Adena Springs has announced the retirement of Grade 1 winners Milwaukee Brew and Sligo Bay who had previously stood at Adena Springs North in Ontario, Canada. Both have been relocated to Kentucky.
Adena Springs’ Ken Wilkins said a combination of the sires’ ages—Milwaukee Brew is 22 and Sligo Bay is 21—and a shrinking mare population made their retirements necessary.
“It was a combination of age and demand, with the market in Canada shrinking like it is here. It didn’t make sense to keep going with them. They both have done enough,” Wilkins said.
There are just two stallions standing at the Aurora Farm now – Silent Name (Jpn) and Silver Max.
Milwaukee Brew, a son of Wild Again, capped his achievements on the track with consecutive victories in the 2002 and 2003 Santa Anita Handicap (G1). He retired with an 8-4-5 record out of 24 starts and earned $2,879,612.
As a stallion, Milwaukee Brew was a 2-time Champion Sire in Canada. He has sired 24 black-type winners, which include three graded stakes winners and five champions. His top runners include Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Milwaukee Appeal, who won the Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser and was runner-up in the Canadian classic Prince of Wales Stakes; Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Ginger Brew, another Woodbine Oaks winner and runner-up in the 2008 Queen’s Plate; and 2014 Prince of Wales winner and Panamanian champion Coltimus Prime , who is entering stud next year at Beau Valley Stable in Alberta.
Sligo Bay, a son of Sadler’s Wells, earned grade 1 status in the 2002 Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes (G1T). His performances in France, Ireland, and the U.S. produced a 4-6-2 record out of 17 starts and earnings of $484,695.
As a stallion, Sligo Bay has sired 13 black-type winners, including six graded stakes winners and three champions. His best performer by far was four-time Canadian champion Lexie Lou, who swept the Queen’s Plate, Woodbine Oaks, and Wonder Where Stakes and was runner-up to California Chrome in the Hollywood Derby (G1T) on her way to capturing Canada’s Horse of the Year, champion grass 3-year-old filly, and champion grass mare honors in 2014. Lexie Lou earned a Canadian champion grass mare title again in 2016.
Milwaukee Brew, who had previously stood at Adena Springs North but was relocated to Kentucky, has been retired from stud duty.
Adena Springs also announced the retirement from stud duty of Canadian-bred champion AWESOME AGAIN.
Among the three stallions, Awesome Again made the largest impact on Stronach’s breeding and racing operation. The 25-year-old son of Deputy Minister has 18 crops to race that have earned more than $95.4 million in purses and include 66 black-type winners and 38 graded/group winners worldwide. He has sired three champions including the Stronach Stables homebreds Ghostzapper, the 2004 Horse of the Year and Champion Older Horse and Ginger Punch, named the 2007 Champion Older Mare after her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. His 14 Grade 1 winners won a combined 32 Grade 1 stakes, led by another Adena Springs-bred, Game On Dude, who captured eight Graded stakes at the highest level and 14 Graded stakes throughout his racing career.
Proving his longevity, Awesome Again was represented in the American classics this year by Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner Sir Winston.
On the track, Awesome Again got his first win at Hollywood Park in June of his 3-year-old year and in his next start won the Queen’s Plate Stakes at Woodbine, becoming Stronach’s second homebred winner of the Canadian classic. The colt was then sent back to the United States, where he won the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) and was third in the Travers Stakes (G1). At 4, he strung together an undefeated season that produced five graded stakes victories, including one of the most memorable editions of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) in 1998 at Churchill Downs. At the top of the stretch, Awesome Again and jockey Pat Day seemed beaten by a formidable trio in front of them: dual classic winner Silver Charm and dual grade 1 winners Coronado’s Quest and Swain. Then in midstretch, the frontrunners spread apart and Awesome Again flew down the middle of the track to win by three-quarters of a length.
“I don’t think you’ll ever see as strong a field that he beat in 1998 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with eight grade 1 winners and six of those multiple grade 1 winners,” said Bill Drury, Adena Springs Kentucky’s stallion manager. “He is still my signature horse and will continue to be treated like the champion he is. Any time people come by for shows, he is the first one we bring out, and they still marvel at his condition even though he is 25 years old.”
As a sire, Awesome Again was not only a steady source of elite runners—he’s sired four Breeders’ Cup World Championship winners (all grade 1) with Ghostzapper (Classic), Ginger Punch and Round Pond (both in the Distaff), and Wilko (Juvenile)—but he’s been a source of future stallions, too.
“People don’t seem to develop mares like they used to, but we have certainly done that here with stallions,” said Ken Wilkins, Adena Springs’ stallion sales manager. “We’ve seen it with Ghostzapper, and, hopefully, we’ll watch Shaman Ghost (a son of Ghostzapper) become the next important stallion.”
“He is a little grayer than he used to be, but he is still a draw,” added Donald Wells, farm director at Adena Springs. “When people come to the farm, it is so great to bring him out, and then Ghostzapper and then Shaman Ghost because you see Awesome Again in both of them. This horse has been everything, really. He started the stallion barn and helped fill it up.”
Awesome Again has made an equally big impact on the Thoroughbred breed as a broodmare sire. His daughters have produced 72 (5%) black-type winners to date, which include 22 graded stakes winners and eight champions. He is the broodmare sire of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Eclipse champion older dirt male Accelerate.
Among Awesome Again’s final 20 foals, all born this year, is a filly Adena Springs bred out of its champion grass mare Perfect Sting, who won the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T).
“We are fortunate to get that filly out of two of our great champions,” Wells said. “She is good-looking and a typical Awesome Again, fast-looking with a nice big hip and shoulder. We are excited to have her as part of our racing stable and then as an addition to the broodmare band, eventually.”
Awesome Again will be represented by 27 broodmares cataloged in the upcoming Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. He also is the sire of four weanlings in the catalog.
– with files from AdenaStallions.com and www.bloodhorse.com
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