of his 23 starts, including the 2000 Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, City Zip was the first notable racehorse out of stakes winner Baby Zip. That mare would go on to produce two more graded stakes winners in addition to being the second dam of three others. The third foal out of Baby Zip, City Zip retired to Contemporary Stakes in New York as only the fourth horse to sweep the Hopeful, Saratoga Special and Sanford. The stallion would start his career at a modest stud fee of $7,500. City Zip held his own during his few years in New York, breeding a combined 305 mares between 2002 and 2004 with Grade 1 winner Bustin Stones, Grade 2 winner With a City and multiple Grade 3 winner Get Serious leading the 13 stakes winners produced from those crops. But the best was yet to come when his younger half-brother Ghostzapper burst onto the scene in 2004, winning Horse of the Year honors and convincing Lane...

2014 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern After Bayern put in another disappointing run on Sept. 26 in the Awesome Again Stakes, the colt was retired to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm early in the week to prepare for the 2016 breeding season. One of 19 Breeders’ Cup Classic winners to return to the track the following year, Bayern’s record of two thirds in five starts is probably most similar to Wild Again, who raced four times after his victory in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup. However, while Bayern raced in graded stakes all year, Wild Again only made one stakes start after his Classic victory, retiring with a second in the Grade 1 Meadowlands Cup. Overall, Breeders’ Cup Classic winners have combined for 33 wins in 103 post-victory starts for a 33 percent strike rate. While you expect a Classic winner to be a classy runner even if they have lost a step post-Classic, those 19 Classic winners also combined to have 41 second or third-place finishes in addition to the 33 wins for 74...