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Gold Strike, the dam of 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, was bred to Ashford Stud’s Munnings for the 2023 foaling season, BloodHorse reports.
A 20-year-old daughter of Smart Strike, Gold Strike is owned by Austin Nicks of Indiana, who told BloodHorse that the stallion’s promising cross with the mare, along with his upward momentum commercially and on the racetrack, were among the factors behind the decision.
Nicks had been boarding Gold Strike at Watershed Farm near Lexington, Ky., this spring, where the mare was treated by Rocky Mason DVM of Lexington Equine Medical Group with the hopes of solving her recent fertility issues. He had recently been given the mare after attempts by previous owner M.C. Roberts to get her in foal this season were unsuccessful. Rich Strike, by Keen Ice, is the only foal that Gold Strike has produced since 2017.
Gold Strike, Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly of 2005, is also the dam of Grade 2 winner Llanaarmon.
Munnings, a 16-year-old by Speightstown, stands at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., for an advertised fee of $85,000.
His nine crops of racing age are headlined in recent months by Jack Christopher, who won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes on Belmont Stakes weekend after taking the G1 Champagne Stakes as a juvenile. Munnings is also the sire of Grade 1 winners I’m a Chatterbox, Kimari, El Deal, and Eda.
Read more at BloodHorse.
