Mr. Prospector

Last weekend represented a staging post on the Derby trail, a chance not only to reflect on some rather puzzling sophomore skirmishes, to this point, but also to celebrate fulfilments that remain far more pertinent to the vast majority of Thoroughbreds. After all, very few get anywhere near testing their eligibility for the Classics and few others, certainly among the male of the species, will contrive a second career from such opportunities as remain once they have missed that one. That's why purses are so important. Otherwise racehorse ownership would...

Keeneland will supplement four horses to Book 1 of the September Yearling Sale, which begins Monday, Sept. 11, the organization said in a release Thursday. Opening day of the sale will include a daughter of American Pharoah out of Pushkinskaya (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) (hip 190), consigned by Highgate Sales, agent, who is a full sister to European Champion 2-year-old filly Maybe (Ire). Four Star Sales, agent, consigns a colt by Uncle Mo (hip 191) and a half-brother to GISP Conquest Panthera (Kitten's Joy) and MGSW Happy Like a Fool (Distorted...

There were a lot of "firsts" associated with Fusaichi Pegasus, the 2000 GI Kentucky Derby winner who was euthanized at Ashford Stud May 23 due to old-age infirmities that had accumulated over his 26 years. As the first Derby winner of the 2000s decade, this high-spirited, headstrong son of Mr. Prospector had commanded a $4-million price tag at Keeneland July, then the highest price paid for a yearling at that sale in 13 years. And to this day, that auction price remains as the highest ever paid for any starter...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is the GI Kentucky Oaks, second only in stature at Churchill Downs to the GI Kentucky Derby. The Derby isn't alone as the oldest continuously held major sporting event in the U.S. The Oaks is right there with it, having been held every year, without interruption for wars or pandemics, since racing first began at Churchill in 1875 when the Louisville oval was known as the...

A few weeks ago, I was a guest on the weekly Going In Circles podcast, which is hosted by Chuck Simon, the former trainer who's also a top-notch writer at his blog, and Barry "The Sniper" Spears, an excellent handicapper and well-known figure on Twitter. Simon asked for my opinion on which stallion I'd consider to be the most influential of the past 50 years. You can listen to a nine-minute clip of the conversation here. My answer? Claiborne's iconic Mr. Prospector, of course. The clip generated quite a bit...

Solera Farm in Williston, Florida will hold an open house on Sunday, Jan. 22 from Noon to 3 p.m. (EST). Veteran sire Greatness (Mr. Prospector) and the Into Mischief son Rogueish (Into Mischief) will both stand for a stud fee of $2,500 for a live foal. All mares pregnant to Rogueish offered during OBS January will sell with a complimentary, no guarantee 2023 season to Rogueish, which may be used on any mare of their choice. The only son of Into Mischief standing in Florida, this sire has 11 yearlings...

Covering numbers are more an indication of fashion than of success but, this being, as we so often hear, "a numbers game", it is worth having a closer look at the Flat stallions in Britain and Ireland who have been gifted books into three figures this year. We will also be looking in more depth at the French covering numbers in the coming days. According to the statistics recently published by Weatherbys in the annual Return of Mares, there were 62 stallions who covered 100 or more mares in 2022,...

GSW Cape Canaveral (Mr. Prospector--Seaside Attraction, by Seattle Slew) passed away at age 26 at Highfield Stock Farm in Canada, where he stood for 14 years. He had been battling severe cellulitis and was humanely euthanized. He was pensioned last fall. Cape Canaveral has been one of the leading sires in Canada since 2008 with 20 crops of racing age, 541 foals, 429 starters, 21 black-type winners, 315 winners of 1,080 races and earnings of over $17.8 million. Out of GI Kentucky Oaks winner Seaside Attraction, Cape Canaveral raced for...

I guess the whole point is that ours is a world apart, a sanctuary from the cares of the "real" one. But it still feels unnerving, to see a new cycle of the sales calendar open with such blithe indifference to a wider consensus that the global economy is scrabbling along the top of a precipice. Both Saratoga and Deauville benefit from a heady atmosphere that might easily induce a perilous incaution when a yearling stands there shimmering on a sale rostrum. But it was ever thus, and the market...

Dance Brightly (Mr. Prospector--Dance Smartly, by Danzig) died at the age of 27 in Chile, Turf Diario reported. The Sam-Son Farm homebred raced for trainer Mark Frostad and ran out a maiden special weight winner at Woodbine in October 1997. The Ontario-bred then ran second in the Listed Coronation Futurity later in his juvenile season, but was ultimately retired due to an injury suffered in a workout in 1998. A son of Canadian Horse of the Year and Canadian Triple Crown heroine Dance Smartly started his stud career at Hill...

For half a century, Arthur Boyd Hancock III has called Stone Farm home. It is a tract of land where, as the nursery's website succinctly states, the team is 'trying to raise you a good horse.' To say they've achieved that goal over the years would be an understatement of monumental proportions. The list of animals that have grown up on that stretch of Bourbon County Bluegrass include stakes winners too numerous to mention; horses from A to Y, including Classic-winning and Classic-placed runners like Gato del Sol, Risen Star,...

TDN is proud to partner with the Keeneland Library and the Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries in a very special collaboration: the Keeneland 'Life's Work' Oral History Project, a series of filmed interviews by TDN columnist Chris McGrath with significant figures in the Thoroughbred industry. The current installment, with Gus Koch of Claiborne Farm, appears here. Legends, to you and me. Immortals, paragons. But to Gus Koch, they were the flesh-and-blood companions of his daily toil: some were cherished friends; others, just a pain...