Photo Call retired, will become broodmare in Kentucky

Multiple Grade 1 winner Photo Call has been retired and will become a broodmare at Denali Stud in Paris, Ky., for owner St. Elias Stable.

Breeding plans were not immediately announced for the Galileo mare, who was 13th in last month’s Breeders’ Cup Mile in her career finale.

Photo Call, who began her career in her native Ireland, came to the U.S. in the fall of 2014, racing for Mrs. P.K. Cooper and trainer Graham Motion. She broke through late the following year, winning the Grade 3 Violet Stakes at Monmouth Park, immediately prior to taking her first career Grade 1 in the Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita.

Photo Call finished a creditable fifth in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland, and just days later was offered as a racing or broodmare prospect at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, with Denali consigning her as agent. Crupi’s New Castle Farm purchased her for $3 million on behalf of St. Elias Stable.

St. Elias elected to keep Photo Call in training as a 5-year-old, transferring the mare from Motion to trainer Todd Pletcher. She rewarded her connections in her penultimate start, an upset victory over champion Tepin in the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes in October at Keeneland. Photo Call led throughout the one-mile race, leading by a 10-length margin at one point. The field was unable to reel her in, as she held sway by 2 3/4 lengths over Tepin, handing the latter mare her first defeat in more than a year and triggering a $61.40 payout.

In total, Photo Call, who also won the Grade 3 Orchid Stakes earlier this year at Gulfstream, put together a record of 22-6-3-4 and earned $827,447.

Out of the Group 3-winning Rock of Gibraltar mare Theann, Photo Call is from the immediate family of Irish 1000 Guineas winner and multiple group stakes producer Halfway to Heaven, whose best runner is English Group 1 winner Rhododendron. It is the extended family of several other top-level performers internationally, including Japanese Oaks winner Nuovo Record.