Alternation Relocated to Darby Dan Farm for 2022

Alternation  , the sire of Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Serengeti Empress , is being relocated from Pin Oak Stud to Darby Dan Farm by Steve Belford's Maccabee Farm for the upcoming breeding season, it was announced Nov. 14. The 13-year-old son of Distorted Humor is being resyndicated and will stand for a fee of $7,500, stands and nurses.

A millionaire and multiple graded stakes winner, Alternation was bred in Kentucky by Pin Oak Stud out of the multiple stakes-winning Seattle Slew mare Alternate . His dam also produced TVG Pacific Classic (G1) victor and fellow Darby Dan Farm stallion Higher Power  , as well as stakes winner Interrupted . Alternate, an earner of $550,695 who was also multiple graded stakes-placed, is a half sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Peaks and Valleys, another grade 1-winning millionaire. 

"We're excited to bring a horse of Alternation's caliber to Darby Dan," said Ryan Norton, stallion director at Darby Dan Farm. "He was a top-class horse on the racetrack, he is from an active and accomplished Pin Oak family, and he is already making his presence felt as a stallion, siring the likes of Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress. He is a great-looking horse and possesses all the qualities to be a top sire."

Trained by Donnie Von Hemel for Pin Oak, broke his maiden at 2 and at age 3 won the Peter Pan Stakes (G2). During his 4-year-old campaign he won five of seven starts, all in stakes races, including the Oaklawn Handicap (G2), Razorback Handicap (G3), and Pimlico Special (G3). He retired with a 9-1-1 record in 14 starts after four seasons on the track, earning $1,064,727 before beginning his stud career at Pin Oak in 2014.

As a stallion, Alternation is represented by multiple grade 1 winner Serengeti Empress, winner of the 2019 Kentucky Oaks and the 2020 Ballerina Stakes (G1). Serengeti Empress collected a record of 7-5-1 from 19 starts en route to earnings of $2,175,653. She won six stakes, five of them graded, and placed in an additional six graded stakes.

Alternation is represented in 2021 by Ballroom Blitz , victorious in the Best of Ohio Distaff Stakes Oct. 30; Ellanation , winner of the Jameela Stakes in July at Pimlico Race Course, and La Bolena, a black-type winner in Panama. He is also the sire of 2018 Super Derby (G3) winner Limation  and multiple stakes winner Alternative Slew , who was second in the Oklahoma Classics Distaff Turf Stakes Oct. 15. Through Sunday, Alternation