Jamaican 18-time champion trainer Wayne DaCosta found his newest potential champion in Buffum’s son Stranger Danger, who completed his undefeated juvenile campaign with a 16-length victory in the seven-furlong on Dec. 29 at Caymanas Park. See video here

“This performance, for me,” DaCosta told the Jamaica Observer, “was quite a memorable one, both in its execution and timeliness. Definitely, Stranger Danger is a very talented horse and horses such as these you do not see very often. In this deciding race, he was asked to go very fast early as he was pressed to do so by the Anthony Nunes runner Juice Man. He took up the challenge and eventually shook him off before going on to win on a canter. It was a very good performance and the hope now is for Stranger Danger to keep sound and fulfil his enormous potential.”

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Multiple Grade 1 winner and multimillionaire Hoppertunity will enter stud in 2019 at Northview PA in Peach Bottom, Pa. With career earnings of $4,712,625, the 7-year-old becomes the richest horse ever to stand his first season in the Mid-Atlantic region. His stud fee is $5,000 live foal, with shares and lifetime breeding rights being offered.

In a career that spanned five seasons and 34 starts, Hoppertunity had 22 top-three finishes while consistently racing at the highest level from coast-to-coast. His nine stakes wins were all graded, with Grade 1 scores in the historic Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park and Churchill Downs’ Clark Handicap. He made two trips to Dubai and hit the board in the 2016 Dubai World Cup-G1 when third behind California Chrome. He won the San Antonio Stakes-G2 twice at Santa Anita and the Brooklyn Invitational Stakes-G2 at Belmont.

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Classic-placed Irish War Cry, one of the most dynamic runners of his generation, has been retired and will enter stud at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md., for the 2019 season.

“Irish War Cry is by leading sire Curlin, won the Holy Bull, Wood Memorial and Pimlico Special and was second in the Belmont, earning more than $1 million,” said John Sikura of Hill ’n’ Dale Farm, home to two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. “It was always the intent of our partners to stand Irish War Cry in Kentucky. With the addition of champion Good Magic (also by Curlin) and the strong track record of making stallions at Northview, we decided this was the ideal situation for Irish War Cry. They pursued the horse aggressively and made a great pitch for the horse. His credentials as a top class racehorse and great physical specimen make him a standout in the vibrant Maryland market.”

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Current Mid-Atlantic leading freshman and 2-year-old sire El Padrino, 8, was euthanized on Wednesday, Nov. 22 following a series of bouts with colic and subsequent surgeries at New Bolton Center. One of the region’s most popular stallions, the syndicated son of Pulpit stood at Northview PA in Peach Bottom, Pa., since entering stud in 2014.

El Padrino retired as a graded winner with six on the board finishes in eight starts, and earnings of $326,770. The flashy chestnut out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Enchanted Rock was a $210,000 Keeneland September sales yearling and trained by Todd Pletcher for Let’s Go Stable. A maiden winner at 2 by more than a dozen lengths, he finished the year with a third in the Grade 2 Remsen. At 3 he captured the Risen Star Stakes (G2) in near record time of 1:42.96 for 1 1⁄16 miles.

From a deep family that includes champion Queena, Grade 1-winning second and third dams Chic Shirine and Too Chic, and Grade 1-winning millionaire half-brother, Verrazano, El Padrino was a hit when he entered stud, covering 89 mares his first season and 109 the second. With 53 2-year-olds in his first crop, he has eight winners from 13 runners, led by Enchanted Star and Whereshetoldmetogo, both stakes on the Owners’ Day card at Delaware Park in September. His most recent winner was first-time starter Eagle Terrace at Laurel Park on Nov. 17.