Shaman Ghost to stand 2018 breeding season in California
Dual Grade 1 winner Shaman Ghost will stand in
California for the 2018 breeding season, owner Frank Stronach said in an interview over the weekend with the Blood-Horse.
In October, Stronach announced he was selling his farm near Paris, Ky., and plans to grow breeding operations in California and Maryland, where racetracks he owns are located.
“He will be very exciting for the California breeders,” Stronach told the Blood-Horse regarding Shaman Ghost. “I don't know where he will stand yet. I will be out there next week to look at a few farms. We'll make a decision in the next week or so.”
Shaman Ghost is a homebred sired by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, who stands at Stronach’s Adena Springs in Kentucky. The report did not indicate whether Shaman Ghost has officially retired.
“We have Ghostzapper in Kentucky and I really want to do something out in California,” Stronach said of his decision to start out Shaman Ghost on the West Coast. “This is a horse that won the Santa Anita Handicap, he won a graded stakes in New York, he's a Canadian champion, and he finished second in the Pegasus World Cup, so really he could stand anywhere.”
Two other stallions will also move out to California. Northern Light and City Wolf will relocate from Adena Springs in Kentucky to EF1 Farms, formerly Brazeau Thoroughbred Farms.
Shaman Ghost holds a record of 8-3-2 from 17 career starts and has made more than $3.8 million on the track. In 2015 he won the Sovereign Award for Champion 3-Year-Old Colt after winning Canada’s Queen’s Plate Stakes. In 2016, under the direction of trainer Jimmy Jerkens, Shaman Ghost picked up victories in the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational Stakes and the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes. He finished off 2017 in consistent from by winning the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and the Grade 3 Pimlico Special Handicap.
By Christine Oser