Mor Spirit retired, will stand at Spendthrift Farm

Multiple Grade 1 winner Mor Spirit has officially been retired and will enter stud in 2019 at Spendthrift Farm, that operation announced in a Sunday release.

Mor Spirit, by Eskendereya, is best known for his 6 1/4-length score over Sharp Azteca in the 2017 Metropolitan Handicap, for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 117. He made only one start after that, finishing eighth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar.

Mor Spirit, a $650,000 purchase out of the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale of 2-year-olds in training, raced for Michael Lund Petersen and was trained by Bob Baffert. He won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity as a juvenile, and the following season won the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes and was second in both the Grade 2 San Felipe and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby before finishing 10th in the Kentucky Derby.

After returning late in the year to finish fourth in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes, he finished second in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes before going on a run of three straight wins, taking the Essex Handicap at Oaklawn, Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star, and finally, the Met Mile. He earned $1,668,400.

Mor Spirit will stand for $10,000 on a standard stands-and-nurses contract in his first season. He will also be offered at $10,000 on a one-year commitment through Spendthrift's "Share the Upside" incentive program, in which breeders will earn a lifetime breeding right in Mor Spirit after producing just one live foal.

“He accomplished some extremely desirable things that very few stallion prospects accomplish,” Ned Toffey, Spendthrift’s general manager, said in a release. “The Met Mile is one of the most storied stallion-making races in our sport, and Mor Spirit is the only horse in the last 25 years to win a Grade 1 at 2 and go on to win the Met Mile. That’s pretty remarkable, and it speaks to his quality.”