Liam O'Rourke

The death of Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum has been described as "a hammer blow of epic proportions" as those who worked closely with the owner-breeder come to terms with his unexpected passing. Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, a cousin of the Ruler of Dubai and Godolphin founder Sheikh Mohammned bin Rashid Al Maktoum, died in Dubai on Monday. He is believed to have been in his mid-70s. Liam O'Rourke, director of studs, stallions and breeding for the Godolphin and Darley operation, has for many years overseen the broodmare band of Sheikh...

Throughout its history, WinStar Farm's stallion program has been anchored by raw speed, with champion Speightstown and fellow sprinting specialist Distorted Humor among some of the first sires to define the farm's identity. As WinStar wraps up its 25th anniversary this year, the blueprint is much the same. Patch Adams, Mullikin and Straight No Chaser are the latest Grade I-winning sprinters set to join the roster. Two of the recruits carry the direct influence of the aforementioned cornerstone sires and the third is out of a mare by Congrats, another...

Multiple Grade I winner Patch Adams is now available for inspection at WinStar Farm, the farm announced Tuesday. The son of perennial leading sire Into Mischief developed into one of the nation's premier sprinters this year in his sophomore season, scoring consecutive Grade I victories at Saratoga, winning both the Woody Stephens S. and the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. for trainer Brad Cox. "Patch Adams arrived at the stallion barn on Saturday and is settling in nicely," said Liam O'Rourke, director of bloodstock services for WinStar. "We had the...

Ben Bernhard, Shannon Griffin, and Mandy Pope have been named to the Board of Directors of the Thoroughbred Charities of America. The three newly elected directors join current board members Carrie Brogden, Lesley Campion (vice president), Marette Farrell (secretary), Torie Gladwell, Marshall Gramm (treasurer), Ryan Mahan, Mike McMahon (president), Dan Metzger, Leah O'Meara, Liam O'Rourke, Morgan Richardson, Cathy Shircliff, Brook Smith, and Jesse Ullery. Gretchen Jackson, Ellen Moelis and Dan Rosenberg are directors emeriti. Thoroughbred Charities of America was formed in 1990 by Allaire duPont and Herb and Ellen Moelis...

WinStar Farm is hoping to see plenty of activity come out of their stallion division in the near future. In 2025, the farm's flagbearer Constitution, currently ranked a top five general sire, will stand for a fee of $110,000 while his son and fellow WinStar resident Independence Hall will see his first 2-year-olds hit the racetrack. Also this coming year, Life Is Good and Nashville will be represented by their first crop of yearlings while Country Grammer and Two Phil's are expecting their first foals. Meanwhile, three new sires have...

They say that good things come in threes. The team at Dalham Hall Stud could be forgiven for bending that old adage a little to say that good things come from Reem Three.  This time 12 months ago one of the breeding stories of Royal Ascot week came in the very first race when Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's homebred Triple Time (GB) (Frankel {GB}) won the Queen Anne S. to become not just the second Group 1 winner for his dam, Reem Three (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire}), but...

Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA) has appointed Morgan Richardson, Liam O'Rourke, Dan Metzger and Jesse Ullery to its Board of Directors. "Many thanks to Lesley Campion, who did a great job of chairing the TCA nominations committee," said Mike McMahon president of TCA. "We have four great new board members to add to our power packed group of industry professionals. I love this board. These people give horses and the people who care for them so much time and effort. They are all-stars and with talent like this, we will...

Ben Hanley will join WinStar Farm as the newest member of its stallion season sales team, officials at the farm announced Thursday. Having earned a degree in equine science from the University of Kentucky and a degree from the Irish National Stud course, Hanley joins WinStar after stints with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott in Saratoga and after working in yearling prep for WinStar, Coolmore and Taylor Made. Hanley has also worked in customer-facing roles with Taylor Made at Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton Sales. After his graduation from the INS...

The 2022 class of first-crop yearling sires features a diverse batch of Kentucky-based young stallions including a pair of Breeders' Cup champions, two sons of reigning top sire Into Mischief, five graded stakes winners at two and five Grade I winners on turf. Throughout the course of the yearling sales season, we will feature a series of freshman sires as their first crop points toward the sales ring. Check out the first few editions of our series here. WinStar Farm's Liam O'Rourke vividly recalls the day that breeders got their...

The ever-growing depth and caliber of the Japanese breeding and racing industry was on full display at last year's Breeders' Cup World Championships when Japan captured its first two Breeders' Cup victories in a span of just a few hours. One year before future champions Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) were both foaled, WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden and SF Bloodstock's Tom Ryan attended the 2015 Japan Racing Horse Association's yearling and weanling sale. They came home with a group that included Yoshida...

PARIS, France--When Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) beat Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) to give Godolphin a one-two in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, it was the perfect finishing order for the operation as breeders, with Coroebus representing three generations of Darley/Godolphin breeding. He is also out of a mare by Teofilo (Ire) and from a family which had already given Sheikh Mohammed a dual winner of his beloved Dubai World Cup. In Paris on Sunday, another son of the Darley lynchpin Dubawi, Modern Games (Ire), added a French Classic to...

As Tapit's list of Grade I winners quickly approaches 30 constituents, his sons are now proving their worth in the stud barn. Constitution leads the charge of Tapit sons at stud with an $85,000 fee. The WinStar sire concluded 2021 with a fifth worldwide Group 1/Grade I winner in Cigar Mile H. victor Americanrevolution and his 20th black-type winner in GII Santa Anita Mathis Mile S. winner Law Professor. While WinStar Farm hopes that Constitution, whose first crop was foaled in 2017, could one day become a foundation sire at...