Tag: retirements

Grade 2 Winner Giant Expectations Retired; Stud Plans Pending

Multiple graded stakes winner and millionaire Giant Expectations has been retired from racing with career earnings of $1,343,600. He will begin his next career at stud this upcoming breeding season, with the location still to be determined pending sale of the horse, either privately or at auction.

In a career that spanned five seasons and 25 starts, Giant Expectations consistently raced at the highest level from coast to coast. His ability to show tactical speed, both sprinting and routing, set him apart with wins in both the Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes at seven furlongs and against a historically tough field for the G2 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/16 miles, winning gate-to-wire and defeating 2018 Eclipse Award winner Accelerate, as well as Grade 1 winners Collected and Hoppertunity.

“Giant Expectations was one of the best horses I had the pleasure to ride over my career,” said Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, who was in the irons for some of Giant Expectations' biggest races, including the Pat O'Brien and San Antonio wins. “He was a great-looking horse with the stride and the movement to go with it, long and fluid…a beautiful stride and a powerful stretch run.”

“He's always had tremendous speed, stamina, and resilience,” said Peter Eurton, who has trained Giant Expectations since he was purchased as a 2-year-old. “He's a perfectly-built horse. Very sound and a gorgeous individual.”

Giant Expectations' racing career concludes with 14 top-five finishes in 16 consecutive stakes races, with 13 of those at the Grade 1 or Grade 2 level.

Giant Expectations was trained by Eurton for Exline-Border Racing, David Bernsen, Gatto Racing, and partners, who stated, “The current ownership group and management unanimously elected to retire Giant Expectations in the best interests of the horse, and are excited to follow his next career as a stallion.”

From the same family as this year's probable Breeders' Cup Sprint favorite C Z Rocket, Giant Expectations is from the famed Storm Cat male line, and he has been relocated to Kentucky as a stallion prospect. Viewing is available conveniently just four miles away from Keeneland beginning next week. To arrange a viewing, please call 805-712-1395.

“This is the type of horse you miss the most when they leave,” Eurton said. “Anybody who breeds to him is going to be very happy.”

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Without Parole Retired To Newsells Park Stud In England For 2021

Without Parole, winner of the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes, has been retired and will return to the U.K. to commence stud duties at Newsells Park Stud for the 2021 season, it has been announced.

Bred by John and Tanya Gunther, the son of Frankel was unbeaten in his first four starts culminating in his impressive victory at Royal Ascot, where he justified favoritism to beat the likes of Gustav Klimt and Irish 2000 Guineas winner, Romanised. His winning time that day was the second fastest ever recorded at Ascot, faster than Kingman and Without Parole's own sire Frankel. A subsequent switch to Chad Brown in the U.S., saw Without Parole consistently perform at the very highest level over a mile with placings in the Breeders' Cup Mile, Shadwell Turf Mile and Shoemaker Mile.

Commenting on his retirement to Newsells Park Stud, general manager Julian Dollar said, “We're delighted to be standing Without Parole at Newsells Park. It's no secret that we, like virtually every other global stallion operation, chased this horse hard after his impressive win at Royal Ascot and its fitting he should now retire to the Stud where he was born and raised. Without Parole is a beautiful horse with an athletic physique and superb conformation. As his race record states, he's an out and out miler who possesses a great turn of foot. Importantly, he has a potent, proven sire's pedigree which should offer breeders plenty of options. He'll certainly be heavily supported by Newsells Park and of course his Eclipse-award winning breeders, John and Tanya Gunther.”

Commenting on his retirement to stud, John Gunther said: “Without Parole has given me the most memorable and exciting day of my life with his victory in the St. James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. It was my biggest dream come true and I continue to be overwhelmed by the heart and perseverance he has shown with his racing pursuits in America. He has raced in 12 consecutive Grade 1s and faced myriad traffic obstructions, at times unsuitable turf conditions and he just never gives up, as demonstrated again by his third place finish in the prestigious Shadwell Turf Mile. I love this horse and can't wait to breed to him.”

Commenting on Without Parole, John Gosden said: “He was a very sound and tough colt and an incredibly good natured horse to train. He won the St James's Palace in courageous style off a strong pace and he showed great speed in the Breeders' Cup Mile.”

Commenting on Without Parole, Chad Brown said: “When Without Parole came to me last year, he immediately showed himself to be a class horse with tremendous ability. I thought so highly of him that I paired him up with Bricks and Mortar, who of course went on to win the Breeders' Cup Turf and be awarded Horse of The Year honors. Without Parole ran huge in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile to be third off of a six month lay-off and it has been hugely frustrating that he hasn't added another Group 1 to his resume. He has run some incredibly good races again this year, just not had the necessary racing luck.”

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Kentucky Derby Runner-Up Lookin At Lee Retired; Stud Plans Pending

Lookin at Lee, the runner-up behind Always Dreaming in the 2017 Kentucky Derby, has been retired from racing with plans to stand him in a regional market, owner Michael Levinson confirmed Wednesday on social media.

The 6-year-old son of Lookin at Lucky finished his on-track career with four wins in 35 starts for earnings of $1,343,188. He raced for owner L & N Racing and trainer Steve Asmussen.

As a 2-year-old, he won the Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes, then rolled off a pair of runner-up efforts in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes and G1 Breeders' Futurity before finishing fourth in the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. He punched his ticket to the 2017 Derby with third-place finishes in the G3 Southwest Stakes and G1 Arkansas Derby before running second in the Derby at odds of 33-1 – a feat made even more impressive by the fact that he broke from the dreaded inside post.

The remainder of Lookin at Lee's 3-year-old campaign included a fourth in the Preakness Stakes and a seventh in the Belmont Stakes, and the rest of his season was highlighted by a third in the G3 West Virginia Derby.

Lookin at Lee continued to be a road warrior in his 4-year-old season and beyond, notching a win in Downs At Albuquerque Handicap and a Churchill Downs allowance optional claiming race to go along with stakes places at Sunland Park and Sunray Park.

Bred in Kentucky by Ray Hanson, Lookin at Lee is out of the Grade 3-placed stakes-winning Langfuhr mare Langara Lass, making him a half-brother to multiple Grade 3 winner Blended Citizen and Grade 1-placed stakes winner Battlefield Angel. The latter is herself the dam of Grade 1-placed Manny Wah.

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Runaway Ghost Retired To Double LL Farms In New Mexico

Grade 3 winner Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper x Rose's Desert by Desert God) has been retired from racing and will stand for the 2021 breeding season at Double LL Farms in Bosque, N.M.

With lifetime earnings of $783,509, he won a total of six stakes races, from six furlongs to a mile and an eighth, by a combined 27 1/4 lengths. His Grade 3 Sunland Derby win earned him the right to enter the 2018 Kentucky Derby, but he was forced to scratch prior to the Derby after suffering a training injury while at Sunland Park Racetrack in New Mexico.

Runaway Ghost came back as a 4-year-old and won three stakes races at Sunland Park before shipping to Kentucky for the G3 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland, where he unfortunately suffered an ankle injury after twice clipping heels in the race.

A third-generation homebred for Joe Peacock of San Antonio, Texas, Runaway Ghost retires sound and will continue to be owned by the Peacock family as he starts his second career.

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