Sharp Azteca to stand at Three Chimneys in Kentucky

Grade 1 winner Sharp Azteca, whose retirement was announced in early September, will begin his stud career at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky.

Sharp Azteca last raced in January, finishing eighth in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. He was pointing to the Godolphin Mile in March in Dubai – a race he was third in during 2017 – but injured a suspensory ligament in his left foreleg during his final work toward that target. The horse spent some time rehabbing at co-owner Gelfenstein Farm in Ocala, Fla.

Sharp Azteca, by leading New York sire Freud, won 8 of 17 career starts and earned more than $2.4 million.

Highlights of his career include winning the Grade 1 Cigar Mile by 5 1/4 lengths over Mind Your Biscuits last December at Aqueduct, establishing a track record in last year's Grade 3 Monmouth Cup, and posting additional graded stakes victories in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap in 2017 and the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile in 2016. He finished second by a half-length to Battle of Midway in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, second to Mor Spirit in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap earlier that year, and second by a half-length to Mind Your Biscuits in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes in 2016.

Sharp Azteca will debut for a fee of $10,000 on the Three Chimneys roster, which is anchored by Horse of the Year Gun Runner.

“Sharp Azteca was brilliantly fast, and when you watch his races, you will see speed, toughness and tenacity, all three of which are elements we like in a stallion prospect," Three Chimneys chairman Goncalo Torrealba said in a release. "We believe that Sharp Azteca can be another offshoot branch of the Storm Cat line through Giant Causeway’s full brother Freud, similar to what Harlan, Harlan’s Holiday, and Into Mischief did.”