Stardom Bound

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

The same could almost be said for the champion colts over this same period. Injuries took Prairie Bayou, Thunder Gulch, Charismatic, Point Given, Smarty Jones, and Afleet Alex. Of the rest, Holy Bull, Skip Away, Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Tiznow, Funny Cide, and Curlin all came back. The only ones that didn't come back because of owner's choice that didn't suffer injury were Bernardini and War Emblem.

Maybe using the year-end champion wasn't the best platform, but the point was that the colts tend to retire much sooner. In fact, so soon that the majority don't do enough to earn a championship. Just as long as they win some "stallion-making" or "name" race.

Look no further than last year. Before they even ran the Classic we knew that Hard Spun, Street Sense, and most likely Any Given Saturday wouldn't return at 4.

Actually, the 3yos that run in the Classic are often a good source of such horses. Coronado's Quest, his sire Forty Niner, FuPeg, Giant's Causeway, Hold That Tiger, Birdstone, Black Minnaloushe, Came Home, War Emblem, Bernardini, etc.