Atta Boy Roy, a Grade 2 winner and sire of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint contender Bodenheimer, will relocate to War Horse Place in Lexington, Ky., for the 2021 breeding season, where he will stand for an advertised fee of $7,500.
The 15-year-old son of Tribunal previously resided at Blue Ribbon Farm in Buckley, Wash., where he has sired five crops of racing age with 47 winners. He was Washington's leading sire in 2018 and 2019.
Washington-bred Bodenheimer will contest this Friday's Juvenile Turf Sprint off victories in the Prairie Gold Juvenile Stakes at Prairie Meadows, and most recently a gate-to-wire triumph in the Indian Summer Stakes at Keeneland.
Atta Boy Roy first gained national notice at stud through Mr. Jagermeister, a winner in 11 of 25 starts and earner of over $500,000. The well-traveled horse is an eight-time stakes winner at Canterbury Park, Colonial Downs, and Turf Paradise, with runner-up efforts in stakes at Oaklawn Park and Prairie Meadows.
Locally, Atta Boy Roy's top runner is Risque's Legacy, who was named Washington's champion 2-year-old and 3-year-old filly during those respective campaigns.
Valorie Lund trains both Bodenheimer and Mr. Jagermeister, and she also conditioned Atta Boy Roy during his own racing career and recently purchased the stallion with her sister, Kristin Boice. With so much hands-on experience with the sire and his runners, Lund said she noticed a unique genetic advantage that Atta Boy Roy has passed on to his offspring that could explain why he's gotten several solid runners from a relative small group of Washington-sired foals.
“Atta Boy Roy has a very large spleen – and I don't mean enlarged, I mean large, and I believe he's passing that on to his offspring,” Lund said. “We did a heart and spleen scan on Bodenheimer the other day, and the gals that did it said he was off the charts for a 2-year-old for the size of his spleen.
“That's natural blood doping for a horse,” Lund continued. “They store a tremendous amount of red blood cells in their spleen, so if they have a bigger spleen, they're storing more, so when they release them, they have a better oxygen-carrying capacity. I think that's where they're getting that huge speed, and the ability to hang on to it.”
On his own accord, Atta Boy Roy won 14 of 36 starts for earnings of $602,276. The Washington-bred was a two-time stakes winner at Emerald Downs as a 4-year-old, then rose to national prominence at age five with victories in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes and listed Remington Park Sprint Cup Stakes, along with a runner-up effort in the G3 Aristides Stakes. He finished the season with a start in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs, but his performance was hampered by an injury suffered during the race.
Atta Boy Roy raced for three more seasons, picking up a win in the Shot of Gold Stakes at Canterbury Park and another second-place finish in the G3 Aristides Stakes.
Atta Boy Roy is out of the stakes-placed Synastry mare Irish Toast, whose nine foals to race are all winners, including Grade 3 winner The Great Face.
“I have seen pictures from Valorie of Atta Boy Roy's yearlings, and they look like tremendous horses – great gaskins, huge hips, large girths,” said Dana Aschinger of War Horse Place. “Valorie's obviously a fantastic horsewoman, and she certainly knows what a good horse looks like. I'm frankly pretty honored to have him.”
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