Speightstown has colic surgery

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Speightstown, 2004's champion sprinter and now a sire at WinStar Farm, underwent colic surgery on April 1 but is recovering well at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, according to WinStar.

WinStar shipped the 12-year-old Gone West stallion from the Versailles, Ky., farm to the Lexington clinic on Thursday evening. Hagyard veterinarians discovered that he had a large colon torsion and performed surgery to correct it.

"Speightstown has covered over 60 percent of his book to date," a WinStar release issued Friday night said. "According to the surgeons, he could be back in action in three to four weeks, if there are no complications."

"We will do everything within our power to accommodate all those breeders who have supprted our program," WinStar president Doug Cauthen said.

Speightstown is the sire of graded stakes winners Munnings, Lord Shanakill, and others. The syndicated stallion stands is one of a number of stallions managed jointly by WinStar and Taylor Made Farm. His advertised fee this year, his fifth season at stud, is $35,000. He is currently ranked fifth among North American third-crop sires.