Louisiana stallion Afternoon Deelites pensioned at age 19

Clear Creek Stud in Louisiana has pensioned Grade 1-winning sire Afternoon Deelites to the Old Friends equine retirement facility in Georgetown, Ky.

The 19-year-old Afternoon Deelites, a son of Private Terms, has stood at Clear Creek, near Folsom, La., since 2004.

A West Virginia homebred for composer Burt Bacharach, Afternoon Deelites won the 1994 Hollywood Futurity and the 1995 Malibu Stakes for Grade 1 tallies. He also won four other graded stakes and placed in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, Strub Stakes, and Metropolitan Handicap before retiring with more than $1 million in earnings and 7 wins from 12 starts.

As a sire, his best runners include graded winners Zappa, Deeliteful Irving, Three Hour Nap, Miss Pickums, No Tolerance, and other stakes-winners from 13 crops to race so far. He also is the sire of Louisiana-bred champions Princess Deelite and Nob Hill Deelite. In 2010, Clear Creek bred him to 27 mares. To date, his progeny earnings stand at more than $24 million.

“It’s always a sad day when you lose the services of a horse of Afternoon Deelites’s quality,” Clear Creek owner Val Murrell said when he announced the pensioning. “His average earnings per starter of $56,000-plus has made him very appealing to the breeders in Louisiana. He will be hard to replace. I would really like to express my gratitude to Michael Blowen of Old Friends for agreeing to let Afternoon Deelites live out his retirement there.”