Thousand Words retired from racing, will enter stud at Spendthrift
Multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words has been retired from racing and will enter stud at co-owner Spendthrift Farm, where he will be the latest offering under the farm’s innovative Share the Upside program.
Thousand Words, by classic sire Pioneerof the Nile and out of graded stakes winner Pomeroys Pistol, was a $1 million Keeneland September yearling purchase by Spendthrift and Albaugh Family Stables
"We believed he was one of the best combinations of pedigree and physical we saw that year, which is why he commanded a million dollars," Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said in a release. "He was forward from the day he started training in Ocala, and [trainer] Bob Baffert told us pretty early on that Thousand Words was a Derby horse."
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Thousand Words delivered early on by winning his first two starts as a juvenile, including the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity. He added the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis in early 2020, but then suffered his first losses when fourth in the Grade 2 San Felipe and 11th in the Oaklawn Stakes.
With the Derby postponed, Thousand Words got a freshening. He returned to the races in the summer to finish second in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Futurity, then won the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar, defeating Honor A. P., one of the Derby favorites. That victory stamped him as a classics contender.
However, in the paddock for the Sept. 5 Derby, Thousand Words became fractious, reared, and fell, resulting in his late scratch from the race. He emerged physically unscathed, but finished eighth in the Preakness Stakes on Oct. 3, and sixth in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26 in what proved his final outing.
Thousand Words will stand for an advertised fee of $7,500 on a standard contract, or $10,000 for the Share the Upside program, for which opportunities are limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. The Share the Upside fee for Thousand Words is $10,000 for 2021, and breeders must also breed a mare in 2022 on a complimentary basis. After the breeder has a live foal in 2022, pays the stud fee, and breeds a mare back, he or she will earn a lifetime breeding right beginning in 2023.
"Thousand Words is a terrific package and will greatly complement our stallion roster, especially at his price point," Toffey said. "We think breeders are really going to like everything he has to offer as an exciting young stallion prospect.”