Top Five US Crop Breeds Speightster Sherry McLean, owner of Northern Dawn Stables in Ontario, where the horse was relocated 6 weeks ago for this year’s breeding season. .
Speightster, a 10-year-old student wins a bet ranked by the champion sprinter Sightstown was the first stallion owned by Jay and Christine Hayden, who bred and raced as Saintsbury Farms.
Jay Hayden said: “He is a stallion that is really suitable for Ontario because his offspring family is very heavy with top Canadian horses, Dance Smartly and Smart Strike surnames. “It’s the first week of February and he’s got 40 mares up north, which is unprecedented in Ontario because breeders want to pick their stallions after their ponies are on ground.
“It barely sinks in,” Hayden continued of the loss. “I had to phone Larry McGinnis (staff manager) at WinStar. When we bought the stallion, he said, ‘Gee, we’re sorry to see him gone. He’s a stallion. nice to work with. A kind stallion with no vices.’ It’s a tough part of the business. You never expect it to come so soon.”
McLean said the stallion was feeling good and bouncing around in his stall. With just one kick, everything changed.
“He was just happy and let this happen, to say it was devastating is an understatement,” she said. “Everyone is so excited to have him here. He’s a classy actor.”
McLean and Hayden both said multiple X-rays of the injured hind leg were taken and evaluated by multiple veterinarians before making the death call to him.
Raised and raced by WinStar Farm, Speightster is not a Danzig Dance Swiftly mare, is a sister to Canada’s Horse of the Year and multiple Dance Smartly champions who beat Canadian Dancethruthedawn and Scatter winners the Gold by Queen’s Plate. Dance Swiftly is also the half-sister of the famous husband, Smart Strike. Speightster went undefeated in 3rd place as he secured the graded bet winner by taking Dwyer Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park. He started once in 4th place, finishing the match in Churchill Downs Stakes (G2). Speightster retired to study at WinStar, where he entered with a salary of $10,000.
As a sire, he made it to the top 10 list of the top 10 bulls of 2020 by income and continues to climb the rankings to become the fifth leading second-season sire in last year with more than $4.28 million in progeny income. His top athletes have made an impact in Canada with his daughters Dreaming of Drew won Princess Elizabeth Stakes and Aubrieta won a Glorious Song Share, both at Honeysuckle.
Speightster also picks multi-stakes winners Barrier door bet winner Temper and That Kenney Kid and the winners are ranked Hard to tame . The progeny of the sire includes 12 black-type performers and 88 winners to date. His career progeny earnings were $5,493,331 as of February 7.
