Clear Creek Stud in Louisiana has pensioned Grade 1-winning sire Afternoon Deelites to the Old Friends equine retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky. The 19-year-old Afternoon Deelites, a son of Private Terms, has stood at Clear Creek, near Folsom, La., since 2004.A West Virginia homebred for composer Burt Bacharach, Afternoon Deelites won the 1994 Hollywood Futurity and the 1995 Malibu Stakes for Grade 1 tallies. He also won four other graded stakes and placed in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, Strub Stakes, and Metropolitan Handicap before retiring with more than $1 million in earnings and 7 wins from 12 starts.As a sire, his best runners include graded winners Zappa, Deeliteful Irving, Three Hour Nap, Miss Pickums, No Tolerance, and other stakes-winners from 13 crops to race so far. He also is the sire of Louisiana-bred champions Princess Deelite and Nob Hill Deelite. In 2010, Clear Creek bred him to 27 mares. To date, his progeny earnings stand at more than $24 million.“It’s always a sad day when you lose the services of a horse of Afternoon Deelites’s quality,” Clear Creek owner Val Murrell said when he announced the pensioning. “His average earnings per starter of $56,000-plus has made him very appealing to the breeders in Louisiana. He will be hard to replace. I would really like to express my gratitude to Michael Blowen of Old Friends for agreeing to let Afternoon Deelites live out his retirement there.”