Louis Quatorze to Murmur in Maryland

E. Allen Murray and his wife, Audrey, who bought the stallion Our Emblem two years ago and watched him develop into a star when his son War Emblem won the 2002 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) and Preakness Stakes (gr. I). have purchased 10-year-old Louis Quatorze for stallion duty at their Murmur Farm near Darlington, Md. Louis Quatorze, who won the 1996 Preakness Stakes (gr. I), formerly stood at Ashford Stud, a Coolmore satellite, near Versailles, Ky. His 2004 fee will be $6,000.

"We went to Kentucky to look at him three weeks ago and fell in love with him," Allen Murray said. "He's a beautiful horse."

Louis Quatorze (Sovereign Dancer--On to Royalty, by On to Glory) shuttled from Ashford to Argentina several seasons. He has sired seven stakes winners, including U.S. millionaire Repent. The six others are all 2003 stakes winners, among them Brazilian group I winner Mr. Carrea and Papua (at Aqueduct).

"He has a big upside in that 400 of his offspring haven't even started," said Murray, who plans to sell shares in Louis Quatorze, but retain a significant number.

Louis Quatorze won three other graded stakes and finished a head in front of Cigar and a nose behind Alphabet Soup in a runner-up effort in the 1996 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) on his way to earning $2,054,434.

The Murrays no longer own Our Emblem. Shortly after War Emblem won the Preakness, they sold him for $10.1 million for stallion duty at Taylor Made Farm near Nicholasville, Ky.