Hold Me Back to stand at Irish Hill Century Farm

Grade 2 winner Hold Me Back has been sold and will stand the 2016 breeding season at Irish Hill Century Farm in Stillwater, N.Y. for an advertised fee of $5,000.

The 10-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway previously resided at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., where he was advertised to stand the upcoming season at the same price.

“Hold Me Back is a young stallion that is getting solid runners, and he’s an absolutely gorgeous physical by a leading sire of sires in Giant’s Causeway,” said Bowling Bloodstock’s Matt Bowling, who brokered the deal along with Sullivan Bloodstock. “I believe Hold Me Back presents tremendous value for New York breeders.”

Hold Me Back has sired three crops of racing age, with 61 winners and combined progeny earnings of more than $2.8 million. His leading progeny include Grade 3 winner Jet Black Magic, and stakes winners Hold For More, Hold the Giant, and Zugulu.

Bred in Kentucky by Haras Santa Maria de Araras S.A. and WinStar Farm, Hold Me Back is out of the unraced Unbridled’s Song mare Restraint, whose eight winners from nine runners also includes Brazilian Group 3-placed Salle de Bain and stakes-placed Maria Pia. His extended family includes Canadian champion Avowal, Australian Group 1 winner Criterion, Group 2 winners Varenna Miss and Black Spicy, and Grade 3/Group 3 winners Afleetaffair, Mica’s Pride, and Bull Point.

On the racetrack, Hold Me Back won four of 14 starts for earnings of $872,610, highlighted by wins in the Grade 2 Lane’s End Stakes and Grade 3 Dominion Day Handicap. He also earned runner-up finishes in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and Blue Grass Stakes.