Hook and Ladder, who was produced from the stakes-placed Cox's Ridge mare Taianna, won six of 19 starts and earned $388,120. He will stand as the property of the Bromans and Lakland. With the assistance of pedigree consultant Alan Porter, the Bromans have selected 30 mares to send to Hook and Ladder. The group includes the dam of millionaire Stephen Got Even. Lakland will support him with 20 mares.
Hook and Ladder, a graded stakes winner two separate seasons, has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Lakland North near Hudson, N.Y., owned by Becky Thomas and Lewis and Brenda Lakin. His fee is $3,500.A 6-year-old son of Dixieland Band, Hook and Ladder won the 2001 Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap (gr. II) and the following year's Mr. Prospector Handicap (gr. III) at Gulfstream while racing for Chester Broman Jr. and his wife, Mary, and trainer John Kimmel. Chester Broman bought Hook and Ladder as a 3-year-old in training for $800,000 at the late Marshal Naify's dispersal at the 2000 Barretts July sale. Naify had bred Hook and Ladder and raced him in the name of 505 Farms.