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Grade 2 Winner Shancelot Retired To Buck Pond Farm

A history-making sprinter when winning the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes with a 121 Beyer Speed Figure – the highest Beyer by a 3-year-old sprinter in history – Shancelot has been retired to Buck Pond Farm, Crawford Farms Racing announced Jan. 11. He will stand for a fee of $7,500 in 2021.

“We're excited to stand Shancelot in Kentucky where we recently purchased a farm close by,” said Al Crawford of Crawford Farms Racing. “We feel his incredible speed will attract a lot of breeders and we are very actively purchasing mares at the Keeneland January Sale to support him ourselves.”

Shancelot showed speed from the start when winning his first three races by a combined 19 lengths. In his six starts, Shancelot never finished worse than third and registered four career triple digit Beyer Speed Figures against the best horses in the sprint division. His record-breaking 121 Beyer Speed Figure is bested only by Arrogate in the 2015 Travers at ten furlongs (122) and Holy Bull in the 1994 Met Mile at eight furlongs (122) by 3-year-old colts.

Breaking his maiden over Grade 1 winner Bodexpress in his debut at Gulfstream Park, Shancelot romped to a 6 1/4-length victory in his second start before stepping up to stakes company that summer. The colt made history in his next start in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes with a 12 1/2 length victory to burst onto the sprinting scene with the aforementioned 121 Beyer Speed Figure.

That Beyer proved to be better than any other top sprinter that year, including champion sprinter Mitole ($15,000 stud fee), whose career best Beyer Speed Figure of 112 came in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. Mitole's fellow Eclipse sprint male finalists World of Trouble ($15,000 stud fee) and Imperial Hint registered career dirt race bests of 109 and 114 respectively.

Following his Amsterdam romp, Shancelot ran exclusively in Grade 1 company from then on, coming just a head away from a Grade 1 victory in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes next out behind Mind Control.

Shipping to the West Coast for the first time, Shancelot ran a game second in the G1 Santa Anita Sprint Handicap. Racing in his traditional spot on the lead, he was collared near the wire by multiple Grade 1 winner Omaha Beach ($35,000 stud fee) to lose by a just head.

Shancelot ended his career with a determined second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint to eventual Eclipse champion Mitole. Shancalot broke into triple digit Beyer Speed Figures for the fourth time in the race with a 110. A winner of half his starts, Shancelot retires with $624,300 in earnings.

“He is an absolutely gorgeous horse,” said trainer Steve Asmussen, “He had limitless ability. He was mentally talented with a great disposition. I am looking forward to seeing his offspring.”

By champion 2-year-old colt Shanghai Bobby, Shancelot is one of four stakes horses for the stakes-winning mare True Kiss. That mare is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Silver Max and a three-quarter sister to Grade 1 winner and successful sire Yes It's True.

“Shancelot could be a breed-changer with his speed. He was brilliantly fast, and comes from a fast family with a lot of class. He showed that class when competing among an incredibly strong division of sprinters,” added Buck Pond Farm's Doug Arnold.

Currently located at Fair Grounds with trainer Steve Asmussen, Shancelot is expected to ship to Kentucky soon and will be available for inspection at Buck Pond Farm upon his arrival.

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PR Special Keeneland January: Big Brown, Paul Pompa’s Crowning Achievement

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

The opening session of the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale takes place today, and the Paulick Report has the reading material you need while you're trying to stay warm on the sales grounds, with the PR Special.

The PR Special offers exclusive, in-depth bloodstock content not yet seen on the rest of the website in a pdf format that's easy to read and print. Here's what's inside:

Front Page: Checking in with Big Brown, the highest-achieving runner owned by the late Paul Pompa, as Pompa's dispersal looms at the Keeneland January sale.
Stallion Spotlight: Bolt d'Oro's first yearlings look for a blazing start.
Pennsylvania Leaderboard: Northview Stallion Station leads state's breeding incentive earners.
First-Crop Sire Watch: First in-foal mares of Keeneland September.

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

Thanks, as always, to the advertisers in today's edition of the PR Special. Your support is invaluable to the functioning of our publication.

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

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First Foal Is A Colt For Grade 1 Winner Yoshida

WinStar Farm's Yoshida, a Grade 1 winner on dirt and turf, sired his first reported foal when a colt was born at WinStar on Saturday night, Jan. 9. Bred by Anastasie Astrid Christiansen-Croy, the bay colt, who arrived at 10:58 p.m., is out of the Monsun mare Gravata and hails from a family replete with black type.

“We're thrilled to welcome the first Yoshida foal here at WinStar Farm on behalf of our client Ms. Christiansen-Croy,” said Liam O'Rourke, WinStar's director of bloodstock services. “Yoshida has repatriated the Sunday Silence line to America and these foals represent the next generation of that world-class sire. Yoshida was an elite and versatile racehorse and will be strongly supported again in his second year at stud in 2021.”

A son of Heart's Cry, one of the leading sires in Japan by dual classic winner and influential sire Sunday Silence, Yoshida earned $2,505,770 in a sensational racing career for WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and Head of Plains Partners. Trained by Bill Mott, Yoshida was a versatile four-time stakes winner on dirt and turf. He competed on three different continents and recorded five triple-digit Beyers over both surfaces—108, 106, 105, 103, and 102.

Yoshida won the $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga in his first career start on dirt, defeating five Grade 1 winners. That same year at four in 2018, he defeated eight graded stakes winners, including three Grade 1 winners, in the $500,000 G1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs. He also won the 2017 G3 Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont and was named a TDN Rising Star in a stylish maiden-breaking win at Keeneland in his 3-year-old bow.

Bred in Japan by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm, Yoshida is the second foal produced from Hilda's Passion, who captured the 2011 G1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga before selling for $1.2 million at that year's Fasig-Tipton November sale.

Yoshida bred 148 mares in his first book in 2020 and he will stand the upcoming breeding season for $15,000 S&N.

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Thousand Words Retired To Spendthrift Farm, Joins ‘Share The Upside’ Program

Thousand Words, the undefeated Grade 2 winner at two and multiple stakes winner at three, has been retired from racing and will stand stud in 2021 at B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky.

The 4-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile will become the newest stallion to participate in Spendthrift's renowned “Share The Upside” program, and he's immediately available for inspection by appointment only.

“Thousand Words is a horse we have been high on since the day we partnered with the Albaugh family to buy him at the Keeneland September sale. We believed he was one of the best combinations of pedigree and physical we saw that year, which is why he commanded a million dollars. He was forward from the day he started training in Ocala, and Bob Baffert told us pretty early on that Thousand Words was a Derby horse,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. “He was an undefeated Los Al(amitos) Futurity winner at two and beat Honor A. P. in a final Derby prep race at three. Thousand Words is a terrific package and will greatly complement our stallion roster, especially at his price point. We think breeders are really going to like everything he has to offer as an exciting young stallion prospect.”

The Share The Upside fee for Thousand Words will be $10,000 for one year. Additionally, breeders must breed a mare in 2022 on a complimentary basis. After the breeder has a live foal in 2022, pays the stud fee, and breeds a mare back, he or she will earn a lifetime breeding right beginning in 2023. For breeders not interested in the Share The Upside program, Thousand Words will be offered for $7,500 on a standard stands and nurses contract. As always, Share The Upside opportunities are limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Campaigned by Spendthrift and the Albaugh Family Stables, Thousand Words broke his maiden on debut as a 2-year-old, running 6 ½ furlongs in 1:16 3/5 at Santa Anita. In his second start, the striking bay colt stretched out around two turns to capture the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), punctuating an undefeated juvenile season.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Thousand Words opened his 3-year-old campaign with a win in the Robert B. Lewis S. (G3) at Santa Anita, remaining perfect in three starts. Prior to the Kentucky Derby, he defeated leading 3-year-old Honor A. P. in the Shared Belief S. at Del Mar in a final major prep for the Run for the Roses, earning a 104 Beyer and becoming a top-five early choice for the Derby.

Thousand Words retires with four wins and a second from nine starts, with earnings of $327,500. He sold for $1,000,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale, marking the first ever seven-figure yearling by sire of sires Pioneerof the Nile. He is out of the multiple Grade 2-winning and Grade 1-placed Pomeroys Pistol, an earner of more than half a million herself on the racetrack.

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