Pyro to stand in Japan

Pyro, a winner of four graded races at 3 and 4, including the Grade 1 Forego Stakes at Saratoga this past September, will stand at stud at Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Japan Farm in Hokkaido, according to published reports.

His stud fee in Japan, where Sheikh Mohammed will be the first foreign-based owner eligible to have runners in all Japan Racing Association races next year, will be 2 million yen ($22,300).

Trained for the first two years of his racing career by Steve Asmussen for Winchell Thoroughbreds, Pyro finished second in both the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at 2. Considered a leading contender for the Triple Crown, he won a pair of stakes at the Fair Grounds , the Grade 3 Risen Star and the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, but was only eighth in Big Brown's Kentucky Derby. He bounced back to take the Grade 3 Northern Dancer Stakes at Churchill Downs but was winless in his last four outings at 3, after which he was purchased by Sheikh Mohammed and turned over to Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

Unraced in Dubai during the winter, the Pulpit colt returned to America in April. At 4 he won the seven-furlong Forego before finishing 10th in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and fifth the Cigar Mile Handicap.

Pyro won 5 of 17 career starts for earnings of $1,673,673.