Darley America

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...

Today we conclude our survey of Kentucky stallion options with a look at the apex of the pyramid, comprising a couple of dozen standing between $60,000 and $250,000--besides whatever it might take to secure your mare an audience with Justify. It feels presumptuous enough to offer counsel even on cheaper sires, when each mating should boil down to you finding an optimal fit for an individual mare that you know inside out. Still greater hesitation, then, must precede any attempt to discover "value" among this lot. No stallion has any...

Now we're really entering nosebleed altitudes for most breeders, between $30,000 and $50,000: a zone where you should feel that you're improving the odds of coming up with an elite horse. It tells you a lot about our business that the majority of the two dozen stallions operating at this level can only do so because they have yet to send a single runner into the starting gate. A quarter of these we immediately set to one side, as absolute beginners, because those received separate consideration in the opening instalment...

Old Friends in Georgetown, Kentucky welcomed Godolphin's GI Travers S. hero Alpha (Bernardini) on Friday, Dec. 8, the retirement farm said in a release Saturday. Bred by Darley in America, Alpha was trained by Kiaran P. McLaughlin and owned by Godolphin his entire career. He finished with a record of six wins and $1,815,667 in earnings over 22 starts, which included the first dead heat in the Travers since 1874. Alpha began his stud career in 2015 at Sequel Stallions in New York, before moving to Haras Bagé do Sul...

MGISW Cody's Wish (Curlin), who just won yesterday's GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile for the second year in a row, will stand at Darley America's Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Kentucky next season for $75,000, along with fellow new stallion GISW Proxy (Tapit) whose fee will be set at $25,000, the breeding operation said in a release early Sunday morning. "You couldn't have written a better script on how Cody's Wish would end his sensational career," said Darley Sales Manager Darren Fox. "He always, always, left all he...

John Ferguson acquired Round Pond on behalf of Darley for $5.75 million at Fasig-Tipton's fall sale in 2007. The elegant bay produced two stakes winners for the Darley/Godolphin banner--MSW & GISP Long River (A.P. Indy) and SW & GSP Lake Lucerne (Dubawi {Ire})--while an unraced daughter produced 2022 GI Carter H. winner Speaker's Corner. The latter, a Godolphin homebred by home stallion Street Sense, stood his first season in the Darley stud barn alongside his sire this year. "Round Pond is a sweet girl," said Darley's Gainsborough division farm manager...

Ashado's Breeders' Cup win in 2004 was sandwiched by placings both the year prior and the year after. The grand mare's 11 black-type wins included seven Grade Is, ranging from the Spinaway at two to the Kentucky Oaks at three and the Ogden Phipps at four. No wonder John Ferguson went to $9 million--then a world record--for her at the 2005 Keeneland November sale on behalf of Darley. Her final foal, a Bernardini yearling, is a full-brother to her stakes winner Westwood. "She is the dominant mare in her retired...

With a patented Calvin Borel ride, Street Sense skimmed the rail and ricocheted off the turn with such momentum that perhaps even Borel was caught by surprise, as he glanced back several times before finally easing the Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner past the wire while 10 lengths clear. Much was made at the time of the 'Juvenile Jinx,' as no Juvenile winner had yet won the GI Kentucky Derby the following year. The charismatic Street Sense promptly put that myth to bed the next spring, then added the GI Travers...

Nyquist capped an undefeated 2-year-old season with a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, then added the GI Kentucky Derby the next spring, becoming just the second colt to complete the Juvenile-Derby double. His fellow Darley stallion, Street Sense, was the first. Nyquist got his sire career off to a bang with his first crop including a Breeders' Cup winner of his own in 2020 Juvenile Fillies star Vequist. "From his first season in 2017 until now, hands down the most fertile horse I've ever worked with anywhere in...

"After Sheikh Mohammed purchased Stonerside Stable in 2008, he graciously kept on the entire Stonerside staff," said Vicky Van Camp, who was formerly the Research and Information Director of Stonerside Stable and is now Godolphin's U.S. Racing Research Coordinator. She was at Stonerside when Midshipman was born and is now at Darley, where Midshipman stands. "Midshipman, the last Grade I winner for Stonerside, became the first Grade I winner from the purchase for Sheikh Mohammed with his Breeders' Cup Juvenile win just a month later. I'm happy to say a...