Eskendereya to stand at Taylor Made for $30,000

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Eskendereya, winner of the Wood Memorial and onetime 2010 Kentucky Derby favorite before his retirement with a soft-tissue injury, will stand for $30,000 in his first year at stud.

The 3-year-old Giant’s Causeway colt will stand at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky. Owners Ahmed Zayat and Jess Jackson announced in August that they had struck a partnership with the farm, where the roster also includes Unbridled’s Song.

Bred by Sanford Robertson from his Seattle Slew mare Aldebaran Light, Eskendereya brought $250,000 from Zayat at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale. Zayat campaigned him to victories in four of six lifetime starts. His most notable wins came in the Grade 1 Wood, where he won by almost 10 lengths, and in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, which he took by 8 1/2 lengths. At 2, he won the Pilgrom Stakes by 7 1/4 lengths.

Trainer Todd Pletcher scratched Eskendereya days before the Derby due to a soft-tissue injury in his left front leg. Zayat announced Eskendereya’s retirement - and Jackson’s purchase of an undisclosed interest in the colt - in early August.

Eskendereya is a half-brother to Group 1 winner Balmont and earned $725,700.