Senor Buscador will stand at Lane's End Farm

Group 1 winner Senor Buscador, a late addition to the stallion ranks for 2025, will enter stud alongside his sire, Horse of the Year Mineshaft, at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky when the breeding season begins in just a few weeks.

Senor Buscador's connections announced intentions to stand him at stud in 2025, even purchasing mares for his first book at the November breeding stock sales in Kentucky. First, he was pointing to this weekend’s Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, a race a number of major stallion prospects have contested in recent years immediately before retiring. The possibility had also been floated of defending his victory in the Group 1, $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 22, which would have cost him the first few weeks of the breeding season, with breeding sheds in Kentucky opening on or around Feb. 10. But after Senor Buscador’s final work for the Pegasus, trainer Todd Fincher was not satisfied with a post-exercise scope, and the decision was made to immediately retire the 7-year-old and ship him to Kentucky to begin preparing for his next career.

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Senor Buscador, who raced as a homebred for the Peacock family, retires with a record of 23-7-2-5 and earnings of $12,944,427. He was a debut winner and took the Springboard Mile as a 2-year-old in 2020; started just once at age 3; and at age 4 in 2022, came back to win the Grade 3 Ack Ack and finish third in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien. But Senor Buscador really blossomed as an older horse, with the majority of his starts, 15, coming over the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

In 2023, Senor Buscador won the Grade 2 San Diego at Del Mar and the Curribot at Sunland Park; was third in the Grade 1 Awesome Again in California; and traveled cross-country to run second in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile.

He started 2024 off strong, first finishing second by a neck to National Treasure – who was named an Eclipse Award champion Thursday night – in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup. His signature victory followed, as Senor Buscador bested Japanese star Ushba Tesoro by a head in the Saudi Cup, with National Treasure fourth. Senor Buscador was then third in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup, behind Laurel River and Ushba Tesoro.

Senor Buscador went winless in his final four starts back in the U.S., with the last of those a ninth-place finish in the Cigar Mile last month after stumbling badly at the break.

Mineshaft was the 2003 Horse of the Year, the only champion by 1992 Horse of the Year and late Lane’s End kingpin A.P. Indy to earn that honor. Senor Buscador, who will stand for $7,500, is one of eight Grade/Group 1 winners sired by Mineshaft. The stallion has two other sons at prominent farms in Kentucky – Dialed In (Darby Dan Farm) and Hightail (Lane’s End Farm), both of whom have sired Grade 1 winners.

“We are honored that Senor Buscador will take up residence alongside his sire, Mineshaft, at the Farish family’s Lane's End Farm now that he is retired from racing,” owner Joe Peacock Jr. said in a release. “We will support him heavily with mares that we have been purchasing in anticipation of his career at stud. We look forward to breeding and racing the next generation of horses from this important Mineshaft/A.P. Indy sire line.”

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