Lane's End unable to satisfy demand for Pegasus hero City Of Light

With City Of Light soaring in esteem following his emphatic victory in North America's richest race, the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes, breeder demand for the son of Quality Road cannot be met as Lane's End Farm has had to turn away literally hundreds of requests for access to the newly retired five-year-old.

Two other stallions who will be standing their first seasons at the stud, 2018 American champion older male Accelerate and 2017 champion three-year-old West Coast, are also fully booked with breeding season beginning in about two weeks.

"Unfortunately, we already sold 165 contracts to at $35,000 - we'd like to redo that. He's now clearly under-priced," Lane's End's Bill Farish said, smiling, during a special event on Wednesday celebrating the farm's 40th anniversary since its founding in 1979.

"People are just getting great value in his first year and he's got a great book of mares. Lane's End turned down twice that many mares - more than that - to hold his book to 165," he declared.

City Of Light's popularity is due in large measure to his racing achievements and his physical presence, both of which are remarkably similar to those possessed by his sire, said Chance Timm, director of stallion seasons at Lane's End.

Each earned four Grade 1 victories and demonstrated brilliant, miler speed along with the ability to carry it farther. City Of Light, who is Quality Road's best son to date, "might be a slightly more refined version of his sire, but they do look a lot alike," Farish observed.

Quality Road has reached a new level, boosted by the support of international breeders as well as the feats of his offspring, which last year won five Grade 1 races to make him the North American co-leader in that elite category with More Than Ready.

With his fee raised from $70,000 in 2018 to $150,000, Quality Road now is tied with Into Mischief and Justify as the fifth most expensive stallion on the continent, behind only War Front at $250,000; Tapit, $225,000; Medaglia D'Oro, $200,000, and Curlin, $175,000.

Lane's End will limit Quality Road to about 145 mares "just to try to control the number of offspring in the sales market," said Timm.

"In terms of the quality, it's been nothing short of phenomenal," he added in regard to the mares who make up Quality Road's 2019 book. "It's fairly crazy the number of really, really top-class mares that have been submitted to him. But he deserves it.

"A number of international entities have supported him heavily, which is no surprise as he's a very versatile stallion. He's had Grade 1 winners, such as Hootenanny, on the turf, and he's from a sire line that can work in a lot of different ways for international pedigrees," Timm continued, listing the Niarchos family, Coolmore, Juddmonte and Darley among the major breeders using Quality Road.

While Timm would not disclose the identities of some of the mares in Quality Road's book, he said "they have a lot of Grade 1s next to their names."

Lane's End received a double benefit from the Pegasus, with City Of Light flying off the racing stage with a dominating performance and Quality Road credited with the $4 million winner's share of the purse to make him North America's current leader as the race for leading sire of 2019 begins.

"We hope that Quality Road will be a champion sire some day, and this gives him a real leg-up at the beginning of the year," said Farish.

Support for Accelerate, who finished third in the Pegasus over a muddy Gulfstream Park track that he didn't seem to appreciate, and West Coast, who arrived at the farm after finishing unplaced in Accelerate's Breeders' Cup Classic in early November at Churchill Downs, has also been enthusiastic.

, a six-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky, won five Grade 1 races and over $6.69 million; he commands a fee of $20,000. West Coast, a five-year-old by Flatter who will stand for $35,000, won the 2017 Travers Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby and finished second in both the 2018 Pegasus and the Dubai World Cup while banking over $5.8 million.

"We've been very fortunate in that all three of these new horses are booked full and they are very popular," said Timm.

Accelerate at Lane's End just after his Breeders' Cup Classic victoryCredit: Michele MacDonald

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