Airdrie Stud

Grade I-winning millionaire Preservationist (Arch--Flying Dixie, by Dixieland Band) was represented by his first reported foal with the arrival of a filly produced by the Giant's Causeway mare Win Crafty Jan. 8 in Ocala, FL. A daughter of graded stakes winner Win Crafty Lady, Win Crafty is a half-sister to Grade I winner Harmony Lodge (Hennessy), GII Arkansas Derby Graeme Hall (Dehere) and to stakes-winning and graded stakes-producing mare Win's Fair Lady (Dehere). Win Crafty is also a full-sister to Win McCool, herself a graded stakes producer and granddam of...

As we approach the end of the calendar, we turn our attention to the incoming sire class of 2021. We asked several judges who their favorite incoming sire is for next year and if there are any other stallions, new or otherwise, that have caught their eye as under-the-radar picks ADRIAN REGAN, Hunter Valley Farm  War of Will (War Front), $25,000, Claiborne Farm I hate singling just one, but War of Will made a lot of sense for me. I was very impressed with his physical appearance when we went...

Live Oak Plantation homebred Win Win Win (Hat Trick {Jpn}--Miss Smarty Pants, by Smarty Jones), who capped his career with a head-turning last-to-first victory in Saratoga's GI Forego S. Aug. 29, will take up stud duties next year at Ocala Stud for a fee of $5,000 LFSN. He will stand as property of a partnership between Live Oak, Ocala Stud and Airdrie Stud. "We are very excited to add Win Win Win to our roster," said Ocala Stud's David O'Farrell. "He's a big, grand-looking horse with a lot of presence....

Kelly McDaniel, a long-time and beloved stallion manager at Airdrie Stud, passed away Sunday at the age of 56. Known for his affable character and great love of the history of the land on which Airdrie was built, Kelly dutifully looked after the Airdrie stallions for more than 32 years before his retirement in 2017. "Kelly was one of the all-time originals," said Airdrie's Bret Jones. "He, of course, took wonderful care of his horses, but I think Kelly's incredible storytelling is how he impacted so many people. He loved...

Klaravich Stables, Inc.'s Complexity (Maclean's Music--Goldfield, by Yes It's True) will stand stud at Brereton and Elizabeth Jones's Airdrie Stud upon his retirement from racing, the farm announced Thursday. Trained throughout his career by Chad Brown, Complexity was a convincing winner of his most recent start, the GII Kelso H. at Belmont, where he defeated multiple Grade I winner Code of Honor (Noble Mission) by two lengths in a time of 1:33.82, earning a 110 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest number earned by any horse at a mile or longer...

This intrepid TDN correspondent has just spent the better part of 10 days on a road to the Kentucky Derby. Well, not exactly THE road to the Kentucky Derby. Rather, a long road trip from Los Angeles to Lexington via some of the country's most awe-inspiring national parks and monuments, arriving in the Bluegrass State a week before the Derby. The reason? To deliver to the doyen of XBTV, Zoe Cadman, her beloved RV, "Burt." What follows is an account of this American odyssey. A story of toxic algae and...

Baytown Bear (Upstart) cruised to a 9 3/4-length victory to become the first winner for his freshman sire Upstart (Flatter) at Indiana Grand Tuesday. The gray gelding, who RNA'd for $9,500 as a Keeneland September yearling, was well-beaten in a pair of efforts sprinting at Churchill Downs, over the main track May 22 and over the turf June 5, and was coming off a fourth-place effort going 5 1/2 furlongs over the dirt in Louisville June 12. Sent off the 9-5 second choice in this stretch-out to a mile, Baytown...

The sales ring can be a formidable place for any first-crop sire. Add in a global pandemic, with side effects of low sales attendance and a free-falling stock market, and a positive outcome for the stallion might seem futile. But this year, the first crop of Airdrie Stud's Upstart must not have gotten the message. They were the hot commodities at the OBS March Sale, the only 2-year-old sale to finish before the sales season was forced to grind to a halt. Six Upstart 2-year-olds brought the hammer down during...

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan went to $600,000 to secure a colt from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Upstart (Flatter) during Wednesday's second session of the OBS March sale. The bay colt is out of Blue Beryl (Bernstein), a half-sister to multiple graded placed Brigand (Flatter). He was consigned by Woodford Thoroughbreds, which purchased him for $220,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale. The colt is the sixth six-figure juvenile for Upstart at the two-day March sale.

So now we come to a group who will typically, at this stage of their careers, find themselves clinging by their fingertips to the commercial precipice--even as the agents and pinhookers press down ruthlessly with their boots. Yes, any breeder using these stallions this spring will at least have some valid evidence with which to evaluate what tends, in many cases, to be a dwindling fee: a first group of sophomores in 2019, backed up by the most precocious juveniles of their second crop. These, nonetheless, should by any sensible...

The first foals by Grade I-winning multimillionaire Collected (City Zip--Helena Bay, by Johannesburg), have been reported at leading nurseries Airdrie Stud, Anderson Farms and Trackside Farm, Airdrie announced Tuesday. Airdrie Stud resident Believe You Can (Proud Citizen), winner of six stakes including the 2012 GI Kentucky Oaks, foaled a colt by Collected Feb. 1. "We bred the most important mare on our farm to Collected and he has greatly rewarded our faith in him," said Airdrie's Bret Jones. "Believe You Can's colt is an absolutely exceptional foal with the presence...

Through the first three installments of this series, we've repeatedly complained about ever-more manic investment in unproven stallions and the resulting potential for chronic deterioration in the gene pool. So we won't reprise the theme today, other than to remark that this situation creates a rather more immediate and specific challenge for the next group under review. Because while second- and third-season stallions can still offer breeders the possibility of riding an early vogue, this lot have just been exposed to the judgment of the yearling market--which history reveals to...