After standing his first eight seasons in Kentucky, Grade 1 winner The Cliff's Edge will relocate to Fair Winds Farm in Waynesville, Ohio, for the 2013 breeding season.
The 12-year-old Gulch horse, who most recently stood at Margaux Farm in Midway, Ky., will stand for a fee of $2,500 live foal at Fair Winds, established in 1982 by Kim and Lori Williams.
“We are so pleased to bring a stallion with his credentials to the state," Kim Williams said. "This is the perfect time. With the expected increases in purses available [due to slots at racetracks and land-based casinos], we hope to see the industry revitalized in Ohio for the owners and breeders.
“[The Cliff’s Edge is] a grand looking stallion who was an outstanding racehorse that earned over $1.2 million while hitting the board in 10 of 12 graded stakes races. We believe he’ll be well-received and be a great addition to the breeding program in the state.”
The Cliff's Edge entered stud in 2005 at Vinery near Lexington, Ky. for a fee of $20,000. He moved to Margaux in 2009, and stood for a fee of $2,500 in 2012.
Named after the late Kentucky chart-caller and handicapper Cliff Guilliams, The Cliff's Edge, who is out of the Danzig mare Zigember, won both the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes as a juvenile at Churchill Downs. He finished third in the Florida Derby and won the Blue Grass Stakes, both Grade 1 events, the following spring to establish himself among the top picks for the Kentucky Derby, but finished fifth over a muddy track in the classic.
That summer, the colt finished second in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, and also in both the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes and Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes. He finished third to older rivals in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, emerging from the race with a career-ending ankle fracture. He retired with four wins from 13 starts for earnings of $1,265,258.
From his first five crops of racing age, The Cliff's Edge has produced 107 winners, including multiple stakes winner Our Edge and stakes winners Frazil, Cliffy's Future and Magicalwayswins. He has eight other stakes-placed runners for total progeny earnings of $5,096,447.