On the Monday preceding the Thanksgiving holiday, I seized the day (a little Carpe Diem pun) and took a tour at WinStar Farm. This modern but magnificent horse farm has been on my to do list since I began my website nearly three years ago. Good things do come to those who wait because WinStar just keeps adding champions to their sire roster. At over 20 stallions there was so much to see so I’ve selected some to share.
WinStar farm was created in 2000. Thoroughbred racing fans Kenny Troutt and Bill Casner purchased the 400 acre Prestonwood Farm in Versailles, KY. Prestonwood Farm came with several features listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of the history of the land it acquired from the 1700’s Silver Pool Farm. Prestonwood Farm was already prestigious for Thoroughbreds like Da Hoss and Distorted Humor. Da Hoss won the Breeders’ Cup Mile twice as well as other graded stakes and now lives in The Kentucky Horse Park’s Hall of Champions with 2003 Kentucky Derby winning Funny Cide, the son of Distorted Humor. Distorted Humor stayed on at WinStar through the Prestonwood farm sale and still works as a sire and sire of sires. WinStar has continued to grow and now spans over 2,700 acres with stallions, mares, foals and an elaborate training center complete with their own racetrack and all kinds of exercise and therapy tools of the trade. My tour took me to see the sires, their stalls and breeding shed.
The stallion with the most expensive stud fee at WinStar is no other than Pioneerof the Nile. He is the father of the only Grand Slam winner and the most recent (we waited 37 years for one) Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah. American Pharoah is now a freshman sire himself and his weanlings are selling for up to a million dollars. Pioneerof the Nile was a multiple graded stakes winner himself. He was foaled to Empire Maker and Star of Goshen in 2006. Pioneerof the Nile’s most famous offspring also include Classic Empire, Midnight Storm, Cairo Prince and Cash Control. according to WinStar, “It Takes a Pioneer to Build an Empire”.
Next, Speightstown is second in stud fee at WinStar. He was visibly gorgeous himself but he likes looking out his window and didn’t say cheese (carrot nor peppermint) for the camera. Speightstown did his best racing at 6 years-old so his 1984 birth date means nothing but success and winners galore, as in 85 stakes winners and more than $82 million dollars in progeny! Speightstown himself won multiple graded stakes including the BC Sprint. His son, Tamarkuz won the BC Dirt Mile in 2016. Another son, Speightster, bred his first mares at WinStar in 2017. Speightstown was sired by Gone West and his dam was Silken Cat. As WinStar puts it, he is “the hottest sire in town”.
My KY Derby pick for 2015 was Carpe Diem. It was not meant to be, American Pharoah had history to make. Nonetheless, that was a tough year for other horses and I think Carpe Diem was a fantastic race horse. He had 4 wins (2 were Grade 1 races) and once in 2nd(also a Grade 1) in his 6 starts. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who still believes he is fabulous. Since he retired he was in the top 5 of covering freshman sires in 2016. His first foals were hot sellers at Keeneland this November, selling for as much as $320,000. Carpe Diem was foaled in 2012 to Giant’s Causeway and Rebridled Dreams. WinStar notes he has, “conformation, speed and stamina.”
Meanwhile, the most personality of the day was delivered by Outwork. This young sire was born in 2013 to Uncle Mo and Nonna Mia. Outwork was the first winner sired by Uncle Mo when he broke his maiden in his first race. That was at Keeneland in 2015. Outwork won the Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes when he was 3 and then retired following his next race, the KY Derby. His first foals will be born in 2018. Look for 168 Outwork babies!
WinStar is a busy farm bustling with stars. They picked the right name and silk design when they tagged each with a star. I’d like to share more with you on the wonderment at WinStar but I write posts, not novels. Stay tuned for information on some of my upcoming Thoroughbred adventures and help me choose which WinStar stallions you want to know more about next.
Share This: