G1 stakes winner Line of David is moving from Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky to Red River Farms in Coushatta, Louisiana for the 2017 breeding season.
At three, Line of David defeated eventual Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver in the G1 Arkansas Derby. He had three wins and a third from seven starts, earning $662,000 in his racking career.
A son of G1 Haskell Invitational handicap winner Lion Heart, out of Emma’s Dilemma, a winning Capote mare, Line of David is a leading third crop sire. Through October 24, 2016, he ranks #21 among North American third crop sires with $924,028 in 2016 progeny earnings to date. He concluded 2015 ranking #15 among second crop sires in North America.
Line of David is represented by Firing Line who set a new track record in the G3 Sunland Derby and placed 2nd in the G1 Kentucky Derby.
Line of David will be standing as property of a syndicate for a 2017 fee of $2,500 live foal.
Five-time Grade 1 winner Court Vision, a leading first-crop and second-crop stallion in the North American rankings over the past two years, has been relocated to stand at Acadiana Equine @ Copper Crowne in Opelousas, Louisiana. He will stand as property of a partnership for a fee of $3,500 with discounts for multiple breedings. Court Vision stood the 2016 season at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.
Court Vision retired sound after punctuating his 31-start career with a victory in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile while closing from 12th against a field that included multiple Eclipse Award winners Gio Ponti and Goldikova (Ire). A son of champion Gulch out of a half sister to Horse of the Year A.P. Indy and full sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Summer Squall, Court Vision won at least one Grade 1 stakes in four straight years from ages 3 to 6. While much of his success came on the turf with wins in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby, Shadwell Turf Mile, Woodbine Mile and Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap in addition to his Breeders’ Cup triumph, he also recorded graded victories on the dirt in the Grade 2 Remsen and Grade 3 Iroquois stakes as a 2-year-old. All told, he scored eight graded stakes wins with earnings of more than $3.7 million. All but three of his lifetime starts came in graded stakes company with 21 of those being Grade 1 competition.
Court Vision is the sire of two of the leading juveniles in Canada this year with his son King and His Court taking the $184,920 Coronation Futurity this past weekend at Woodbine and his undefeated daughter Conquest Vivi winning two stakes at Woodine. That filly just sold for $480,000 as part of the Conquest Stables dispersal at the Keeneland November sale, and she will be pointed to a 3-year-old campaign for new owner Adena Springs.
“Court Vision offers a rare opportunity for breeders in Louisiana and around the region to tap into world-class bloodlines with one of the most impressive race records you will find for a miler,” said David Tillson, who represents the ownership group. “We think he’s the complete package and one of those stallions you come across and feel like you really need to breed a mare to him. He’s already proven himself as a sire, and with him being closely related to A.P. Indy and Summer Squall we think his future is exceptionally bright.”
Some of Court Vision’s other stakes horses include stakes winner Crumlin Spirit, an earner of $228,337; and Hammers Vision, who placed in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and has banked $192,324.
Most buyers of a top-class, $850,000 Thoroughbred mare at public auction would plan a mating for the following breeding season to one of North America’s more fashionable stallions.
Not Benoit.
At the Nov. 11 session of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, Grovendale’s James Keogh won a bidding war to acquire the multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed mare Moment of Majesty for $850,000 from Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency’s consignment.
The 9-year-old daughter of Saint Liam was purchased in the name of Benoit’s Star Guitar Inc., named after the Louisiana breeder’s top homebred Star Guitar.
Keogh said Benoit bought the mare specifically to breed to Star Guitar, who stands at Clear Creek Stud in Louisiana for $4,000—a far cry from the $100,000 fee for Curlin, the Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm stallion to whom Moment of Majesty was bred this year.
A day later, Benoit struck for another high-priced mare to breed to her stallion Star Guitar, going to $550,000 for the durable runner Five Star Momma during the fifth session of Keeneland’s November breeding stock sale.
Sold in foal to top WinStar Farm stallion Tiznow, Five Star Momma topped the Nov. 12 session, in which the sale enters a new realm, beginning Book 3 after the best lots in the auction were offered in Books 1 and 2.
Keogh said Benoit’s decision to breed such an expensive mares to Star Guitar reflects her desire to give the stallion the best opportunity to succeed.
“It’s not about the money with her. It’s about the horses,” Keogh, part of Benoit’s team of advisers, said of the disparity between the mare’s purchase price and the stallion to whom she will be bred. “It’s family to her. She loves (Star Guitar) so much. He means the world to her.”
Racing for Benoit’s Brittlyn Stable, Star Guitar won 24 of his 30 starts, including 22 stakes, and retired as the all-time leading Louisiana-bred earner of over $1.7 million. In his only graded stakes placing and rare venture outside Louisiana, Star Guitar finished third in the Alysheba Stakes (gr. III) at Churchill Downs.
Represented by 36 juveniles of 2016, Star Guitar has had two winners from six starters to date, and Keogh said Benoit is getting ready to send out several of her promising homebreds trained by Al Stall Jr.
Keogh said the breeder has supported Star Guitar since he entered stud, sending some 15 of her 22 broodmares to the stallion annually.
“He’s a beautiful-looking horse. He’s show-hunter pretty,” Keogh said. “He’s a fabulous-moving horse. He wouldn’t break eggs, he’s so light on his feet.”
With his breeding and superb running ability, Star Guitar likely could have been gone to a farm outside Louisiana, but keeping him in the Bayou State fit with Benoit’s support of the state breeding program. Star Guitar’s fee will remain at $4,000 for 2017.
“It’s everything to her to support Louisiana’s breeders’ program,” Keogh said. “She had several offers to stand him in Kentucky, but she wouldn’t consider it because she wants to support Louisiana racing and breeding. She is passionate about racing. She watches racing three hours a day.”
Louisiana freshman sire Calibrachoa had his first winner Oct. 20 when Shy Rustongot up in the final strides of a six-furlong maiden special weight at Delta Downs.
The filly is the third winner from three foals of racing age produced by Shy Baby, a winning daughter of Out of Place. Owned by Brava Stables and trained by Patrick Devereux, Shy Ruston is a half sister to stakes winner Governmentshutdown and stakes-placed winner Ganges .
Shy Ruston was bred in Louisiana by Neal McFadden, who bought Shy Baby for $16,000 out of the 2012 Keeneland November breeding stock sale out of the Denali Stud consignment. Brava Stables bought Shy Ruston for $4,500 at this year’s Equine Sales of Louisiana 2-year-olds and horses of racing age sale out of the 5B Farm consignment. She has now earned $25,770.
Calibrachoa (Southern Image) is a multiple grade III stakes winner bred and raced by Nelson Bunker Hunt until November 2010 when trainer Todd Pletcher claimed him for owner Mike Repole. He went on to win the Tom Fool Handicap and the Toboggan Stakes in 2011 and 2012 and finished third in the 2011 Cigar Mile Handicap (gr. I) behind To Honor and Serve and Hymn Book. He achieved a solid record of 10-3-4 in 20 starts.
Calibrachoa stands at Red River Farms in Louisiana with a 2016 fee of $2,000.
Four time Louisiana bred Horse of the Year, Star Guitar, had his first winner at Churchill Downs on Saturday when his Senor Guitar made a bold move turning for home in the long Churchill stretch to take the lead and win by one and a quarter lengths while getting the six furlongs in 1:11.90. Bred and owned by Clifford Grumm, the Louisiana bred is trained by Helen Pitts.
Star Guitar, bred and owned by the Brittlyn Stable of Evelyn and Maurice Benoit, is the all time leading money earner in Louisiana with $1,749,862 including twenty-four wins with twenty-two of them being stakes races from thirty starts. Senor Guitar is the second starter for Star Guitar, who has forty-one Two-Year-Olds in his freshman crop. Star Guitar stands at Clear Creek Stud in Folsom, La., his 2016 fee was $4,000.
The stallion Ide who has been a perennial leading active sire of Louisiana breds since coming to the state for the 2003 breeding season, has been pensioned. Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farms has a place reserved for the 24-year-old chestnut son of Forty Niner out of Maytide, a stakes winning Naskra mare.
Ide was among the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby before an injury ended his career. At ages two and three, Ide won seven consecutive races including five stakes, four of which were graded. As a juvenile he was ranked among the top colts of his generation, being weighted at 121 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap, a figure only bettered by Maria’s Mon (126), Unbridled’s Song (126) and Hennessy (124). On the board in eight of nine starts, Ide’s earnings on the track totaled $363,780.
Pete Willmott who raced Ide through his Willmott Stables and maintained a business interest in his stud career expressed his thoughts, “I can only say positive things about this horse. He was a relatively small horse with a huge heart.….his trainer called me about his injury on April 1st , and I thought it was an April Fools joke. That was a real blow. He deserved a shot at the classics….He always had a positive attitude, and that can be said of him as a stallion as well.”
Ide entered stud in 1997. After initially standing at the Lavin Family’s Longfield Farm, he moved to Louisiana and stood at Clear Creek Stud in Folsom for The Ide Group throughout the rest of his career. In addition to Willmott, the Ide Group consists of partners Bryan Harang (Georgia Farms, Inc.), Allen Peltier, and Harvey “Drew” Peltier, III.
He was the leading sire in Louisiana for 2003 by number of winners and North American earnings, and stayed at or near the top of the leading Louisiana sires list for the remainder of his career. He was the A.L. “Red” Erwin Louisiana Sire of the Year in both 2009 and 2013, leading all other sires of Louisiana breds in earnings those years.
In a 2007 column in TDN (1-24-07) Bill Oppenheim ranked Ide #1 in his “Leaders By C Runner Index,” and stated “if I was a Louisiana breeder, Ide would sure be on my list of stallions… he’s still a more efficient sire of C Runners than the likes of A.P. Indy (third), Storm Cat (eighth), Distorted Humor (11th) and Danzig (13th)…”
Ide is the sire of 16 stakes winners to date. His top Louisiana bred runners include 2013 Accredited Louisiana Bred Champion Horse of the Year, Ide Be Cool (8 wins, 4 stakes wins, $457,200) who ran undefeated as a juvenile; and 2008 Accredited Louisiana Bred
Champion Colt, Ide Like A Double (10 wins, 7 stakes wins, $632,416). Idefromthebayou set a new course record at Evangeline Downs as a three-year-old going abt. 7 ½ furlongs on the turf in 1:28.90, and won every year from ages two to seven (2015).
Currently, Ide’s lifetime progeny earnings are $25,562,535 with 72% winners from starters, and average earnings per starter of $54,273 from 17 crops to race. His 2016 two-year-olds have yet to start, and will be followed by limited 2015 and 2016 foal crops.
Val Murrell, general manager of Clear Creek Stud, LLC where the stallion has stood since 2003 remarked, “Ide has been really great for Clear Creek and the entire thoroughbred industry in Louisiana. He has consistently produced runners that have been highly competitive at every level. They often run early, and more importantly I think, they last. They hold together and reward owners over the long haul. He has been incredibly kind and easy to deal with and he will be missed by many. However we are very comfortable in knowing that Mr. Willmott has him accepted to go to Old Friends. He deserves it.”
Ide Group manager Harvey “Drew” Peltier, III, says “The opportunity to live out his days at Old Friends where I know he will have plenty visitors and attention, is like having a happy ending to a book or a movie. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
“We are honored the Ide Group has chosen us for their wonderful stallion,” said Michael Blowen, President and founder of Old Friends. “It’s really a privilege to care for these great athletes when their careers are over. We’re looking forward to all of Ide’s fans visiting the farm.”
Old Friends is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that cares for more than 160 retired racehorses. It’s Dream Chase Farm, located in Georgetown, KY, is open to tourists daily by appointment. Old Friends also has two satellite facilities: Old Friends at Cabin Creek: The Bobby Frankel Division, in Greenfield Center, N.Y., and Old Friends at Kentucky Downs, in Franklin, KY. For more information on tours or to make a donation see their website at http://www.oldfriendsequine.org or contact the main farm at (502) 863-1775.
Louisiana based stallion Zong had the first stakes winner of his career Sunday, August 9, 2016 at Suffolk Downs.
Jeb, 4-year-old filly by Zong out of Never Neverland, won the $75,000 First Episode Stakes at Suffolk Downs Sunday. The filly won by ¾, going 1 mile, 70 yards in 1:44.85. The victory was her fourth and brings her earnings to $78,033.
Just a day earlier, another Zong filly, Tania (Blue’s River Gal) ran 2nd in the Louise Kimball Stakes, also at Suffolk Downs. After an early lead, the 3-year-old was edged in the final strides of the race to come in just a head behind winner Angry Patty.
From only seven starters to date, Zong has four winners. Five of his seven runners have been in the money this year. The son of Unbridled’s Song out of Storm Cat mare, Zing, stands at Indian Creek Thoroughbred Farm in Spearsville, Louisiana for a fee of $1,500.
Lane’s End Texas, one of the Lone Star State’s leading Thoroughbred farms, has closed and the three stallions standing there—Too Much Bling, Grasshopper and Congaree—have been relocated to Valor Farm near Pilot Point, Texas.
Located near Hempstead, Texas, and formerly known as Huisache Farm, Lane’s End Texas stood many of the top Texas stallions over the past two decades, including all-time leading Texas stallion Valid Expectations. William S. Farish, owner of Lane’s End Texas as well as Lane’s End in Kentucky, has been a perennial leading owner and breeder in Texas. The stallions were managed by longtime farm general manager Danny Shifflett.
“I have been very blessed during my time at Lane’s End to work for someone like Mr. Farish and enjoy the type of animals he has produced and the care that he allows you to give to those horses,” said Shifflett. “We had a great staff with some remarkable people who were here for many, many years. We really appreciate the support we received from the Texas industry and from around the country.”
The upcoming Texas Summer Yearling and Mixed Sale on August 29 at Lone Star Park will feature a dispersal of some Lane’s End Texas’ broodmares along with weanlings and yearlings by the farm’s former stallions.
The three Lane’s End Texas stallions will join the roster of another elite farm in the state, Valor Farm. Started by Dorothy and Clarence Scharbauer Jr. in the early 1990s, Valor Farm has also been home to many top Texas stallions over the years including Hadif, Magic Cat and Rare Brick. The farm’s 2016 roster included Crossbow, Early Flyer, Jet Phone and My Golden Song. Over the past few years, Valor Farm stallions have consistently sired Texas-bred graded stakes winners including Promise Me Silver, Fiftyshadesofgold, Thegirlinthatsong and He’s Comin in Hot.
Too Much Bling, currently the leading Texas sire by 2016 progeny earnings, just had his offspring sweep both divisions of the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity earlier this month at Lone Star Park, with both being bred by Farish. From 195 foals of racing age, Too Much Bling has sired 20 blacktype stakes winners, which at 10.2% ranks him highest among all stallions in North America.
Grasshopper, currently #2 on this year’s Texas sire list, is the sire of recent Assault Stakes winner Supermason (also bred by Farish) and Texas Chrome, a four-time stakes winner and runner-up in the Grade 3 Iowa Derby this year.
Congaree, who moved to Texas in 2015, is the sire of six graded stakes winners, including three Grade 1 winners.
The combination of stallions gives Valor Farm six of the top 10 active stallions in the state by 2016 progeny earnings.
“We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to stand these top stallions that Danny and his team have done such a great job with,” said Valor Farm General Manager Ken Carson. “Keeping these horses in Texas is important. The response we’ve gotten from our clients already has been great; people are excited to have them in North Texas.”
The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association has announced the results of the 2015 Accredited Louisiana Bred Champions, 2015 Stallions of the Year, 2015 Broodmare of the Year and Breeders of the Year.
2yo filly ~ Jet Black Magic
2yo colt or gelding ~ Sea Vow
3yo filly ~ Pacific Pink
3yo colt or gelding ~ Mobile Bay
4 & up filly or mare ~ Tensas Harbor
4 & up male ~ String King
Broodmare of the Year ~ Truly Romantic
Stallion of the Year ~ Half Ours
Breeder of the Year ~ Irwin Olian (Tigertail Ranch)
High Percentage Breeder ~ Stacey Moak
Accredited Louisiana Bred Champions and Broodmare of the Year are selected by a vote of the membership. Leading Stallion and Leading Breeders are based on statistics.
Award presentations will be made at the 2016 Annual Meeting on Saturday June 11, 2016, at Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino, when the overall “Horse of the Year” will be revealed.
Devilish Humor won the eighth race at Delta Downs, Thursday, November 12 to become the first winner for Attempted Humor, a stakes placed winning son of Distorted Humor.
In a 7 furlong maiden special weight, Devilish Humor stalked the early pace from the outside, inched closer entering the second turn, responded to duel through the drive and inched clear late to win by 1 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:30.68. Devilish Humor was bred in Louisiana by Charles Guillory and is owned and trained by Benard Chatters.
With only 4 runners to date in his first crop, Attempted Humor is now represented by one winner and one placed starter. The stallion stands at Metoyer and Chatters Farm in Lake Charles, Louisiana for a 2016 breeding fee of $2,000 Live Foal.
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