Gun Pilot back home at Three Chimneys

Gun Pilot was bred, born, and raised at Three Chimneys Farm, where his sire, Gun Runner, reigns supreme. The 2017 Horse of the Year, Gun Runner was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year and has led his class with his first four crops of racing age while becoming one of the nation’s elite sires.

Unsurprisingly, Gun Runner’s first sons to stud have been in high demand. After carrying the Three Chimneys colors to a Grade 1 victory in the Churchill Downs Stakes, Gun Pilot now becomes the first of those to join his sire in the farm’s stallion complex.

“We strongly believe Gun Runner will be a sire of sires and are thrilled to have his Grade 1-winning son Gun Pilot return home and stand alongside his sire for the upcoming breeding season,” Three Chimneys chairman Goncalo Torrealba said in a press release. “We will support him with plenty of quality mares from our broodmare band.”

Judging by the early numbers, many breeders believe Gun Runner will be a sire of sires. This year, the stallion and his sons accounted for four of the top 10 spots on The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, with Gunite (Coolmore’s Ashford Stud) ranking third in the country as he covered 256 mares, and Gun Runner, Pappacap (Walmac Farm), and Taiba (Spendthrift Farm) tied for seventh, breeding 200 mares each.

Gun Pilot will stand for a debut fee of $17,500. Gun Runner has one of the top advertised fees in the country, at $250,000. Gun Pilot, was trained, as his sire was, by Steve Asmussen. In addition to winning the seven-furlong Churchill Downs, he placed in three other stakes this year, including a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Forego.

“He is a big, powerful, scopey horse with a strong shoulder and a great hip,” Three Chimneys board member Doug Cauthen said in a press release. “He will add size, length, and strength to mares, and I think breeders will really like him.

“Sprinter/milers make good stallions, and the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes has been won by important stallions Distorted Humor and Speightstown, and recently by exceptional runners Cody’s Wish, Jackie’s Warrior, and Mitole.”

Three Chimneys adds another newcomer this year in Newgate. By leading sire Into Mischief, Newgate, who debuts at $20,000, won this year’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and last year’s Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis. He earned four other graded stakes-placings.