Kodiak Kowboy’s first winner comes at Turf Paradise

Champion Kodiak Kowboy was represented by his first winner as a sire by his first foal to race, when Bear Facts won a 4 1/2-furlong trial race for the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association Spring Sales Stakes on April 19 at Turf Paradise.

Bear Facts drew clear in early stretch and held off a late challenge to win by a head, covering the distance in :52.55 over a fast track. He is owned by Bar Diamond Ranch, Robert Morgan and Daniel Avena, and is trained by Molly Pearson. The chestnut filly was bred in Kentucky by Charles Kidder and Nancy Cole and is out of the winning Boston Harbor mare I'vegothemusicinme, who is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner and stakes producer Pleasant Music and to graded stakes-placed winners Blow Out and African Colony.

Kodiak Kowboy stands at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky. for an advertised fee of $6,500. His initial crop consists of 53 juveniles.

Kodiak Kowboy started fast during his racing career, winning the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes and Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes, as well as the Victoria Stakes at Woodbine in his 2-year-old season. He also finished second in the Grade 2 Futurity Stakes and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. His campaign earned him champion 2-year-old male honors in Canada in 2007.

He picked up wins in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes and the Grade 3 Sport Page Handicap as a sophomore, but Kodiak Kowboy truly emerged in his 4-year-old season, winning a trio of Grade 1 races and finishing in the money in two other graded stakes to secure the Eclipse Award for champion sprinter in 2009.

Kodiak Kowboy retired after that season with 11 wins from 23 starts for earnings of $1,663,363.

Bred in Kentucky by Hartwell Farm, Kodiak Kowboy is out of the Coronado’s Quest mare Kokadrie, who has produced three winners from four to race. Kokadrie is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner West By West.