The Owners of Breeders Cup Classic Champion and leading candidate for Horse of the Year Gun Runner announced today that Gun Runner will stand the 2018 breeding season at Three Chimneys Farm after his next start in the $16,000,000 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1, Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park). He will be available for special viewing this week from Wednesday, November 8th thru Friday, November 10th, after which time he will be shipped to Steve Asmussen’s barn to resume training in preparation for the Pegasus.
Co-owner, Ron Winchell said, “I have been fortunate enough to own several great horses, but Gun Runner is clearly at the top of my list. He is the horse of a lifetime. His brilliance was recognizable early and improved with every season. His consistency, soundness and race recovery are comparable to none. These traits should serve him well as a stallion. I am a believer and will be supporting him 100%.”
Co-owner Goncalo Torrealba added, “This horse is the dream result and is a testament to why my family and I re-entered racing and breeding in the US. I am a big believer in top families, and with two Horses of the Year in his first two dams, one could make a case that there is no more active or relevant pedigree in the stud book today than that of Gun Runner. He gave all of us the thrill of a lifetime and joined us to Ron Winchell, who became a partner and a friend, and who in turn introduced me to Steve Asmussen and his family. These friendships have made the whole journey exponentially more enjoyable. At Three Chimneys we believe in partnerships, and our co-ownership with Ron Winchell in Gun Runner is the ‘poster child’ for why we believe this. We are very excited to have him join the stallion roster, and we will be committing our best mares to him, including the dams of Twirling Candy and La Verdad, and G1 winners Stopchargingmaria, Pure Clan, and Malibu Prayer, to name a few.”
Three Chimneys board member Doug Cauthen added, “I have been associated with many great horses in my life, but Gun Runner is the best racehorse I have ever been around. As a stallion prospect he brings impeccable credentials, with a super physical, a royal pedigree, and admirable speed and toughness – he deserves his fan base. He’s the kind of horse people dream about, and it’s a tribute to the Torrealba family’s commitment to the US that they were able to add such a specimen to their racing stable and stallion roster so quickly in their tenure.”
Gun Runner is the winner of five Grade 1 races, including the 2016 Clark Handicap, and reeled off four consecutive Grade 1 wins in 2017 starting with the Stephen Foster then continuing with the Whitney Stakes the Woodward Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The striking and regally bred four-year-old is out of Quiet Giant, a Grade 2 winning half-sister to Horse of the Year Saint Liam and is Candy Ride’s leading earner with $8,988,500 in earnings to date.
Gun Runner will be shown this Wednesday thru Friday, 9AM-11AM and 1:30-3:30PM each day. Director of stallion nominations Grant Williamson (859-797-3443) and Rebecca Grabert (812-774-6454) will be available during your visit to answer any questions.
Related: Three Chimneys Stallion Open House scheduled for Nov. 10 through 12
