Hall of Famer Point Given pensioned

Hall of Famer Point Given, the 2001 Horse of the Year, has been pensioned from stud duties and has taken up residence at the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions.

Point Given has stood the last five breeding seasons at Calumet Farm. The son of Thunder Gulch had previously stood at Three Chimneys Farm, where he entered stud in 2002. The fifth Horse of the Year honoree to reside at the Hall of Champions, he will be available for visits from the public beginning next April, coinciding with the Kentucky Horse Park’s 40th anniversary season.

"We are so pleased to welcome this handsome and impressive chestnut stallion to the Hall of Champions, and we thank his connections for entrusting him to our care," Kentucky Horse Park executive director Laura Prewitt said in a release. "We believe he will serve as an excellent ambassador to his breed and the sport of racing for the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the park each year."

Racing as a homebred for The Thoroughbred Corporation of the late Prince Ahmed bin Salman, Point Given, who was trained by Bob Baffert, did not finish worse than second in six starts as a juvenile. His season included a victory in the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity and runner-up efforts in both the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Grade 1 Champagne Stakes.

The colt won all but one of his seven starts the following season. Victories in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby made him the heavy favorite for the Kentucky Derby; however, Point Given finished fifth, the only unplaced effort of his career. The colt rebounded to win the Preakness Stakes two weeks later, followed by a 12 1/4-length romp in the Belmont Stakes.

Point Given concluded his championship season with two additional Grade 1 victories, taking the Haskell Invitational and the Travers Stakes. Forced into retirement by a tendon injury, he finished with 9 wins from 13 starts and $3,968,500 in earnings.

Point Given was named 2001 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.

As a stallion, Point Given is the sire of 385 winners for earnings of $28,463,611 to date. His 33 career stakes winners are led by 2007 Canadian Horse of the Year and millionaire Sealy Hill, who was also named champion 3-year-old filly and champion turf female for a season in which she swept the Canadian Filly Triple Crown of the Woodbine Oaks, Bison City Stakes, and Wonder Where Stakes. Sealy Hill was also multiple Grade 1-placed in her career, including a runner-up effort in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, and has gone on to become a multiple stakes producer.

Point Given is also the sire of Canadian champion Points of Grace; the versatile Coil, a Grade 1 winner both routing in the Haskell Invitational and sprinting in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship; Grade 1 Pacific Classic winner Go Between; and Grade 1-winning juvenile Point Ashley.