Quiet American, sire of champions Real Quiet and Hidden Lake, pensioned

photo courtesy of DarleyQuiet American

Quiet American, whose 56 stakes winners include sired champions Real Quiet and Hidden Lake, has been pensioned from stud duty by Darley at age 27.

The son of Fappiano will live out his days at Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Darley at Jonabell Farm near Lexington, Ky.

A $300,000 purchase at the 1987 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling sale and campaigned by Sheikh Mohammed, Quiet American put together his best season of racing as a 4-year-old, winning the Grade 1 NYRA Mile and the Grade 3 San Diego Handicap and placing in two other Grade 1 events. He retired to Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum’s Gainsborough Farm in Versailles, Ky., with four wins from 12 starts and $754,650 in earnings.

After standing at Gainsborough from 1992 until 2006, Quiet American relocated to Darley at Jonabell in 2007 and stood his last season in 2012 for $15,000.

As a stallion, Quiet American found success early, as his first crop included Hidden Lake, who won the Grade 1 Go For Wand, Hempstead, and Beldame Stakes in 1997 en route to receiving the Eclipse Award for champion older female. His third crop yielded Real Quiet, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 1998 and missed the Triple Crown by a nose when second to Victory Gallop in the Belmont. Voted champion 3-year-old male of 1998, Real Quiet stood in Kentucky and Pennsylvania before dying in a paddock accident in September 2010. His top progeny included champion sprinter Midnight Lute.

Quiet American also sired Grade 1 winner Switch, who sold for $4.3 million at the Fasig-Tipton November breeding stock sale to Moyglare Stud. Other top runners include Star Guitar, the all-time leading money earner among Louisiana-breds and a winner of 22 stakes races, and Grade 1 winners Cara Rafaela and Seattle Smooth. Overall, Quiet American has sired 532 winners to date who have earned over $57 million.

As a broodmare sire, Quiet American’s top second-generation progeny include champion Bernardini, out of 2006 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Cara Rafaela, who has swiftly become one of Darley’s top young stallions. He is also the broodmare sire of the late Saint Liam, Horse of the Year in 2005, who produced 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace from his only crop.

“Quiet American’s retirement marks the end of an era,” said Charlie Boden, Darley's director of sales in America. “He has been a special horse from the beginning and has done it all, siring champions and Derby winners, and he has emerged as one of the most sought after broodmare sires of his generation.

“He is as healthy as a 27-year-old can be and is an easy keeper who has earned his time off and certainly will be in good company with the likes of [pensioned Darley stallions] Cherokee Run and Holy Bull.”