Eight rings, courtesy of Rancho San Miguel
Rancho San Miguel Press
San Miguel, California – Eight ringsa Grade 1-winning son of Empire Maker whose first foals are well-regarded yearlings, has moved to California to stand at Rancho San Miguel. The compensation for the 8-year-old stallion in 2026 is $6,000, with a guarantee of a live foal.
Selling for $520,000 as a Keeneland September Yearling, Eight Rings exploded onto the two-year-old racing scene in 2019 when he parlayed a career debut victory of 6 1/4 lengths at 5 1/2 furlongs in Del Mar Maiden Special Weight Company into a six-length victory in Santa Anita Park’s $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at 1 1/16 miles for Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
The precocious colt placed in four additional races on the Southern California ground over the next three years, highlighted by a close second-place finish in Del Mar’s 2021 Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at six furlongs. From 14 lifetime starts, he earned $474,451.
Eight Rings’ first foals are highly regarded as 2025 yearlings, giving their sire the highest average sales results of any active California stallion this year. At the 2025 Fasig-Tipton California Fall Yearlings Sale, four of his offspring sold for gross proceeds of $140,000, yielding an average price of $35,000 and a median of $37,500, led by a $60,000 colt.
“Eight Rings is truly the Adonis of stallions – a remarkable physical specimen without a single conformation flaw,” said Adrian Gonzalez, president of Checkmate Thoroughbreds LLC and managing partner of the Eight Rings Partnership. “His exceptional quality is now clearly reflected in his progeny and we were richly rewarded in the sales ring with his first yearlings. I am deeply impressed by his foals and all our California mares will be booked to him in 2026.”
Eight Rings, produced by Purely Hot, a graduated daughter of Pure Prize, represents the same Empire Maker/Storm Cat pedigree cross as 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2016 champion 2-year-old Colt Classic Empire.
“We are honored and excited to have such an outstanding stallion in the pipeline,” said Rancho San Miguel owner Tom Clark. “We believe he has tremendous potential to become a leading sire in California.”
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