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Tom’s Ready Arrives at Old Friends

Tom’s Ready (More Than Ready), a three-time graded-stakes winner around one turn, has been added to the roster at Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Center in Georgetown, Kentucky.

The 7-year-old, trained by Dallas Stewart for Gayle and Tom Benson’s GMB Racing, was runner-up in the GIII Lecomte S. and GII Louisiana Derby in 2015, but cut back to one turn to win the GII Woody Stephens S. over seven furlongs and the GIII Ack Ack S. going a mile that season. Winner of the GIII Bold Ruler H. in 2016, the Pennsylvania-bred originally entered stud at Spendthrift and was later relocated to Red River Farms in Louisiana.

“It gives us great pleasure to have our wonderful Tom’s Ready retire to Old Friends,” Gayle Benson said. “He was our first purchase, he is a Grade II winner, and he raced in the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders’ Cup, so we are very proud of him and he is deserving of the great care that Old Friends will provide.”

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Grade 1 Winner Tom’s d’Etat To Stand At WinStar Farm Upon Retirement

WinStar Farm has reached an agreement with Gayle Benson's GMB Racing to acquire the breeding rights to Grade 1-winning millionaire and leading Breeders' Cup Classic contender Tom's d'Etat.

“When my late husband, Tom, decided in 2014 that we were going to enter the horse racing business, the first place we came to was WinStar Farm to see their operation,” said Gayle Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans. “GMB Racing is extremely excited that our best horse, Tom's d'Etat, will begin his stud career with Kenny Troutt and his entire team at WinStar. We look forward to watching the second half of his career be just as successful as his first, and we know he will get that opportunity at WinStar. I am also eager to bring many of our mares from Benson Farm to breed to him in the coming years.”

By sire of sires Smart Strike, Tom's d'Etat won the 2019 Grade 1 Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs and is undefeated in two starts in 2020, both stakes. He registered a brilliant 4 1/4-length victory in the $500,000 G2 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs June 27, earning a career-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure, and kicked off his seasonal campaign in April with an impressive late-charging win over Grade 1 winner and subsequent G1 Hollywood Gold Cup winner Improbable in the Oaklawn Mile Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Trained by Al Stall, Tom's d'Etat is a strapping bay who has emerged as one of the leading horses in training. Tom's d'Etat has compiled 11 wins, six of them in stakes, from 18 trips to the post, banking $1,627,272, and is on a four-win streak with his sights set on the G1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga for his next target.

“I have been honored to be able to train two great horses in Blame and Tom's d'Etat,” said Al Stall. “He has been brilliant winning four in a row, and I can't wait to lead him back over there in the Whitney.”

In winning last month's Stephen Foster in dominant fashion over multiple graded stakes winner By My Standards, Tom's d'Etat covered 1 1/8 miles in an eye-catching 1:47.30, geared down in the late stages. The final time came within a whisker of Victory Gallop's track and stakes record of 1:47.28 set in the 1999 renewal of the Stephen Foster. In winning his fourth consecutive stakes race in the Stephen Foster, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Classic, Tom's d'Etat secured a berth in this year's $7-million Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 7.

Tom's d'Etat scored his biggest victory to date last year, winning the $600,000 Clark Stakes as much the best by 3 1/4 lengths. Before taking down the Clark and running a 104 Beyer in the impressive performance, Tom's d'Etat ran a 105 Beyer in winning the G2 Fayette Stakes at Keeneland by a widening 4 1/4 lengths, and he also scored in the 2019 Alydar Stakes at Saratoga, recording a 104 Beyer. All told, he has recorded nine triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, eight of them consecutively, in his illustrious career.

“Tom's d'Etat has proven over the last two years to be of the highest quality,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. “Eleven of his last 12 Thoro-Graph figures are negative numbers. He has nine triple-digit Beyers and eight in a row. He was .02 off the track record in his last start at historic Churchill Downs, and he won two of the best races in the country at 1 1/8 miles in the Stephen Foster and the Clark.

“Any way you slice it, he is top class,” Walden added. “He is the last great son of Smart Strike from the family of Candy Ride. We walked Speightstown into the stallion barn at age seven and Distorted Humor at age six. Hopefully, he will be another story we can tell how he defied the odds like them.”

Bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock, Tom's d'Etat was purchased by GMB Racing for $330,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September sale from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment. He is produced from the stakes-winning and multiple stakes-placed Giant's Causeway mare Julia Tuttle who is out of Candy Cane (ARG), a full sister to G1 Pacific Classic winner and leading sire Candy Ride (ARG).

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Easy Win for Tom’s d’Etat in the GII Stephen Foster

Tom’s d’Etat made his case for one of the top older horses of 2020 with a blowout performance in Churchill’s GII Stephen Foster S. coming on the heels of three straight wins, including in last November’s GI Clark H. under the Twin Spires. Allowing longshot Pirate’s Punch (Shanghai Bobby) to dictate terms through initial fractions of :23.89 and :48.13, the 7-year-old loomed menacingly just to his outside before overtaking the pacesetter on the far turn following six furlongs in 1:11.67. Two lengths in front turning for home, the 6-5 choice continued to draw clear late. With rider Miguel Mena throwing a few crosses down the lane before standing up a few strides before the wire, Tom’s d’Etat was absolutely dominant, never leaving the outcome in doubt while crossing the wire 4 1/4 lengths ahead of By My Standards. The final time of 1:47.30 was the second-fastest time for the Stephen Foster, which is a Breeders’ Cup ‘Win and You’re in’ for the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“We knew coming into this race he was a fresh horse but [he] ran so well fresh in the past,” said trainer Al Stall, Jr. “This will set him up to be in good shape for the rest of the year. I think he’ll benefit a lot from this race but we’ve sort of been waiting for this horse to get into form with the breaks in his races but he’s finally got there. That was a very impressive performance today.”

Now riding a four-race win streak, Tom’s d’Etat is lightly raced for his age. He first made it to the races as a 3-year-old and, beset by various minor setbacks, didn’t attempt his first black-type event until December of his 5-year-old season when he won the Tenacious S. at Fair Grounds. He had his most productive and prolific season last year as a 6-year-old when he captured the aforementioned GI Clark, as well as Keeneland’s GII Hagyard Fayette S. and Saratoga’s Alydar S. He was also placed in both the GII Alysheba S. and that year’s edition of the Stephen Foster. The bay made his 7-year-old debut with a win in the Apr. 11 Oaklawn Mile S., getting his seventh consecutive triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure.

Pedigree Notes:
One of 135 stakes winners (69 graded) for the late Smart Strike, Tom’s d’Etat is out of the black-type winning and graded-placed Giant’s Causeway mare Julia Tuttle. Her dam is a full-sister to Argentinean champion and U.S. leading sire Candy Ride (Arg) (Ride the Rails). Julia Tuttle’s last two foals have been a filly by Connect and a colt by Nyquist, respectively. Tom’s d’Etat is one of five stakes performers by Smart Strike out of Giant’s Causeway mares. The others include MGSW Family Tree and GSW Liam the Charmer.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
STEPHEN FOSTER S.-GII, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 6-27, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:47.30, ft.
1–TOM’S D’ETAT, 124, h, 7, by Smart Strike
1st Dam: Julia Tuttle (SW & GSP, $188,051), by Giant’s Causeway
2nd Dam: Candy Cane (Arg), by Ride the Rails
3rd Dam: Candy Girl (Arg), by Candy Stripes
($330,000 Ylg ’14 KEESEP). O-G M B Racing; B-SF Bloodstock
LLC (KY); T-Albert M. Stall, Jr.; J-Miguel Mena. $300,700.
Lifetime Record: GISW, 18-11-2-1, $1,627,272. Werk Nick
Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–By My Standards, 122, c, 4, Goldencents–A Jealous Woman,
by Muqtarib. ($150,000 2yo ’18 OBSAPR). O-Allied Racing
Stable, LLC; B-Don Ladd (KY); T-W. Bret Calhoun. $97,000.
3–Silver Dust, 120, g, 6, Tapit–Filare l’Oro, by Hard Spun.
($270,000 Ylg ’15 KEESEP; $510,000 2yo ’16 OBSMAR). O-Tom
R. Durant; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-W. Bret Calhoun.
$48,500.
Margins: 4 1/4, 2 3/4, 1. Odds: 1.30, 1.90, 27.80.
Also Ran: Multiplier, Owendale, Fearless, Pirate’s Punch, Alkhaatam.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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