A. U. Miner to stand in Indiana

Multiple graded-placed stakes winner A. U. Miner will begin his stallion career in 2014 at Six Oak Stable in Terre Haute, Ind., BloodHorse reports.

The 8-year-old Mineshaft horse was a stalwart of the handicap division’s long-distance platoon during his five-year racing career, winning the 2010 Greenwood Cup at Philadelphia Park, now known as Parx Racing, where he equaled the track record for a mile and a half.

That year’s campaign was the most successful one for A. U. Miner, who also finished third in the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles and was moved up to third in the then-Grade 3 Breeders’ Cup Marathon, a 1 3/4-mile race, after being bothered in the stretch by Prince Will I Am. That incident at Churchill Downs led to a heated winner’s circle argument between jockeys Calvin Borel, the rider of A. U. Miner, and Javier Castellano.

In 2011, the horse finished first in the Greenwood Cup but was disqualified after tests revealed methylprednisolone, a corticosteroid. A. U. Miner returned for the Breeders’ Cup Marathon as the post-time favorite, but he was pulled up after sustaining a career-ending left-front sesamoid fracture during the race, which required surgery to repair.

In total, A. U. Miner won four of 25 starts for earnings of $373,896. He was campaigned by Don Benge during his racing career, and was trained by Clark Hanna.

Bred in Kentucky by Ten Broeck Farm, Inc., A. U. Miner is out of the Argentine stakes-winning The Watcher mare Clerical Etoile, who is the dam of nine winners from ten foals to race, including multiple Grade 1 winner and millionaire Star Parade. A. U. Miner was a $90,000 purchase out of the 2006 Keeneland September yearling sale.