Hard Spun

by Christie DeBernardis & Jessica Martini LEXINGTON, KY--Keeneland saved the best for last during Wednesday's second Book 1 session of their January Horses of All Ages Sale with the 3-year-old colt Belgrade (Hard Spun), a debut winner at Fair Grounds, topping the day's action at $700,000. A total of 263 head changed hands Wednesday for $18,859,500 with an average of $71,709 and a median of $40,000. Sixty-four horses left the ring unsold for an RNA rate of 19.57%. During the equivalent 2021 session, which was boosted by the Paul Pompa...

And so we reach the final leg of our journey hunting out value among Kentucky sires in 2022. It's been a rather more focused exercise this time round, and if that means plenty of stallions (and indeed some farms) have been overlooked, so be it. It's only ever the subjective view of a single bystander. You'll know what works for your own mare, and for your own agenda, too, whether you're an end user, say, or first and foremost need to anticipate commercial demand. We've often complained that a market...

According to Walker Hancock, Silver State (Hard Spun - Supreme, by Empire Maker) has been an easy sell as breeders have stopped by Claiborne Farm in the past few weeks to see the new, Grade I-winning arrival. "Everyone who has come to see him has absolutely loved him," Hancock reported. "They can't get enough of him. We've even sold shares to him just with people who have come out to see him. The comments we get are that people didn't realize how big he is. He's 16'3 and is dappled...

Hard to put a price on a stallion like this. Apart from anything else, he is the parting legacy of Danzig--conceived when the great patriarch was 26--and his maternal line brings a daughter of the wartime foal My Babu (Fr) as close up as third dam. True to that venerable seeding, his stock has emulated both the class and constitution that sustained his own speed--carrying commitment on the racetrack. Though his career was compressed into barely a year, he didn't just "dance every dance," but turned the pages for the...

Claiborne Farm announced Monday that this year's GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. winner Silver State (Hard Spun) will stand for $20,000 for the 2022 breeding season. It was announced last month that Claiborne had acquired the Steve Asmussen trainee's breeding rights. Campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Willis Horton Racing LLC, the $450,000 KEESEP yearling was completing a six-race win streak in the Met Mile, and defeated GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Knicks Go (Paynter) in the process. Silver State will be available for inspection later this week by...

Whatever Hard Not to Love (Hard Spun - Loving Vindication, by Vindication) may have lost with the absence of one eye, she gained with the loyal following that developed over her career as she won the hearts of racing fans and earned the respect of the racing community. "She was special because she dealt with a problem that I knew she was thinking about and I knew was on her mind, but she had the class and the style and the substance to fight through the issue," said Terry Finley,...

DEL MAR, CA - Aloha West (Hard Spun) rocketed down the Del Mar stretch to just nail Dr. Schivel (Violence) by a painful nose in an absolutely thrilling renewal of Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Shuffled between runners and outsprinted toward the back of the pack in seventh as heavily favored star sophomore Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) was hounded through fractions of :21.91 and :44.11, Aloha West was ready to pounce in sixth as they approached the top of the stretch. The 1-2 favorite was the first to blink as...

Darley America will have two major new additions to its stallion roster for 2022 as GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and GI Belmont S. winner Essential Quality (Tapit--Delightful Quality, by Elusive Quality) and fellow Grade I winner Maxfield (Street Sense--Velvety, by Bernardini) are set to retire to Jonabell after their final starts. "To have both Essential Quality and Maxfield coming to Jonabell is as exciting as it gets. And to have accomplished what they did as homebreds in the colors of Godolphin makes it even that much more meaningful," said Darley...

Claiborne Farm has acquired the breeding rights to multiple graded stakes winner Silver State (Hard Spun--Supreme, by Empire Maker). He will stand at the Paris, Ky., farm upon his retirement from racing. The 4-year-old son of Hard Spun has won seven of 13 career starts, hitting the board in 12 of those starts, and has made over $1.9 million. In 2021 alone, he is 4-1-1 from six starts and has made over $1.6 million. "We are very excited to stand Silver State in 2022," said Claiborne's Walker Hancock. "Danzig is...

If his most important legacy to our community was the example of his own conduct, it was nonetheless apt that a more tangible bequest made by Rick Porter to the breed itself was measured afresh even as he left us. For while the owner of Fox Hill Farms devoted more attention to the welfare of those horses that had failed to extend their usefulness, into a breeding program, he also measured out for our benefit some precious genetic ore--none deeper than that mined by the winner of the GI Hill...

One of the most successful and respected owners of his era, Rick Porter died on June 6 after a long battle with cancer. He was 80 years old. He campaigned three Eclipse Award winners: Kodiak Kowboy (2009 sprinter); Songbird (2015 2-year-old filly and 2016 3-year-old filly) and Havre de Grace (2011 older mare and Horse of the Year). Before he was an owner, Porter was a racing fan. He was born in Wilmington, Delaware and began accompanying his parents to Delaware Park as a child where his father made $2...

When Mario Pino began riding way back in 1977, he figured he'd stick around for a few years and then go off and do something else. Weight was an issue and he wasn't sure that he had the desire to keep grinding away. Forty-four years later, Pino, 59, resumed his career last week at Gulfstream and is determined to plug away until he gets his 7,000th win. He needs 39 more winners to reach that milestone, something only nine jockeys have ever achieved. "I'm just 39 away and that's why...