Cyberknife, Early Voting first sons of Gun Runner at stud

Horse of the Year Gun Runner came out firing to be a smashing success in the early years of his stud career at Three Chimneys Farm. Now, he takes his next shots at seeing if he can carry his legacy forward into the next generation.

Gun Runner will be represented by his first sons at stud in 2023, both Grade 1 winners from his first crop. Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting has taken up residence at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., while multiple Grade 1 winner Cyberknife will return home to Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., after one final start. Both stallion prospects are part of strong incoming classes for their respective farms.

Early Voting won the Grade 3 Withers Stakes in his second start, then was a strong second to Mo Donegal – the eventual Belmont Stakes winner – in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial. Owner Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown chose to bypass the temptation of the Kentucky Derby to focus on the Preakness Stakes with their lightly raced charge. That judiciousness paid off with a 1 1/4-length victory in the Preakness over Epicenter, a leader of the 3-year-old division.

“He wasn’t the earliest developer,” Klarman said. “Chad was pretty excited about him all along, but, of course, you have to prove it on the track, and we were really excited. He initially, after his first race or two, wasn’t fast enough to compete with the best 3-year-olds, but every race he got better. We were pretty excited that he would continue to develop, and that’s part of why we wanted to make sure he had enough time to continue to develop.”

Early Voting was fourth in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and eighth while eased in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga in his final outings.

“Early Voting was an outstanding physical specimen as a yearling,” said noted bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, who selected the colt at Keeneland September. “He had size, strength, scope, substance, and tremendous quality. It is very easy to be impressed by him, he has all the credentials to become a successful stallion and I am very confident that breeders will love him.”

In addition to being by the red-hot Gun Runner – from Candy Ride’s branch of the influential Fappiano sireline – Early Voting has a solid stallion’s pedigree on the bottom side of his page. He is out of the unraced Tiznow mare Amour d’Ete, who is a full sister to multiple graded stakes winner Irap and a half-sister to champion and sire Speightstown.

Early Voting will be one of five new stallions at Ashford for 2023. The farm will stand two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Golden Pal alongside his sire, Uncle Mo; multiple Grade 1 winner Jack Christopher alongside his sire, Munnings; and Eclipse Award champion juvenile Corniche. It was announced in December that Grade 1 winner Epicenter has been inked to join the roster after sustaining a career-ending injury in the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Meanwhile, across Lexington, multiple Grade 1 winner Cyberknife visited Spendthrift Farm for a brief freshening and to be shown to breeders following his runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He then returned to the care of trainer Brad Cox, to target the Pegasus World Cup as a final start before heading back to Spendthrift in time for breeding season.

“Cyberknife ran great to finish a head behind older horse Cody’s Wish in the Dirt Mile, and he came to the farm looking well and with good energy,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said. “He is set to run again before retiring. However, it was important for us to be able to show him to breeders.”

Gun Runner continued to improve throughout his career. Like Early Voting, Cyberknife, who campaigned for the Gold Square LLC of Al Gold in 2022, was not a standout juvenile, but emerged as a force in the spring of his 3-year-old year. The colt won the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby before finishing 18th in the Kentucky Derby. He rebounded to win the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs, and then added the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational in July at Monmouth, besting another son of Gun Runner, Taiba.

“He was a nice 2-year-old and always had ability, but now that he’s older he keeps getting better and better,” Gold said. “He’s a very talented horse.”

Cyberknife was second to Epicenter in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and third in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby to Taiba and Zandon before the Dirt Mile.

Spendthrift’s newcomers for 2023 are led by Eclipse Award champion sprinter Jackie’s Warrior. The farm also debuts another standout member of this year’s 3-year-old class in Mo Donegal, and also adds graded stakes winner Greatest Honour.

Gun Runner set an earnings record for a freshman sire in 2022, and also led the overall North American juvenile sire list. In addition to Early Voting, Cyberknife, Gun Runner’s first crop also includes Eclipse Award champion Echo Zulu and Grade 1 winners Gunite, Society, and Taiba, and graded stakes winners Pappacap, Runninsonofagun, Sixtythreecaliber, and Wicked Halo. He is the runaway leader on this year’s second-crop sires list, and has sired 15 2-year-old winners in 2022, including three stakes-placed runners.