George Strawbridge’s 6-year-old Smart Bid, a Grade 2-winning son of Smart Strike, will stand the 2013 breeding season at Highcliff Stallions[1] at Mill Creek Farm it was announced today.
Winner of the Grade 3 Fair Grounds H. and East Hanover S. earlier this year, Smart Bid won the Grade 2 Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial H. in 2011 and the Damascus S. as a three-year-old at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita. Twice second in Grade 1 races in 2011 – by less than a length to Get Stormy in the Turf Classic at Churchill and by a nose to Teaks North and a length ahead of Get Stormy in the Gulfstream Park Turf H. – Smart Bid retires with a record of 26-6-8-4 and earnings of $1,008,309.
“Smart Bid is very correct, and I believe he is the kind of stallion breeders will find tremendously useful. He had a long successful career, he won over a million dollars, and retired sound. He has the right connections, sire line and pedigree. We are honored and delighted to stand a horse of his stature for the 2013 season,” commented Suzie O’Cain. “He arrived at the farm Tuesday, so we will let him settle in for a few days before scheduling breeder inspections.”
Trainer Graham Motion said of the stallion, “Smart Bid is a millionaire who won from 7 furlongs to 1 1/2 miles on dirt, turf, and synthetic. He was a precocious 2-year old and a classy older horse who comes from a family of Mr. Strawbridge’s that I have been around since I worked for Jonathan Sheppard.”
Bred by his owner, George Strawbridge, Smart Bid is out of the Danzig mare, Recording, a daughter of the multiple graded stakes winner Ratings (by Caveat), one of six stakes horses produced by T. V. Commercial mare T. V. Ad.
The only G2 winner/G1 performing son of two-time leading sire Smart Strike in New York, Smart Bid will stand for $4,500 live foal. For all inquires, please contact Suzie O’Cain (518) 573-2304 or (518) 306-5027.
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2012/11/29/smart-bid-to-highcliff/
Rule, a multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire, has been retired from racing and will stand stud at Vinery New York[1] at Sugar Maple Farm near Poughquag for 2013. The WinStar homebred joins leading sire Bluegrass Cat as a Vinery/WinStar Venture standing in the Empire State. Rule’s introductory fee will be $6,500 stands and nurses, and he’ll participate in the “Dream Big” breeders’ program.
“Rule is a natural for New York, and his pedigree should be a very familiar one to local breeders. Obviously, his dam is the sister of perhaps New York’s best racehorse ever in Funny Cide, who was the first Kentucky Derby winner we bred, and the horse that really put WinStar on the map,” said Elliott Walden, President & CEO of WinStar. “Rule is an awesome-looking individual and a precocious, high-quality racehorse in his own right, winning a Grade 2 this year over Flat Out and placing in three of North America’s most coveted Grade 1 races during his career.”
Rule, a 5-year-old son of Roman Ruler, was a leading 2-year-old who captured three straight wins to close out his juvenile campaign, culminating with a win in the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot S. He ran his win streak to four with a decisive victory in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis S. at Tampa on the Derby Trail as a 3-year-old, before placing in the Grade 1 Florida Derby.
As a 4-year-old, Rule was a Saratoga stakes winner and placed in a pair of prestigious Grade 1 races: the Donn H. and Woodward H. In the latter, Rule earned a 106 Beyer in the 1 1/8-mile event at Saratoga. This year, Rule impressed in his seasonal debut while scoring a clear win over multiple Grade 1 winner Flat Out in the Grade 2 Monmouth Cup, earning another triple-digit Beyer.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Rule retires sound with 14 in-the-money performances from 20 starts, including five total stakes wins from ages 2-5, and career earnings of $1,162,350. Rule hails from the mare Rockcide, a half-sister to New York-bred Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Grade 1 Preakness S. winner Funny Cide.
The “Dream Big” program for breeders consists of breeding a mare to Rule on a regular stands and nurses basis the first two years, then breeding in years three and four at no charge. After breeding the fourth year and paying two stands and nurses contracts, the breeder will receive a lifetime breeding right to Rule in exchange for the early support. No more than two stands and nurses fees of $13,000 combined will be owed by the breeder.
“We are thrilled to offer our Dream Big program to New York breeders,” said Gerry Duffy, Stallion Seasons Director at WinStar Farm. “We offered this program with Hold Me Back in Kentucky and have seen tremendous results with over 100 mares bred in each of his first two years at stud, and we anticipate similar success with the program in New York.”
Rule will be available for inspection starting next week. For more information on the “Dream Big” program or Rule, please contact Erin Robinson at Vinery New York at 845-724-3500, or Gerry Duffy at WinStar at 859-873-1717.
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2012/11/29/rule-retires-to-vinery/
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