All Equine All The Time

Honor Code One of the best-bred stallions to retire to stud anywhere in the world in 2016, Honor Code made A.P. Indy’s (Seattle Slew) final crop a truly memorable one.  Racing for the partnership of Lane’s End Racing and Dell Ridge Farm, Honor Code made his debut at Saratoga in late August of his 2-year-old year. Racing from what would become his customary back-of-the-pack position, he made easy work of the field when winning by 4 ½ lengths for trainer Shug McGaughey with John Velazquez aboard.  Honor Code earned a Grade 1 placing in his second start finishing only a neck behind Havana (Dunkirk) in the Grade 1 Foxwoods Champagne Stakes with Javier Castellano, who would be come his regular jockey, aboard . The Grade 2 Remsen really showed Honor Code’s mettle when the colt went head-to-head with Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile) in the stretch, who passed him at one point . Honor Code battl ed back to win by a nose to put both horses in Kentucky Derby conversations. ...

Congrats A well-bred Grade 2 winner by mega-sire A.P. Indy, Congrats was well received when he retired to Cloverleaf Farms in Florida in 2007. Standing for a stud fee of $12,500, Congrats covered 172 mares that year with 107 live foals, setting him up for success when his first foals hit the track in 2010. Congrats had 61 2-year-olds run that first year and had 25 winners including three graded stakes winners and 12 other stakes horses. His results were good enough to top the First-Crop Sire list over a generation that included the high profile Bernardini (A.P. Indy) and future top sire War Front (Danzig). It was the first time since Valid Expectations led the First-Crop Sires list in 2001 that a stallion standing outside of Kentucky during his first season at stud led the list. Congrats had moved to Vinery Farm’s Florida division in 2008 after Cloverleaf Farms closed at the end of 2007, which made a move to Kentucky after his first 2-year-olds’ success easier. He was transferr...

An Irish-bred six-year-old, Lucky Speed created a big resume for himself in a short three seasons of racing. Making his first group stakes start in late April of his 3-year-old year, he finished second in the Group 3 Fruhjahrs – Preis des Bankhauses Metzler behind the multiple Group stakes winner Vif Monsieur (Doyen). But it didn’t take Lucky Speed long to get a stakes victory, taking home the Group 3 ONEXTWO.com Bavarian Classic in his next start. A little over a month later, he joined a list of Group 1 winners when winning this century's fastest Group 1 German Derby. While he didn't race again after that victory, his four 3-year-old races were enough to name him  the Top Rated German 3-Year-Old (11-13 furlongs) that year. Lucky Speed wasn’t seen again until June of his 4-year-old year when he finished third in the Group 2 Grosser Preis der Badischen Unternehmer. Two starts later, he again hit the board in the Group 1 124th Grosser Preis von Berlin but in four start...

Zoffany With the European flat racing season starting shortly, a large group of stallions is entering its second year with runners on the track in Europe. While Zoffany  (Dansili) led the charge on the First-Crop sire list last year, he’ll have competition as the 3-year-olds are allowed to stretch out and more stallions get to shine. Here are five stallions other than Zoffany who may be able to make a big impact on the European racing scene in 2016. Playing a second fiddle of sorts to stablemate Zoffany, Canford Cliffs (Tagula) was another strong first crop stallion for Coolmore in 2015. Canford Cliffs bested that stallion by winners and had only two less stakes winners than him to tie for second in that category. Canford Cliff’s 2-year-olds were led by the Group 2 GAIN Railway Stakes winner Painted Cliffs with Most Beautiful also giving him a Group 3 win in the Grangecon Stud Balanchine Stakes. A group stakes winner at two himself, Canford Cliffs ran even better at three an...

Conveyance Residing at the historic Buck Pond Farm in Versailles, Ky., Conveyance joins the new stallion ranks this year at 9 years old.  Sold to Legends Racing at the Keeneland September Yearling sale for $240,000 in 2008, Conveyance debuted on Halloween day in 2009 for trainer Bob Baffert. He won that first race by 1 ½ lengths, starting a four race win streak that included victories in the Grade 3 San Rafael Stakes and Grade 3 Southwest Stakes to put him on the Kentucky Derby trail. A second place finish in the Grade 3 Sunland Derby solidified his spot in the 2010 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands, where he finished 15th. Conveyance took the rest of that year off and resurfaced the following March in Dubai for a new trainer. Finishing second in the Group 3 Mahab Al Shimaal Sponsored by Emirates Airline, he only ran once more in 2011 with an off-the-board result in the Group 2 Godolphin Mile. Both Racing Post and Equibase have a three-year gap in Conveyance’s...

Paddy O'Prado As the racing season starts to ramp up, eyes are turning to last year’s First-Crop sires to see if their runners can continue on as 3-year-olds. There are over 300 stallions listed on Blood-Horse as having their first 3-year-olds this year but here are six in North America that the racing industry should have an eye on in 2016. While Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) set records in 2015 as the leading First-Crop sire and has the most 3-year-olds nominated to the Triple Crown of any sire, there are skeptics about how his 3-year-olds will train on this year. While the doubts make sense as a number of good first year sires haven’t had a lot of success in subsequent years and Uncle Mo wasn’t as brilliant as a 3-year-old as he was at 2, I personally don’t see any reason why his horses won’t step up this year. While not as brilliant as he was at 2 Uncle Mo himself was a good 3-year-old, even with his illness knocking him out for a decent chunk of the year, winning the Gra...

From a strong European family, Free Eagle is an exciting new stallion for the Irish National Stud in 2016 after retiring from an eight race career that was worth £592,523 (approx. €778,513/$865,024US) in earnings. Free Eagle made his debut in August of 2013 at Leopardstown at a mile where he blew away the 10 horse field when winning by 5 ½ lengths under Pat Smullen. From there, trainer Dermot Weld and owner-breeder Moyglare Stud pointed him to the Group 3 Icon Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Trial Stakes.  FREE EAGLE BREAKING HIS MAIDEN Video courtesy of Racing Post In a field that included future dual-Derby winner Australia ( Galileo ) and multiple Group 1-placed Kingfisher (Galileo), Free Eagle tracked pacesetting Kingfisher until two furlongs out. After taking over the lead Free Eagle then had to deal with Australia, but didn't have enough to hold off that competitor with Australia winning by six lengths. However, Free Eagle was 3 ½ lengths clear of the third p...

Declaration of War From War Front’s (Danzig) second crop, Declaration of War helped to set his sire on a fast track to European success when the Coolmore partners bought into the horse after his 2-year-old season. Declaration of War started his career in France for breeder Joseph Allen where he made two starts as a 2-year-old, winning both by a combined 11 lengths under Christophe Soumillon. It looked like he was on the fast track to classic success but Declaration of War was sidelined nearly all of his 3-year-old year with his first start of that season coming in September. When he returned back to the track, Coolmore had joined his ownership group and he was based at Ballydoyle with trainer Aidan O’Brien. His first start back was a fourth by four lengths to Famous Name (Dansili) in the Group 3 Refuse to Bend Solonaway Stakes but he got back to his winning ways three weeks later when dropped out of the group stakes level. A run six days later in the Group 3 Diamond Stakes gave him...