Top Breeders of 2016: Adena Springs

Few Thoroughbred farms will match the remarkable run Adena Springs has had—and continues to enjoy—in the year-end standings among leading North American breeders. 

Since 2000 Frank Stronach's operation has been the top North American breeder by earnings for 11 consecutive years, from 2003 through 2013, and earned eight Eclipse Awards as leading breeder during this time. Even when Adena Springs fell out of the No. 1 spot in 2014, the farm has never been worse than third. 

For 2016 Adena Springs ranks second among the leading breeders with $6,861,909 in earnings, just $42,755 ahead of Darley, through Dec. 29. Adena Springs is also the second-leading North American breeder by total wins with 229 behind WinStar Farm's 238. WinStar is the leading breeder with a commanding $10.5 million in earnings. 

Out of 1,529 starts, Adena Springs has a win rate of 15% and 43% of the horses it's bred have finished in the money. As a further indicator of its consistency, Adena Springs' win rate has been at 15% for seven out of the past 14 years, and the win rate has only fluctuated four percentage points (between 13-17%) during the entire 14-year period. 

Adena Springs' steady presence among the top breeders is a testament to two pillars supporting Stronach's program: an overarching commitment to a presence in all the major races, and faithful adherence to a breeding blueprint Stronach conceived more than 30 years ago. 

"Naturally the primary goal is to be prominent on Saturday afternoons and find success at the highest levels," said Jack Brothers, Kentucky sales manager for Adena Springs. "A lot of our program is by design and our overall standing over the years has been the result of this effort. Frank's philosophy puts a lot of emphasis on outcross value. He and Andy (Stronach) are very active in putting together the mating list every year; they strive to expand bloodlines and open up the gene pool." 

A good example is Adena Springs' homebred Ghostzapper  , the 2004 Horse of the Year and a rising sire. The 16-year-old son of Awesome Again   has no inbreeding in his first five generations, being out of the Relaunch daughter Baby Zip. Ghostzapper currently ranks 20th on the leading general sire list by earnings but is co-ranked 10th by number of graded/group stakes winners with six. 

Some degree of inbreeding has its place, however. Look at Adena Springs' top runner of the year and multiple graded stakes winner, Shaman Ghost. The pedigree for this son of Ghostzapper doubles up Northern Dancer 4x5 and Relaunch 3x5. 

Raced by Stronach Stables, Shaman Ghost won the grade I Woodward Stakes and grade II Brooklyn Handicap and placed in the Clark Handicap (gr. I) in 2016. Also representing Adena Springs this year have been graded stakes winners Gloryzapper, Ice Festival, and Shakhimat along with five other black-type stakes winners. 

"Finding and developing stallions has always been part of the equation," Brothers said. "This year we have Point of Entry  , who is very important because of his sire line (he's by Dynaformer); he fills a lot of voids. Then you have (Breeders' Cup) Classic winners Mucho Macho Man   and Fort Larned  , two-turn dirt horses who fit what we've been able to engineer in the past successfully. 

"Frank puts his shoulder behind his stallions aggressively that certainly drives the program."