Photo: Courtesy Darley Stud
By Eric Mitchell, courtesy Bloodhorse.com
New York sire and graded stakes winner Desert Party has been sold by Darley to a partnership that includes the stallion’s co-breeder Stephen Sinatra and will be relocated to Irish Hill Century Farm near Saratoga Springs.
“You never know in this business how things are going to work out, do you?” said Sinatra, the managing partner of the stallion’s new ownership group. “Having been one of his breeders, I’ve followed his career closely and am truly excited about being able to stand him and keep him in New York. And I must express my appreciation to Darley for working with us, as I know other offers were also fielded.”
Desert Party’s 2017 stud fee will be announced in the near future.
A 10-year-old son of Street Cry and sold as a yearling for $2.1 million, Desert Party won six times in 10 starts for Godolphin. He earned victories in the Sanford Stakes (gr. II), Gulf News UAE Two Thousand Guineas (UAE-III), and Derrinstown Stud Elnadim Mahab Al Shimall (UAE-III). Street Cry also won both the UAE Two Thousand Guineas and Derby.
Desert Party previously stood at Sequel Stallions in New York for three seasons and was New York’s leading freshman sire of 2014. His first crop included seven stakes horses, among them grade III winner Salama and graded stakes horses Heart’s Song, Desert Dynamo, and Can’t Happen Here.
Out of 60 lifetime winners to date, Desert Party’s other top runners are stakes winners Mecke’s Madelyn (owned by Sinatra and Corby Caiazzo) and Party Pooper.
Desert Party ranks among the top 10 leading New York sires in 2016, led by Saharan, a Paul Tackett homebred who is two for three on the dirt and has a career high 102 Equibase Speed Figure. His juvenile son Escape to Vegas, bred by Sinatra and owned by Robert Masiello, won his debut May 11 by 4 3/4 lengths at Belmont Park.
