Stardom Bound

[King Glorious]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this. Fillies retire early much less than colts do. Even really good fillies. Look at the last 15 3 year old filly eclipse winners. Off the top of my head, the only ones that didn't come back at 4 were the injured Rags, Farda Amiga and Yank's Music.

2007 : Rags to Riches...........Curlin
2006 : Wait A While.........Bernardini
2005 : Smuggler.............Afleet Alex
2004 : Ashado...........Smarty Jones
2003 : Bird Town............Funny Cide
2002 : Farda Amiga...........War Emblem
2001 : Xtra Heat.......Point Given
2000 : Surfside.........Tiznow
1999 : Silverbulletday.........Charismatic
1998 : Banshee Breeze........Real Quiet
1997 : Ajina.........Silver Charm
1996 : Yanks Music.......Skip Away
1995 : Serena's Song.......Thunder Gulch
1994 : Heavenly Prize..........Holy Bull
1993 : Hollywood Wildcat.......Prairie Bayou

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.

[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.