Silver State

In our walk of life, nothing succeeds like succession. As with any other form of agriculture, a horse farm is not just a business but a legacy sometimes shaped by several generations of rain-or-shine toil and kitchen-table lore. The balance sheet may happen to be in the black, or in the red--but that's just a moment in time. How does one put a price on the decades of patient nurture that have gone into land and bloodlines? Yet there's never any guarantee about the next generation, whether in terms of...

Today we'll consider some of the sires standing between $10,001 and $19,999. For a long time, I called this the Lookin At Lucky zone. But don't worry, we won't be deploring his neglect yet again: he's staying in Chile, where they evidently appreciate him rather more. Plenty of horses in this bracket have recently relinquished their brief window of commercial opportunity, and are now hanging around to discover whether they might join the very small group whose first runners generate a fresh vogue. Even with the newcomers out of the...

War Front (Danzig) will again lead the way at Claiborne Farm among their nine-stallion roster for 2024, with a fee of $100,000, the same price for which he stood in 2023. In 2023, War Front's yearlings sold for up to $800,000, and he is among the top 10 North American-based sires this season by percentage of black-type winners from starters (6.9%), black-type performers from starters (11.8%) and total graded stakes winners (six). War Front's GI Preakness S.-winning son War of Will will stand for $25,000. His first yearlings sold at...

As we approach the opening of the 2023 breeding season, the TDN staff is once again sitting down with leading breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. Today we caught up with JCB Stables' Ezequiel Cesar Valle, who represents the aforementioned American branch of Haras Firmamento, one of the largest farms in Argentina. MAID OF HONOR (6, Medaglia d´Oro--Lovely Regina, by Deputy Minister), to be bred to Street Sense We bought five mares at the last Keeneland November Sale, and she was the...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-GP, $84k, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 2:37p.m. ET Richard Schermerhorn's $390,000 OBSAPR purchase LADY BETH (Hard Spun) will be unveiled on what looks like a very active Sunday of racing across the country. Drawn toward the middle in this Gulfstream maiden, she is the first registered foal for her dam, the Werthemier et Frere-bred and West Point-campaigned Boreale (Makfi {GB}); four times stakes-placed in her career in America as well as a multiple winner in France. This is the female family of MGSW Interactif (Broken...

The group we consider today for now retains a convenient gloss, still in the happy position of offering "all talk, no action." But they will actually have got as far as delivering their first flesh-and-bone foals into the straw by the time they start receiving their second book of mares. And many of the people who exploited their novelty value last year will automatically have moved on to the next intake of rookies, rather than expose themselves to the peril that the market won't like a debut crop. Foals conceived...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 5th-KEE, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, post time: 3:08 p.m. Hill 'n' Dale's Curlin has been good to Godolphin this season, having accounted for GI Forego S. upsetter Cody's Wish, and the 'Boys in Blue' take the wraps off the stallion's daughter POBLANO Saturday afternoon. Drawn the rail and pegged at morning-line odds of 12-1 that seem overlaid, the Apr. 16 foal is out of Kinda Spicy (A.P. Indy), perfect in two starts in an abbreviated racing career who has since gone on to...

International sire War Front leads Claiborne's stallion roster yet again, remaining at a fee of $100,000 for 2023. His son War of Will, whose first weanlings will be on offer at the upcoming breeding stock sales, will stand for $25,000. Champion Blame will have his fee increased for 2023 from $20,000 to $25,000. Fellow Eclipse winner Runhappy's fee also went up from $12,500 to $15,000. GI Met Mile victor Silver State will stand his second season for $20,000. MGISW Catholic Boy's fee was decreased from $20,000 to $15,000 and Demarchelier...

Claiborne's been running an eye-catching ad on its two young sires War of Will (War Front) and Silver State (Hard Spun) that ties them to their illustrious Claiborne-based grandsire Danzig, under the heading, "The Danzig Legacy continues at Claiborne." What really hits home about this ad is that Danzig's legacy in North America is now limited to two stallions, Claiborne's War Front and Darley's Hard Spun, and their sons. In contrast, Danzig is a massive sire-line influence in Europe and Australasia through many different strains, led by Danehill but also...

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...

In the hunt for a first Group 1 badge, a robust field of juveniles line up for the 73rd running of the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies Sunday. The field includes a quartet of group scorers, headed by Water Navillera (Jpn) (Silver State), undefeated in three starts at three different racecourses, including her latest win in the Nov. 6 G3 Kyoto Sho Fantasy S. It was the first graded victory by the progeny of Silver State, whose short but successful career (four wins from five starts) ended early due to tendonitis....

Welcome to our annual winter survey of Kentucky stallion options--with the difference, this time round, that the emphasis will be far more strictly and succinctly on value. Over the past couple of years, acknowledging of the brevity of commercial momentum for so many sires once losing their freshman luster, we've got into the habit of granting some attention (more or less courteous!) to just about every stallion in the Bluegrass. But such an exhaustive approach has doubtless proved still more exhausting for the reader than for the compiler. So, we've...