Two notable North American stallions have returned to racing stateside, and have recently made their debuts from new stables.
On Thursday (Dec. 15) at Hollywood Dayton Raceway, Racing Hill finished second in a 1:54.1 mile for a familiar face -- driver Brett Miller. Now campaigned by Virgil Morgan Jr., Racing Hill (Roll With Joe - Chasing Ideals) paced his mile in 1:54.3, and that's his first charted mile in more than six years.
Now owned by The Racing Hill Syndicate, Racing Hill last raced on Nov. 10, 2016 in the Matron at Dover Downs. He won the Adios, Hempt, Messenger, Tattersalls and Breeders Crown as a three-year-old while finishing second in the North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace and Battle of the Brandywine.
“They talked about it last year and I’m in the business of training horses, and they asked if I’d train him and I said I’d be more than happy to try,” Morgan told the USTA's Gordon Waterstone, noting the horse came back into training this past August. “He’s kind of the unknown of what we’re doing as there aren’t too many horses that have been to stud, had the success he had, and go back into training. But he’s sound, he looks great and his attitude is great.”
With his oldest crop now four, Racing Hill has sired 177 starters from 238 foals eligible to race. His starters are averaging $43,057 in earnings with 77 performers boasting a mark of 1:55 or better. His richest performer this far is Odds On Shaggy p,4,1:49.2f ($260,375), trained by none other than Virgil Morgan Jr.
“Yes, it’s interesting as I have some Racing Hills in the barn and he’s right across from them,” said Morgan. “He’s been a little full of himself training right now and hopefully qualifying will let him keep his composure...I just don’t want him to do too much too early, let’s put it that way.
“He was ready to qualify. It could be three times, it could be five times. He is going to have to go right into the Open obviously so I need him to be more than ready. But we’ll take our time and navigate that way.”
On Friday (Dec. 16) at Freehold Raceway, Stag Party made his racetrack return under less than ideal conditions. The six-year-old stallion easily handled the offgoing for driver Patrick and trainer Chris Ryder, winning in 2:01. This was Stag Party's first on-track appearance since he closed out his sophomore season with a win at Yonkers Raceway on Dec. 9, 2019.
A stallion at Winbak Farm's Ontario location for the past three seasons, Stag Party (Bettors Delight - My Lady Day) was purchased late in his three-year-old season by Let It Ride Stables Inc., Dana Parham, Hutt Racing Stable and West Wins Stable. His oldest foals sold as yearlings in 2022.
As a two-year-old in 2018, Stag Party won multiple Ontario Sires Stakes Gold events with Grand Circuit scores in the Nassagaweya and Metro Pace en route to the O'Brien Award for his division.