by Ed DeRosa

Southern Halo, the sire of 167 stakes winners who had been pensioned ahead of this year’s Southern Hemisphere breeding season, died at Haras La Quebrada on Thursday. The son of Halo was 26.

“I said goodbye to him a week ago. He did not suffer, he did not have pain,” said farm ownerHernán Ceriani Cernadas.

Southern Halo was a rare case in which his success as a Southern Hemisphere stallion attracted North American breeders, and though Southern Halo began his career at Haras La Quebrada in 1988, Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Central Kentucky began standing him in 1996 for an advertised fee of $15,000.

That partnership peaked in 2001 when Southern Halo stood at the Versailles, Kentucky, nursery for $40,000 in part because of the success of graded stakes-winning two-year-old and 2000 King’s Bishop Stakes (G1) winner More Than Ready, who now stands at Vinery Kentucky.

Among Southern Halo’s other top progeny are 2005 Canadian champion two-year-old male and ’06 Queen’s Plate Stakes winner Edenwold, Argentine champion and Grade 1 winner Miss Linda (Arg), Argentine Horse of the Year Team, and 15 other champions. Females by Southern Halo have produced seven champions and 110 stakes winners.

Southern Halo raced for the Niarchos family, and though he never won a stakes race, he twice finished second in Grade 1 events as a three-year-old: the Swaps Stakes (G1) at Hollywood Park and the Super Derby (G1) at Louisiana Downs for eventual Racing Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Southern Halo retired after the 1987 season with five wins from 24 starts and career earnings of $344,875. E.P. Taylor bred him in Maryland out of 1977 Test Stakes (G3) winner Northern Sea, by Northern Dancer, a family that includes Grade 1 winners General Challenge, Notable Career, and Sir Beaufort.

Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times