McKinzie to stand at Gainesway

Multiple Grade 1 winner McKinzie will stand at Gainesway in Lexington, Ky., upon his eventual retirement from racing, the farm announced Monday evening. The 5-year-old son of Street Sense is targeting the Grade 1 Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap – a race with a stallion-making reputation – on July 4 at Belmont Park as he continues his campaign.

"It is very exciting to stand a horse with McKinzie's credentials at Gainesway," farm director of bloodstock Alex Solis II said in a press release. “I don’t believe there is a more exciting prospect than McKinzie out there."

McKinzie has won 8 of 16 career starts to date, including seven graded stakes, and has 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.

Last year, 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 Classic to Vino Rosso.

McKinzie opened 2020 by participating in the inaugural Saudi Cup on Feb. 29, finishing 11th in his first start in nearly four months. He made his first U.S. start of the year a winning one, taking the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes on June 7 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's general manager Brian Graves commented. "His speed, versatility, and soundness make him an absolute standout. His 10 individual triple-digit Beyer figures are truly impressive."

McKinzie is out of the multiple Grade 2-winning Petionville mare Runway Model, also the dam of stakes-placed Rompin Reid. It is the family of graded stakes winners Lucky Player, M B Sea, Saham, Sea Ditty, and Southern Honey.