Munnings retired to stud

Munnings, a multiple Grade 2 winner, has retired to Coolmore’s North American division, Ashford Stud, in Versailles, Ky., where he will take up stud duties in 2011.

The fee for Munnings, a 4-year-old Speightstown, colt has not been set.

Munnings is available for inspection at Ashford.

Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith purchased Munnigs for $1.7 million at Fasig-Tipton’s Calder select juvenile sale in 2008 and campaigned him in partnership. Munnings won a pair of Grade 2 races last season, Belmont’s Woody Stephens Stakes and the Tom Fool Handicap, and also won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship this year.

He is also a multiple Grade 1-placed runner, with a second behind Vineyard Haven in the 2008 Champagne and third-place finishes in five other Grade 1 contests from 2008 to 2010.

Munnings is the first stakes-winner for his dam, the unraced Holy Bull mare La Comete, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Icon Project and Grade 2 winner Lasting Approval.

Munnings retires from trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn with 4 wins, 2 seconds, and 5 thirds from 14 career starts. He earned $742,640.