Ashford Stud

Coolmore and partners have acquired an interest in 'TDN Rising Star Presented by Hagyard' and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Nysos (Nyquist). Upon his retirement from racing, the colt will stand at Ashford Stud in 2027, the farm announced Friday. A no-brainer 'Rising Star' in his 10 1/2-length Santa Anita romp in October 2023, Nysos then picked up two straight graded stakes wins before enduring a significant break in training from Feb. 2024 through to May 2025. He returned in a thrilling edition of the GI Churchill Downs Stakes...

The transition from racehorse to stallion oftentimes seems to happen overnight, and in the case of Coolmore America's new additions for 2026, the trio appears to have taken to the first chapter of their new careers in stride. After turning in memorable performances in Del Mar at the Breeders' Cup, Sierra Leone, Fierceness and Citizen Bull touched down in Lexington last Sunday. In the week since, the group has hit the ground running at Ashford Stud. "They've settled in really well and they look great," said Coolmore's Adrian Wallace. "They've...

Journalism (Curlin) who took three Grade I races during his 3-year-old season, will not be retired to stud at Coolmore America just yet, but will instead resume training for a 2026 campaign, according to co-owner Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbreds. "We are thrilled to announce that Journalism will be returning to race next season," said Wellman in an email. "Coolmore have been wonderful partners and sportsmen as it relates to arriving at this collective decision on Journalism's future and we all share in the belief that Journalism is bred, built...

With international sire star Justify leading the way, as well as four future stallions all set to run in next week's Breeders' Cup World Championships, Coolmore America's Ashford Stud released fees for the Central Kentucky farm's 2026 stallion roster Wednesday afternoon. Heading the roster is 2018 Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner Justify, who will stand for $200,000 next season. With his fourth crop racing now, Justify has 27 graded winners and 52 black-type winners, including U.S. and Australian champions, as well as British, Irish, and French highweights....

'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Fierceness (City of Light--Nonna Bella, by Stay Thirsty), the Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male of 2023 and a four-time Grade I winner, will begin his stud career at Coolmore's Kentucky base at Ashford Stud following his final start in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1. An imperious 11 1/4-length debut winner at Saratoga in August 2023, earning no-brainer 'Rising Star' in a similar fashion to owner Mike Repole's fellow champion and late Ashford stallion Uncle Mo, Fierceness romped by 6...

Champion Citizen Bull (Into Mischief--No Joke, by Distorted Humor) will join the stallion roster at Coolmore America's Ashford Stud in 2026 following his final start in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, the farm said in a press release early on Sunday morning. As a juvenile, Citizen Bull won on debut at Del Mar for trainer Bob Baffert who pitched him straight into the GI Del Mar Futurity--a race he finished third. Subsequent starts at the Grade I level yieled victories in the American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita and...

Triple Crown winner and Horse Of The Year American Pharoah is set to shuttle to The Shizunai Stallion Station in Japan for the 2026 breeding season in partnership with the Japanese Bloodhorse Breeders Association (JBBA). The son of Pioneerof The Nile will return to his base at Coolmore America's Ashford Stud in July 2026. "We have worked very closely shuttling stallions with the JBBA in the past and are delighted that their members will now have access to his bloodline," said Ashford Stud manager Dermot Ryan. "There has been interest...

Sierra Leone (Gun Runner--Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon), last year's champion 3-year-old colt, will join the roster at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky next year, the operation announced Wednesday. Racing for Peter Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook Smith and trained by Chad Brown, Sierra Leone is expected to make his final career start in the Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, a race he won in 2024. Sierra Leone, who topped the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale when selling for $2.3 million, was tabbed a 'TDN...

Champion 3-year-old Maximum Security (New Year's Day--Lil Indy, by Anasheed) will relocate to Breakway Farm in Dillsboro, Indiana in 2026, the farm announced via X Saturday. Previously standing at Ashford Stud in Kentucky, the 9-year-old colt accounted for a quartet of Grade I victories--the Xpressbet Florida Derby, TVG.com Haskell Invitational, Cigar Mile and TVG Pacific Classic. During his racing career, the bay also crossed the wire first in the 2019 Kentucky Derby and the 2020 Saudi Cup and was subsequently disqualified. After 14 career starts, the Gary and Mary West-bred...

Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook T. Smith's Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), who finished second in a problematic edition of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, will train up to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar, according to trainer Chad Brown. The GI Whiney winner, who tried to avoid fallen Irad Ortiz Jr. just steps out of the gate, traveled in last--18 lengths off the pace--before making a wide run down the lane to finish 1 1/2-lengths behind winner Antiquarian. "Thankfully, Irad...

Fergus Galvin, their consignor, called it "one of the greatest pinhooks of all time." To Blaise Benjamin and Charles Hynes, it was just another example of the way every new day at Ashford Stud brings a fresh lesson, a fresh opportunity. That might just involve quietly clocking the way one of the old hands reassures a nervous horse, or it might mean catching the $1,000 Tiz the Law weanling who fell through the cracks at the New York Mixed Sale at Saratoga last fall. Back in the same ring last...

At this time of year, when we're just weeks away from the GI Kentucky Derby, any 3-year-old colt who catches the eye requires a second look and perhaps a little Derby dreaming. Coolmore America's American Pharoah, who won the Derby himself a decade ago this May, had three sophomore colts in the news last weekend. First up was Luxor Cafe, whose fourth consecutive win last Saturday at Nakayama in Japan did more than catch the eye. Do yourself a favor and watch him quicken off the turn and distance his...