Animal Kingdom to Bypass SH Breeding Season

Classic winner Animal Kingdom   will get a rest in Kentucky for the second half of 2016 rather than heading to Australia for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season.

The 2011 winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) has served six consecutive seasons between Australia and Kentucky and his majority owners, Darley and Australia's Arrowfield Stud, decided to give him a break. He will stay at Darley's Jonabell Farm after he completes the current Northern Hemisphere season.

"In a very competitive marketplace the fourth season is always the most difficult," Arrowfield bloodstock manager Jon Freyer said in a release. "We have great faith in Animal Kingdom and have decided to take a longer-term view of his stallion career, so we're resting him now after he has served three very big books in Kentucky and six consecutive seasons north and south.

"He's an exceptional horse, but not surprisingly as a Kentucky Derby winner, he has been more popular in the U.S., so it makes sense to rest him from his Australian duties."

Freyer said Animal Kingdom will return to Arrowfield Stud for the 2017 Southern Hemisphere season.

Animal Kingdom's first Australian-conceived 2-year-olds will run in the 2016-17 season. His first U.S. crop races in 2017.

Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux—Dalicia, by Acatenango) was second in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) following his Kentucky Derby triumph. He finished second in the 2012 Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) at 4 and won the 2013 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (UAE-I) at 5.