Breeders' Cup Classic: Three starters will begin their stud careers next year at WinStar
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Scientific evidence supports the idea that horses can remember one another. You’ll forgive Global Campaign, Improbable, and Tom’s d’Etat then if they experience a bit of déjà vu when they board a van to WinStar Farm this coming Sunday. The three will first line up together in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday evening at nearby Keeneland, giving the farm a strong hand of stallion prospects in the $6 million race.
“We’re proud to be here, honored to be here,” WinStar Farm president Elliott Walden said. “We’ve got a lot going on, and that’s always a good thing on Breeders’ Cup Day.”
The three WinStar-bound runners bring solid credentials to a salty edition of the Classic. Improbable, a son of City Zip, is co-owned by WinStar and SF Racing after being purchased as a yearling. He comes in off three consecutive Grade 1 victories for trainer Bob Baffert, taking the Hollywood Gold Cup, the Whitney, and, more recently rolling by 4 1/2 lengths in the Awesome Again.
Tom’s d’Etat, by Smart Strike, won four consecutive races for GMB Racing and trainer Al Stall Jr., starting with the Grade 2 Fayette at Breeders’ Cup host track Keeneland last fall, a streak also including a signature victory in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap and a near record-setting performance in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster. Tom’s d’Etat finished third to Improbable in the Whitney after stumbling at the start.
Global Campaign was bred by WinStar and is co-owned by that outfit and Sagamore Racing. The Curlin colt, trained by Stan Hough, comes in off a win in the Grade 1 Woodward.
“It’s an exciting race,” Walden said. “It’s a really good race this year. I think it’s one of the best renewals we’ve had in a while. And to have three big chances, and then also to have a rooting interest in Tiz the Law with [WinStar stallion] Constitution, it’s gonna be a fun day.”
Improbable and Global Campaign were graded stakes performers earlier in their careers who have been given the time to come into their own, hitting their stride in 2020 during their 4-year-old campaigns. But that’s nothing compared to the patience GMB and Stall have exercised with the 7-year-old Tom’s d’Etat. He has won 11 of 19 career starts in a career that began as a 3-year-old in 2016 and has included two significant gaps – from August 2016 to March 2017 and from July 2017 to November 2018.
“He’s basically been going forward since then,” Stall said. He’s been a straightforward, regular horse for over two years now. That continuity has got his cardio perfect and has his mind just right. I think that’s why we’re where we are today.
“I’m just happy for the horse. He deserves to be this type of horse,” Stall continued. “We’ve felt that way all along and a lot of horses might have had this kind of untapped potential and not get to it. But for him to show up on this type of stage at this point in his career, I’m happy for him and the owners. My crew worked hard on this horse for a long, long time.”
Tom’s d’Etat will be one of the last significant sons of the late leading sire Smart Strike, who died in 2015, to come to stud. On the bottom side of his pedigree, his dam, Julia Tuttle, is out of a full sister to perennial standout sire Candy Ride.
“He has a tremendous stallion’s pedigree,” Walden said. “I think people, they worry a little bit about his age, but, you know, we retired Speightstown at 6, went to stud at 7, and Distorted Humor went to stud at 6, so two of our linchpins over the last two decades were later-developing stallions.”
Improbable’s fee has been announced as $40,000, with a limited number of season contracts available prior to the Breeders’ Cup. After that, his fee is subject to change. WinStar will announce fees for Tom’s d’Etat and Global Campaign at a later date.
Other Classic stallion plans
WinStar isn’t the only stallion farm that will have multiple rooting interests in this Breeders’ Cup Classic. Among other horses in the field spoken for as future stallions, the Coolmore group owns the breeding rights to both Maximum Security and Tiz the Law. Maximum Security has been announced as joining the farm’s roster in 2021, while Tiz the Law is expected to race on.
Spendthrift Farm, which has already announced its stallion roster for 2021, owns a majority interest in this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic, who is expected to one day stand alongside his sire, Into Mischief. Spendthrift has another rooting interest in the Classic as By My Standards is by Into Mischief’s resident son Goldencents.
Also spoken for is Higher Power, who will retire to Darby Dan Farm for 2021.
Tacitus races as a homebred for Juddmonte Farm, which could choose to stand him in Kentucky – the farm’s only new introduction in recent years has been the late champion Arrogate – or could stand him in partnership with another facility. The latter was the case with Juddmonte champions Flintshire, who stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale, and Noble Mission, who began his career at Lane’s End.