Bluegrass Cat , the second leading freshman sire of 2010 by progeny earnings and a top second-crop sire of 2011, will shuttle to Liliana Solari’s Haras Don Alberto in Chile for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season, it was announced Feb. 28.
Bluegrass Cat, an 8-year-old son of Storm Catout of the A.P. Indymare She’s a Winner, was bred and raced by WinStar Farm. He is out of a full sister to the dam of last year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Super Saver . Bluegrass currently stands at WinStar near Versailles, Ky., for a $25,000 stands and nurses.
“Bluegrass Cat is off to a great start at stud and we're thrilled that he's in high demand in South America,” said Robert Hammond, director of stallion seasons & bloodstock at WinStar Farm. “Haras Don Alberto is a top stallion operation that has had success with other North American stallions like Fusaichi Pegasus , Proud Citizen, Stevie Wonderboyand others, so we're looking forward to this partnership and expanding the Bluegrass Cat brand to the Southern Hemisphere market.”
Cat is enjoying early success at stud. He has sired 26 winners from 74 starters with progeny earnings of $1,819,125 through Feb. 27. He has two graded stakes winners to date, including two-time graded stakes winner and leading Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) hopeful Kathmanblu. He had 21 2-year-old winners in his first crop and had more than $1.3 million in progeny earnings with his 2-year-olds of 2010 while finishing second to Congrats .
Bluegrass Cat was a record-breaking grade I winner and millionaire during his racing career. His biggest triumph came in the 2007 Haskell Invitational (gr. I) where he won by a record seven lengths. He also captured the Remsen Stakes (gr. II) and Nashua S. (gr. III) as a 2-year-old.