Wood Memorial winner Gemologist sires his first winner

First-crop sire Gemologist, winner of the 2012 Wood Memorial, was represented by his first winner when the filly Morganite won a five-furlong maiden race for juvenile fillies at Del Mar with a purse of $64,725, defeating nine other fillies, all but one making their first start.

Morganite, out of the Wild Rush mare Crazy Woman Creek, pressed the early pace under Victor Espinoza, took the lead in the upper stretch, and won by 1 1/2 lengths at odds of 8.70-1 as the fifth choice.

She is owned by Hronis Racing and trained by John Sadler. Bred in Kentucky by Jay Goodwin and Chip Montgomery, Morganite was sold for $95,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September yearling sale, purchased by Hal Hatch, agent, and was resold for $360,000 at this year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales March 2-year-olds in training sale, with L.E.B. listed as the buyer.

Gemologist, a son of Tiznow out of the Mr. Prospector mare Crystal Shard, was bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. & Louise Ireland Humphrey Revocable Trust and sold for $310,000 as a weanling at the 2009 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

Campaigned by WinStar Farm and trained by Todd Pletcher, Gemologist won five of seven starts while racing at ages 2 and 3, earning $794,855.
He won his first five starts, including all three starts at two which culminated in a victory in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs in November 2011.

After taking an allowance race in March at Gulfstream Park to open his sophomore campaign, he won the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct by a neck over Alpha.

In the Kentucky Derby, Gemologist went off at 8-1 in the 20-horse field but finished 16th behind winner I’ll Have Another. In his last career start, he was sixth in the Haskell Invitational.

Gemologist retired to stud at WinStar in Versailles, Ky., for the 2013 breeding season for a fee of $15,000.

He has 117 foals in his first crop and 86 yearlings in his second crop. He has had eight runners through July 16.