Archarcharch to stand at Spendthrift in 2012

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Arkansas Derby winner Archarcharch, now recuperating from an injury he sustained during the Kentucky Derby, will enter stud in 2012 at B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm, the Lexington farm announced Thursday night.

Spendthrift hasn’t yet set a stud fee for Archarcharch.

Archarcharch underwent surgery on May 8, the day after the Derby, to repair a condylar fracture in his left foreleg, and owners Val and Robert Yagos retired him. In the Derby, the Arch colt stumbled leaving the gate, then was hampered further when his saddle slipped, and finished 15th.

Archarcharch came into the race off a win in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, in which he beat eventual Kentucky Derby runner-up Nehro by a neck. He also won the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes and finished third in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes this year. At 2, he won the Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds. He retired with $832,744 in earnings from three wins, one second, and a third in seven career starts.

William “Jinks” Fires trained Archarcharch.

Grapestock, affiliated with Vinery, bred the nearly black colt from the graded stakes-placed Woodman mare Woodman’s Dancer. Archarcharch is his dam’s first Grade 1 winner, but she also is the dam of stakes winner Run Sully Run, by Cherokee Run.

“He is a big, grand-looking son of Arch from a great family, and it is particularly noteworthy that he broke his maiden at 2 sprinting and then went on to win the Arkansas Derby at nine furlongs,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said in announcing the deal to stand Archarcharch. “He also gave every indication that he’d handle a classic distance. We’re glad to have him here and we intend to support him strongly with our own broodmare band.”