McKinzie leads Gainesway's newcomers

Multiple Grade 1 winner McKinzie was one of the most successful runners of his generation, winning graded stakes in four consecutive seasons. Gainesway hopes for him to be similarly consistent as a sire, as he enters stud in 2021 in Kentucky.

McKinzie won 8 of 18 career starts and earned more than $3.4 million for the partnership of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman and trainer Bob Baffert. He won the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity as a juvenile via the disqualification of Solomini, then added Grade 1 events both sprinting and routing as a 3-year-old, taking the Pennsylvania Derby and Malibu Stakes.

In 2019, McKinzie won the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga, with multiple Grade 1 winner Yoshida and eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and champion Vino Rosso second and third, respectively. McKinzie also placed in four other Grade 1 races on the season, finishing second by a nose to Gift Box in the Santa Anita Handicap, second to champion Mitole in the Metropolitan Handicap, second in the Awesome Again, and second in the BC Classic to Vino Rosso.

McKinzie won once from four starts in a well-traveled 5-year-old campaign this year, taking the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita.

“McKinzie is a Grade 1 winner at 2, 3, and 4 from distances of seven furlongs to 1 1/8 miles,” Gainesway general manager Brian Graves said. “His speed, versatility, and soundness make him an absolute standout. His 10 individual triple-digit Beyer Figures are truly impressive.”

Gainesway will add another new stallion for 2021 in Spun to Run. Ironically, McKinzie is by Street Sense while Spun to Run is by that one’s racetrack rival, Hard Spun.

Millionaire Spun to Run’s career was highlighted by a victory in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He also finished third in the Haskell Invitational and second in the Cigar Mile, beaten in both those Grade 1 events by champion Maximum Security.