All Equine All The Time

Every year hopes and expectations are high in breeding sheds around the world with the biggest weight placed on stallions whose first foals are arriving. While there are 11 months until breeders can first see how the foals are received by buyers at the winter breeding stock sales, how first foals look in the early months of breeding season can affect a sire’s second book. With multiple classic winners and champions retiring in Europe last year, it was a busy season for breeders. Here are six whose first foals arriving this year should garner attention from breeders and fans. Golden Horn has his first foals on the ground this year. An Australian champion, Brazen Beau (I Am Invincible) nearly got a Group 1 win in Europe in his second-to-last start when finishing second to Undrafted (Purim) in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot. The stallion won four group stakes in his career including two Australian Group 1s, all at sprint distance to show he has the speed t...

Every year hopes and expectations are high in breeding sheds around the world with the biggest weight placed on stallions with first foals are arriving. While there are 11 months until breeders can first see how the foals are received by buyers at the winter breeding stock sales, how first foals look in the first few months of the year can affect a sire’s book in his second breeding season. Over 145 stallions in North America are listed on Blood-Horse as entering stud in 2016 in a strong year of new recruits. Here are 11 stallions whose foals breeders and fans should look out for this year. The star of the new sires this year is obviously American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. Named Champion 3-Year-Old and Horse of the Year in 2015, American Pharoah stood his first season for $200,000 and covered a book of 208 mares that included some of the best broodmares in the sport with the foals from that first covering season starting...

After nearly a month hiatus, All Equine All the Time returns with the first new stallion blog of the season. Follow along in coming months as I look at new stallions hitting the sheds in 2017. Bobby's Kitten A familiar horse to both American and Europeans is new stallion Bobby’s Kitten, who won stakes in both North America and Ireland. The first Kitten’s Joy son to stand in Europe, Bobby’s Kitten may be known most for his thrilling finish in the 2014 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint where he edged out fellow European stallion No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) by half a length at Santa Anita. But that is far from the only thing the bay accomplished. A winner at Saratoga in his second start, Bobby’s Kitten proved to be one of the best – if not the best – U.S. 2-year-old turf horses of his year. Breaking his maiden at 1 1/6 miles by 2 ¾ lengths, Bobby’s Kitten went on to lead the 2013 Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes wire-to-wire with a 6 ¼ length victory at the same distance. Tha...

Drefong's half-sister In a Breeders’ Cup for the ages, owners, horses and trainers went down in the history books at Santa Anita. From championship caliber wins to new sires hitting it big, the 13 races of the Breeders’ Cup saw horses bred in three countries and two states in the winner’s circle. From Juddmonte’s big weekend to a top stallion making it big in another way, read on to find out some of the interesting things that happened at the Breeders’ Cup this year. Juddmonte Farms – Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Arrogate wasn’t the only one making this year’s Breeders’ Cup a good one for Juddmonte. While that was the only win for the stable as an owner, they also had a second place finish with Flintshire in the Turf, his final start before retiring to Hill ‘n’ Dale for 2017. Flintshire was one of the top performers of the weekend for Juddmonte’s stallion Dansili, who also sired Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Queen’s Trust for Cheveley Park Stud. In an interestin...

The entries are drawn and all the Breeders’ Cup horses are on the grounds for the 2016 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, taking place on Nov. 4 and 5. But there’s more to the racing than just the racehorses and owners trying to add a prestigious Breeders’ Cup title to their resumes. Keep reading to find out nine facts, including a few about those chasing history, about the sires and dams represented at this year’s event By the Numbers – Ninty-eight stallions sired the 167 main body entrants in the 13 races with 112 broodmare sires also represented. Of the 98 sires at the races, there are 13 father/son pairs with Distorted Humor, Tiznow and Pulpit all having multiple sons with entries while also having their own runners. Stallions from six U.S. states and 11 countries have runners in the Breeders’ Cup races from Japan to France. Awesome Again Breeders’ Cup Winners – Eleven Breeders’ Cup winners are among the sires with runners this year. Of those 11, Ghostzapper, Unbridled’s ...

Curlin's Stellar Wind On Saturday the Road to the Breeders’ Cup gets interesting with the second of three big weekends full of prep races. Santa Anita, the host of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, has five graded stakes carded for Saturday while Belmont also has five graded stakes during its first of two “Super Saturdays.” With 82 horses entered as of Wednesday, it left more than enough chances for a variety of stallions to pick up some valuable stakes placings for their resumes heading into the final months before breeding season. In all, 65 stallions have horses running in the major graded stakes on Saturday with 14 sires represented by two or more horses. Interestingly, North America’s top two sires don’t have any entries in these races with both Tapit and Uncle Mo sitting this “Super Saturday” out (Uncle Mo does have an entry in the ungraded Unzip Me Stakes taking place as Santa Anita’s finale on Saturday.) However, the nation’s other top sires have a chance to make ...

Bodemeister Perhaps the deepest crop of first crop sires North America has seen in many years, 2016’s leading first crop sire battle may be one for the ages. With multiple stand outs waiting for their chance to shine, it doesn’t look like 2016 will have an Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) type stallion to run away with the lead but instead a neck and neck stretch duel all the way around the track. But who should you watch for at the top of the list? And who are some “smaller” stallions who may not have the number of foals needed to rock the rankings but may make some noise this year? Read below to find 10 stallions who answer at least one of the aforementioned questions. A Florida stallion, Biondetti (Bernardini) won the Group 1 Gran Criterium at two and is a half-brother to the dam of multiple champion Royal Delta (Empire Maker). While his turf race record may have been a little iffy for a United States stallion prospect, that family helped him to attract a solid book of 108 ma...

Last fall All Equine All the Time took a look at Unbridled’s Song as his last yearlings went through the ring, today I dig a little deeper into the late stallion’s impact as his final 2-year-olds get ready to go through the ring in the first major 2-year-old sale of the year.  Taylor Made photo Buyers hoping to get their hands on 2-year-old from the final crop of Unbridled’s Song (Unbridled) will get their first chance of the year on Wednesday when four of his colts go through the make-shift sales ring in the paddock at Gulfstream Park during Fasig-Tipton’s Florida Sale. Unbridled’s Song was originally slated to have five of his final foals go through the ring this week but a colt out of a half-sister to Hansen’s dam Stormy Sunday (Sir Cat) was scratched before the sales week started. But while Hansen gave that colt’s page a nice set of blacktype, the colt had the weakest pedigree of the Unbridled’s Songs so his scratch still leaves buyers with a lot of options. The str...