Midas Eyes Moving to Empire Stud in New York

Midas Eyes, a grade I winning sprinter who stood his first season at stud this year, will move to Kurt Butenhoff and Jamie LaMonica's Empire Stud New York for the 2007 breeding season.

The 6-year-old horse, by Touch Gold--Bayou Plans, by Bayou Hebert, stood for $10,000 this year at Mill Ridge Farm near Lexington. His initial fee at Empire, located near Hudson, N.Y., will be $7,500.

"Midas Eyes brings the one crucial element a sire needs to have to be successful: serious speed," LaMonica said. "While he was brilliantly fast, he was also precocious enough to win the Derby Trial (gr. III) and the Swale (gr. III), setting a stakes record beating Seeking the Gold's 1988 record time as a 3-year-old. We are very excited to have him on our roster. "

Midas Eyes, who raced for Edmund Gann and was trained by Bobby Frankel, scored his big win in the 2004 Forego Handicap (gr. I), defeating Clock Stopper and Gygistar.

In all, Midas Eyes won five of 14 starts and earned $616,528.

His dam, Bayou Plans, won nine races, including three stakes, and also produced stakes winner Bourbon N Blues.