Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby winner and near-millionaire earner Roadster, a son of perennial leading sire Quality Road, will stand the 2023 breeding season at Ocala Stud, the farm announced today.
“Roadster is all class, and he was an exciting colt on the racetrack,” said Ocala Stud's David O'Farrell. “He was an extremely precocious juvenile, breaking his maiden in his debut and then placing in a Grade 1 to eventual champion Game Winner in just his second start. The following year, Roadster proved he was a serious racehorse with a tremendous win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, turning the tables on Game Winner. He competed against the best of his generation throughout his career, and we are excited to offer breeders the opportunity to breed to a top-class son of Quality Road who has the looks, pedigree, and performance to be a leading stallion.”
Touted as a special colt early in his career for owner Speedway Stables and trainer Bob Baffert, Roadster delivered on the hype. In just his second start at three, Roadster proved an impressive winner of the $1 million Santa Anita Derby in 2019, defeating stablemate Game Winner—the previous year's Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male champion—with a sustained stretch rally after circling rivals three-wide on the far turn.
Picking up 100 qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with his Santa Anita Derby score, Roadster entered Kentucky Derby 145 as a serious candidate for the roses and one of the top point earners. An eventful and extremely wide trip on the First Saturday in May, however, prevented him from contending throughout.
In his first appearance under silks at two, the flashy gray colt announced his arrival on the scene with an emphatic 4 ¼-length score in a Del Mar maiden special weight event, earning TDN Rising Star status in the process. He followed up that sensational debut effort with a game third-place finish behind Game Winner in the 2018 G1 Del Mar Futurity in just his second lifetime start.
In addition to his Santa Anita Derby victory, Roadster finished second in the G1 Malibu Stakes to Omaha Beach, second in the G2 San Carlos Stakes, and was runner-up to Grade 1 winner Mucho Gusto in the G3 Affirmed Stakes. All told, Roadster won or placed in nine of 16 starts and amassed career earnings of $901,500.
By 2009 G1 Florida Derby hero Quality Road, Roadster is produced from the stakes-winning and stakes-producing Silver Ghost mare Ghost Dancing, and is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner and Keeneland track-record setter Ascend and graded stakes-placed Moro Tap. Roadster was sold by his breeder—Arthur Hancock III's Stone Farm—at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $525,000.
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