Shackleford to stand stud following the current racing season
The leading 3-year-old money earner and winding up to be the 2011 Eclipse award finalist, Dale Romans trained Grade 1 Preakness Stakes winner, Shackleford, by the end of the 2012 racing season will stand stud at John Phillips’ Derby Dan Farm near Lexington.
The 4-year-old Kentucky bred Forestry colt, has racing on his schedule at the moment, and after his seventh place finish in his 2012 seasonal debut in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap, Shackleford will be looking to bounce back from the defeat in the Grade 1 Carter
Handicap.
The Carter Handicap will be run over a distance of seven furlongs, where Shackleford will be massively cut back in distance from 1 1/8 mile to seven furlongs at Aqueduct on 7 April, 2012, against the likes of Caleb’s Posse, who is exiting a second place
finish in the Grade 3 Tom Fool Stakes
Thrown in the mix is the rampant sprinter, Jackson Ben, who under John Velazquez got a good ride in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap, as the pair managed a placed finish in third, while Capt. Candyman Can and the Grade 3 Tom Fool Stakes winner, Calibrachoa,
will run in the Carter as well.
“Shackleford possesses all of the qualities needed to be a top stallion, and we’re delighted that he will start his much-anticipated stallion career at Darby Dan next season,” said Darby Dan general manager Robert Hammond. “He’s an impressive physical specimen
from a great female family, and if you look at recent winners of the Preakness, no other American classic has produced more champions and successful stallions in the modern era than the Preakness.”
In his last season, Shackleford finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby to winner Animal Kingdom, and then made amends big time as he downed Animal Kingdom to win the Preakness Stakes.
Shackleford finished second in Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, Grade 2 Indiana Derby, and capped off the season with another runner place showing in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile last fall at Churchill Downs.
The cut back in distance would like favour Shackleford, but with the competition reeled in by race, it could be anybody’s race especially when there are sprinters expert at that distance.
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