Epicenter to stand for $45,000 at Coolmore's Ashford Stud

Grade 1 winner Epicenter, who sustained a career-ending injury in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last month, will begin a stallion career at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., that operation announced Sunday. Epicenter is a grandson of the late Coolmore leading sire Giant’s Causeway, giving the international operation a chance to build upon that legacy in the United States.

Epicenter, who was campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, will stand for $45,000. The colt is from the second crop by Not This Time, a Grade 3-winning son of Giant’s Causeway who has emerged as a promising heir to his sire in the United States. Epicenter is out of a Candy Ride mare, meaning he is bred on the reverse cross of champion and red-hot young sire Gun Runner, another Winchell colorbearer.

“Epicenter is the best son of Giant’s Causeway’s best sire son Not This Time, and is out of a stakes winner by the sire of Gun Runner,” Coolmore’s Dermot Ryan said. “His combination of speed and stamina made him a potent force, and he’s a very good-looking horse to boot. Breeders are going to love him.”

European Horse of the Year Giant’s Causeway, by Storm Cat, was foaled at Ashford and raced as a homebred for Coolmore. He won six Group 1 races on turf in Europe, and in his only start on dirt was a hard-fought second to fellow champion Tiznow in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Giant’s Causeway retired to Coolmore Stud in Ireland, but moved home to Ashford after one season. He sired 10 champions worldwide and earned three North American leading sire titles. He died in 2018 at age 21.

Many of Giant’s Causeway’s best sons have, unsurprisingly, stood overseas, including late champion Shamardal in Ireland and Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar, retired to Japan in 2020. In the United States, his sons have had modest success. His most successful include stallions Creative Cause at Airdrie Stud and First Samurai at Claiborne Farm. Castleton Lyons resident Protonico sired star-crossed Medina Spirit in his first crop.

Not This Time, who stands at Taylor Made Farm, won the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes by 8 3/4 lengths at Churchill Downs, then was beaten just a neck by divisional champion Classic Empire in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. A soft-tissue injury forced him into early retirement, but he proved equally precocious in his second career. On the 2020 freshman sire list, he finished third by earnings while leading by winners; he led 2021 second-crop sires by earnings.

In 2022, Not This Time is the sire of 14 stakes winners, led by Epicenter and Grade 1 winner Just One Time. Not This Time also is the sire of graded stakes winners Arzak, Midnight Stroll, Next, and Simplification. He ranks ninth on the general sires list through Dec. 4. His fee is jumping from $75,000 to $135,000 for 2023.

Epicenter becomes the first son of Not This Time to retire to stud, finishing his career with a record of 11-6-3-0 and earnings of more than $2.9 million. The colt came to prominence with a productive 2021-22 winter meeting at the Fair Grounds for Steve Asmussen, winning the Gun Runner Stakes, finishing second in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, and winning the Risen Star Stakes and Louisiana Derby, both Grade 2 events. He finished second in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

After a freshening, Epicenter moved to the head of the 3-year-old class with a dominant summer at Saratoga. After winning the Grade 2 Jim Dandy, he rolled by 5 1/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 112, the highest by any sophomore on dirt this year.

In the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5 at Keeneland, Epicenter was pulled up midway down the backstretch by jockey Joel Rosario, having sustained a lateral condylar fracture to his right foreleg. He underwent surgery the following morning at Rood and Riddle Equine, and reports have been favorable throughout his recovery process. The breeding season begins in mid-February.

“He was a brilliant horse whose best racing days were still in front of him,” said Ron Winchell, whose operation has helped develop leading sires Tapit and Gun Runner. “Bred on the reverse of Gun Runner’s Candy Ride-Giant’s Causeway cross, he’s a hugely exciting stallion prospect.”

Epicenter is part of a strong incoming class at Ashford for 2023. The farm also will debut Preakness winner Early Voting, by Gun Runner; two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Golden Pal, alongside his sire, Uncle Mo; multiple Grade 1 winner Jack Christopher, alongside his sire, Munnings; and champion Corniche, by Quality Road.