Gun Runner on a path to stardom at stud

Four years ago, the Breeders’ Cup came to Del Mar for the first time, and Gun Runner came to Del Mar to repel his challengers and draw clear to a 2 1/4-length victory in the Classic, locking up the 2017 Horse of the Year title.

“In some ways, it feels like it was just yesterday,” said David Fiske, racing and farm manager for Ron Winchell’s Winchell Thoroughbreds, which campaigned Gun Runner with Three Chimneys Farm. “I’ve re-watched that race from time to time, and it’s better than any antidepressant I’ve ever been prescribed.”

But while those four years between the 2017 and 2021 Breeders’ Cups at Del Mar may feel like the blink of an eye to fans who cheered Gun Runner home, for those involved in shaping the career of a young stallion, it’s been a long process. Gun Runner won the Pegasus World Cup in January 2018 before retiring to Three Chimneys, where the waiting game began. The son of Candy Ride had to quickly make the transition to farm life, then breed his first book of mares, who had been carefully selected by their connections. Those mares had to be cared for through roughly 11 months of gestation before delivering healthy foals, who would be scrutinized at every stage of development over the next two years, as though they were a crystal ball for their sire’s prospects, as they grew and eventually, all being well, moved to training and racing.

“You don’t get to see if you’re right or wrong for three years,” Fiske said. “It gives you something to look forward to.”

Judging by the start Gun Runner has made at stud, the Winchells and his other supporters will have plenty to look forward to. Gun Runner has been a smashing success and is the leading freshman sire, and he has two entrants on Friday’s Breeders’ Cup 2-year-old program at Del Mar in favored Echo Zulu in the Juvenile Fillies and Pappacap in the Juvenile.

“To me, he is the perfect mix of speed and stamina, and obviously that’s proven now,” said Ron Winchell, who owns, solely or in partnership, four of Gun Runner’s five stakes winners. “His offspring are hitting the racetrack and, obviously, we have had a lot of success with them lately, and we hope to continue to do that.”

Echo Zulu, owned by Winchell with L and N Racing and trained by Steve Asmussen, who conditioned her sire, has made herself the favorite for the Juvenile Fillies by winning her three starts by a combined 16 3/4 lengths. She became Gun Runner’s first Grade 1 winner when she took the Spinaway Stakes on Sept. 5 at Saratoga, then followed up by winning the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes on Oct. 3 at Belmont.

“I can’t measure how much I wanted to have Gun Runner’s first Grade 1 winner,” Asmussen said. “Everything he’s done for the barn, he’s obviously a tremendous sire, and somebody had to be first, but I’m glad it was us.”

Gun Runner quickly followed with another Grade 1 winner, as Gunite, a Winchell homebred trained by Asmussen, captured the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 6 at Saratoga. The connections behind the sire also campaign Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes winner Wicked Halo, and, with co-owner Tony Holmes, Concept, a stakes winner at Remington.

Gun Runner’s other Breeders’ Cup hopeful is Rustlewood Farm homebred Pappacap, trained by Mark Casse. The colt won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar over the summer, and most recently was second in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita.

“Probably can’t name a hotter stallion, or a stallion that’s gotten off to a hotter start than him,” bloodstock agent Jacob West said.

Gun Runner was good as a juvenile, winning two of three outings. He was better in the first part of his 3-year-old campaign, winning three graded stakes, including the Louisiana Derby, and placing in three Grade 1 events, including a third in the Kentucky Derby and a second in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

But Gun Runner was at his best as he got older. He concluded his 3-year-old campaign with his first Grade 1 victory, in the Clark Handicap against older horses. After finishing second to Arrogate in the 2017 Dubai World Cup, he never lost again, ripping off consecutive Grade 1 victories in the Stephen Foster, Whitney, Woodward, Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Pegasus World Cup to end his career.

Following their sire, Gun Runner’s progeny were also expected to improve with age, experience, and distance. Fiske points to the preparation the youngsters have received for some of the early success. The Winchell horses are broken in by Steve Asmussen’s father, Keith Asmussen, in Laredo, Texas. They then make a seamless transition to the younger Asmussen at the racetrack.

“Part of the reason they’re doing as well as they do early is the training they get from Steve’s father down in Laredo,” Fiske said. “It’s rare to see one balk going in the gate, and it’s rare to see one not break. That’s an important thing for the 2-year-olds.”

Now, with the rich Breeders’ Cup as well as graded stakes for juveniles at Churchill Downs, Aqueduct, and Los Alamitos still to be run, Gun Runner’s progeny have already earned $2,044,179 through October, putting him in rare air atop the freshman sire list. The great Danzig, whose first crop raced in 1984, when purses and stallion books were considerably smaller than today, is credited as the first freshman sire whose progeny earnings surpassed $2 million. The next stallion to cross that threshold was Tapit, with a then-record $2,811,337 in first-crop earnings in 2008. Uncle Mo shattered that record with $3,632,314 in 2015.

Danzig, Tapit, and Uncle Mo all parlayed their early success into later achievements as classic sires and perennial leading stallions. Gun Runner, the latest member of the $2 million club, is looking to follow suit. In an interesting twist, Winchell Thoroughbreds also campaigned Tapit and maintains a significant interest in the three-time leading sire at Gainesway.

“Tapit was the best sire of the first quarter of the century, and Gun Runner might be the best one of the next quarter century,” Fiske said. “I don’t want to speak too soon, but he sure looks like he’s doing things right. He’s starting to do things that are unusual.”