Delaware will be home to 41 Standardbred stallions — 22 pacers and 19 trotters — for the 2023 breeding season, including some notable new arrivals.
Delaware mainstay Anders Bluestone 6,1:52f ($1,026,545) remains one of the most sought-after stallions in the state after his progeny took five of a possible eight Delaware Standardbred Breeders' Fund (DSBF) trotting championships in 2022. Navy Blue and Shes All Woman swept the three-year-old divisions outright, while She Is Strong won the two-year-old filly championship at Harrington Raceway. Anders Bluestone will stand for a fee of $3,000 at Merrie Medo Farm, in Smyrna, Del..
Offspring of the lightly-raced Yankee Royalty 3,1:57f ($50,633) — Perfect Twenty and Royal Flirt — teamed up to capture the three remaining finals for two-year-olds, kickstarting a potential niche for the son of Muscles Yankee. A boutique sire to this point, having only sired 18 foals — nine of racing age — Yankee Royalty will stand at Pine Haven Farm, in Bridgeville, Del., for $2,500.
Anders Bluestone and Yankee Royalty will have new competition among Delaware trotting stallions, though, as world champion and Breeders Crown winner Southwind Frank 3,1:52.1 ($2,115,999) invades the First State after standing in Pennsylvania for the first five seasons of his breeding career. Among three crops of racing age, his most successful progeny include Bond 2,1:52.3 ($587,264), who capped her 2022 season with a win in the Goldsmith Maid, and Delayed Hanover 3,1:51.1 ($514,278), whose biggest win came in the 2020 Bluegrass Stakes as a two-year-old. Southwind Frank will stand at Winbak Farm in Middletown, Del., for $5,000.
In the pacing ranks, Badlands Hanover p,2,1:50z ($754,772) and Hes Watching p,3,1:46.4 ($1,129,215) remain Delaware's kingpin stallions, and will both stand at Winbak Farm for $4,000 and $5,000, respectively.
Three new stallions enter Delaware this season, most notably Highalator p,5,1:48f ($675,764), a son of Somebeachsomewhere and world champion race mare Higher And Higher who won six times on Delaware soil in his 104-start career. In 2022, Highalator was bred to 57 mares in Indiana, but has relocated to the East Coast for former trainer Jenny Bier, who shares ownership with Joann Dombeck and Midsize Construction Inc. He will stand for $3,500 at Safe Haven Farm, in Ellendale, Del.
Betterthanthebeach p,4,1:50f ($158,798) and Keystone Honor p,10,1:52.4f ($473,791) are the other Delaware pacing newcomers, standing for $1,000 and $500, respectively, in their first season at stud.
Offspring of stallions registered with the Delaware Standardbred Breeders' Fund are eligible to the lucrative DSBF program, which offers horses the opportunity to compete for more than $500,000 in purses (per division) through their two- and three-year-old seasons combined.
The DSBF accepts stallion nominations accompanied by a $3,000 fee through March 1; those submitted by Feb. 1 are discounted to $2,000.
More information on the 2023 roster of DSBF-registered stallions is available in the Delaware Standardbred Stallion Guide by clicking here.
(With files from Delaware Standardbred Breeders' Fund; Photo of Highalator winning the 2019 Ben Franklin Consolation at Pocono Downs)