Air Force Blue Being Relocated to South Korea

Peter Hill's Pegasus Farm in South Korea has acquired and will stand three-time group 1-winning and European champion 2-year-old Air Force Blue  beginning with the 2022 breeding season, Hill announced Dec. 29.

Pegasus Farm will stand the 8-year-old son of prominent international sire War Front   alongside one of Korea's leading young sires Thunder Moccasin .

"I saw Astronomer  win on the Breeders' Cup undercard and was really impressed," Hill said. "Air Force Blue's pedigree and race record are a perfect fit for Korean racing and breeding and the versatility of his early crops is very encouraging. Nearly 70% of his runners win on the dirt or synthetic, and they win over a wide range of distances. Precocious horses have done very well in Korea as stallions, and we desperately need an out-cross for the plethora of A.P. Indy-line stallions and broodmares currently in Korea for which Air Force Blue is perfect."

The Korea Racing Authority, owners of leading Eclipse Horse of the Year candidate Knicks Go  , have decided to stand the multiple grade 1 winner at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky, so Hill said he sees a lot of opportunity for Air Force Blue. Hill said Air Force Blue will be the highest-rated horse to be imported to Korea.

Air Force Blue previously stood at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky. The international breeding and racing operation has supplied several successful stallions to Korea, including European champion One Cool Cat , classic-placed and multiple group 1 winner Hawk Wing , and U.S. champion Hansen , who is the second-leading Korean sire by earnings this year behind the late Menifee .

A second-crop sire this year, Air Force Blue ranks in the top 12 by progeny earnings ($2,601,326) and is a top 10 sire by number of winners this year with 48. As a freshman sire last year, he ranked in the top 10 by progeny earning and was co-ranked as the third-leading sire of 2020 by number of winners with 17, which included three black-type performers—Chief Little Hawk, Take Profit, and Twilight Blue.

Air Force Blue's top performers to date include Canadian classic winner Haddassah , who won the Prince of Wales Stakes; Astronomer, who won the Qatar Golden Mile Stakes on the grass at Del Mar; turf stakes winner Fighting Force ; stakes winner King of Dreams , who also has placed in a turf stakes; and, 2-year-old stakes winner She's So Beautiful , who won this year's Khozan Juvenile Fillies Sprint Stakes at Gulfstream Park.