Darley America

GISW Highland Falls (Curlin--Round Pond, by Awesome Again) and MGSW & 'TDN Rising Star', presented by Hagyard First Mission (Street Sense--Elude, by Medaglia d'Oro) will join the Darley America stallion roster with stud fees set at $10,000 each for 2026, according to a press release from Jonabell Farm on Thursday. Darley said that topping the list will be GI Kentucky Derby victor Nyquist (by Uncle Mo)--the sire of ten career GI winners--but his fee will be announced after the Breeders' Cup. Highland Falls, the 2024 GI Jockey Club Gold Cup...

Maxfield's first stakes winner as a freshman sire comes in as Max Ciao takes the I'm Smokin Stakes at Del Mar on Friday. Unveiled as a third-place finisher at Santa Anita May 25, the colt was fourth, beaten seven lengths, July 19 by Friday's 3-2 second choice Thirsty Rebel. Max Ciao found himself in the winners circle in career start number three, a six-length victor back here at Del Mar Aug. 8. In his first stakes try, the son of Maxfield broke alertly, stalking just over a length off the...

Looking to hand her freshman sire his first stakes score, Chopsticks (Essential Quality) was tough as nails down the lane as she stood on business in the Debutante Stakes at Ellis Park on Sunday afternoon. Chopsticks was a debut winner at Churchill Downs June 27 when she cleared and graduated by three lengths. Slammed at the windows to the tune of 70 cents on the dollar here, the juvenile raced in the three path up the backstretch as a longshot showed the way. The grey continued to fan wide around...

To adapt Shakespeare on Cleopatra: "age cannot wither him, nor custom stale his infinite variety." To be enjoying an Indian summer like this, however, Medaglia d'Oro has had to stem what often proves an inexorable tide once a stallion enters the evening of his career. For the ageism so common among breeders can be self-fulfilling. Any stallion still operating at 26 must have shown an unequivocal prowess over the years. That being so, however, he will typically have produced fashionable sons to erode his own market share. And once enough...

The current stallion manager at Darley in America Jimmy Lovatt has been on the Godolphin team since 2007, and he describes his journey with "the Royal Blue" on this week's Boundless podcast with jockey-veterinarian Ferrin Peterson. The Australian native was bitten by the horse bug as a child. "My parents bought a pony for me when I was five years of age," Lovatt tells Peterson. "I grew up in a riding school. I guess I fell in love with horses back then. In 2001, when I was back home in...

This tier of the market, between $20,000 and $29,999, offers particular value through its more established names: horses that have walked the walk sufficiently to clear the basement level, while somehow failing to achieve due commercial prestige. Indeed, our podium is dominated by the two eldest of the eligible stallions, while the only candidates considered for the third step were all in the process of consolidating strong starts. That said, the case for the three young sires at the other end of the spectrum--whose first foals are about to slither...

The New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) will hold its annual stallion season auction from Friday, Jan. 3 through Tuesday, Jan. 7. The event will be hosted online at Thoroughlybred.com. The auction has routinely attracted donated seasons from farms in the Empire State and Kentucky, including McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Sequel New York, Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions, Rockridge Stud, Spendthrift Farm, Darley America, Darby Dan Farm and additional farms. The annual auction raises funds that allow the NYTB to carry on its two-fold mission of promoting New York breeding...

Darley America has released its fee schedule for its stallion roster and leading the way is Medaglia d'Oro (El Prado {Ire}) at $75,000, while the amount for Nyquist (Uncle Mo) will be named after this year's Breeders' Cup, according to Jonabell Farm's management in a Wednesday presser. After Medaglia d'Oro, Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) is tabbed at $65,000, while multiple Eclipse champion Essential Quality (Tapit) and sire of sires Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}) both come in at $50,000. "The 2024 breeding season was one of our...

8th-Saratoga, $110,000, Alw, 6-7, (NW1$X), 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 1:14.96, ft, 8 lengths. JEFFERSON STREET (c, 3, Street Sense--Apiary, by Bernardini), in his second career start, began 2024 with a third-place finish behind Be You (Curlin) at Gulfstream Park in early March. The homebred then splashed home impressively with a nine-length score at Keeneland Apr. 11. Stepping up against optional claimers on the Derby undercard, the dark bay was a well-beaten third before being installed as the 5-2 second choice here. The colt tracked favorite El Capi (Maclean's Music) from the...

by TTR AusNZ/Keely Mckitterick Australian Horse of the Year Lonhro (Aus) (Octagonal {NZ}--Shadea {NZ}, by Straight Strike) has died at the age of 25, Darley Australia announced on Friday. The Woodlands Stud homebred was pensioned in March of 2023. "A wonderful contributor to the Australian racing and breeding worlds, and as 'the people's champion' Lonhro will be forever remembered for what he was able to achieve on the racetrack," said Godolphin Australia's Corporate Director, Ross Cole said in a statement. "Lonhro had a huge and well-earned following, and he earnt...

New Darley America's stallions, champion Cody's Wish (Curlin) and Proxy (Tapit), have had their first mares scanned in foal. Among the first mares bred to two-time GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and recent Eclipse Award winner Cody's Wish is Kite Beach (Awesome Again), who is responsible for 'TDN Rising Star' and GII Rachel Alexandra S. victress Tarifa (Bernardini). Proxy, a homebred son of the versatile Panty Raid (Include) who won the 2022 GI Clark S. and was third in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic, has gotten several mares in...

Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), who stands at Godolphin's Darley division in Lexington, Kentucky, sired a filly Jan. 18--his first reported foal--for breeder Airdrie Stud, the stallion's farm said in a release Friday afternoon. The new filly is out of the Upstart mare Gratz Park, who is a half-sister to GSW Rich Mommy (Algorithms). "We are overjoyed to see such a nice first foal by Speakers Corner out of the Upstart mare Gratz Park," said Ben Henley, Airdrie's General Manager. "She has a ton of quality and within a few hours...