Future stallion Mastery arrives at Claiborne

The unbeaten Mastery has arrived at Claiborne Farm, looking to a future as a stallion after his promising racing career was derailed by injury.

Mastery, the winner of the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity as a juvenile, improved his career mark to 4 for 4 by winning the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes by 6 3/4 lengths on March 11 at Santa Anita. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 105 for that effort, still the top figure of the year for a 3-year-old male.

However, the post-race celebration was short-lived; he was pulled up past the wire and vanned off. Radiographs revealed a condylar fracture to his left front leg, and he underwent surgery two days later. Claiborne announced a deal to stand the colt later that month.

Claiborne’s Bernie Sams said that while the son of Candy Ride is not yet officially retired, his team felt it was important to have him on the farm as decisions about his future are made.

“He’s got another 30 days of rehab, so whether we make a decision before or not, we haven’t really decided,” Sams said. “I wanted to get him in here and let everyone get a look at him and figure out what the veterinarians think is the best play. We’ll figure it out from there.”

Candy Ride has several young sons at stud who have sired stakes winners, and Mastery’s female family also points to stud success. The colt, a half-brother to stakes winner Clear Sailing, is from the immediate family of Grade 1 winner Jump Start, now a perennial leading sire in Pennsylvania. His extended family includes the prominent sire Miswaki.

– additional reporting by Nicole Russo