Alternation , the sire of Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Serengeti Empress, is being relocated from Pin Oak Stud to Darby Dan Farm by Steve Belford's Maccabee Farm for the upcoming breeding season, it was announced Nov. 14. The 13-year-old son of Distorted Humor is being resyndicated and will stand for a fee of $7,500, stands and nurses.
A millionaire and multiple graded stakes winner, Alternation was bred in Kentucky by Pin Oak Stud out of the multiple stakes-winning Seattle Slew mare Alternate. His dam also produced TVG Pacific Classic (G1) victor and fellow Darby Dan Farm stallion Higher Power , as well as stakes winner Interrupted. Alternate, an earner of $550,695 who was also multiple graded stakes-placed, is a half sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Peaks and Valleys, another grade 1-winning millionaire.
"We're excited to bring a horse of Alternation's caliber to Darby Dan," said Ryan Norton, stallion director at Darby Dan Farm. "He was a top-class horse on the racetrack, he is from an active and accomplished Pin Oak family, and he is already making his presence felt as a stallion, siring the likes of Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress. He is a great-looking horse and possesses all the qualities to be a top sire."
Trained by Donnie Von Hemel for Pin Oak, broke his maiden at 2 and at age 3 won the Peter Pan Stakes (G2). During his 4-year-old campaign he won five of seven starts, all in stakes races, including the Oaklawn Handicap (G2), Razorback Handicap (G3), and Pimlico Special (G3). He retired with a 9-1-1 record in 14 starts after four seasons on the track, earning $1,064,727 before beginning his stud career at Pin Oak in 2014.
As a stallion, Alternation is represented by multiple grade 1 winner Serengeti Empress, winner of the 2019 Kentucky Oaks and the 2020 Ballerina Stakes (G1). Serengeti Empress collected a record of 7-5-1 from 19 starts en route to earnings of $2,175,653. She won six stakes, five of them graded, and placed in an additional six graded stakes.
Alternation is represented in 2021 by Ballroom Blitz, victorious in the Best of Ohio Distaff Stakes Oct. 30; Ellanation, winner of the Jameela Stakes in July at Pimlico Race Course, and La Bolena, a black-type winner in Panama. He is also the sire of 2018 Super Derby (G3) winner Limation and multiple stakes winner Alternative Slew, who was second in the Oklahoma Classics Distaff Turf Stakes Oct. 15. Through Sunday, Alternation
