Tom's d'Etat to Stand at WinStar After Racing Career

WinStar Farm has reached an agreement with Gayle Benson's G M B Racing to acquire the breeding rights to grade 1-winning millionaire and Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) prospect Tom's d'Etat, the farm announced July 9.

"When my late husband, Tom, decided in 2014 that we were going to enter the horse racing business, the first place we came to was WinStar Farm to see their operation," said Gayle Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans. "GMB Racing is extremely excited that our best horse, Tom's d'Etat, will begin his stud career with Kenny Troutt and his entire team at WinStar. We look forward to watching the second half of his career be just as successful as his first, and we know he will get that opportunity at WinStar. I am also eager to bring many of our mares from Benson Farm to breed to him in the coming years."

A 7-year-old by Smart Strike, Tom's d'Etat ended his 2019 season with wins in the Hagyard Fayette Stakes (G2) at Keeneland and the Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) at Churchill Downs and is undefeated in two stakes this year. Most recently, he scored a 4 1/4-length victory in the June 27 Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs, earning a career-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure. He kicked off the 2020 season in April with an impressive late-charging win over subsequent Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G1) winner Improbable in the Oaklawn Mile Stakes at Oaklawn Park. 

Trained by Al Stall Jr., Tom's d'Etat has emerged as one of the leading horses in training. He has 11 wins, six in stakes, from 18 starts. He has earned more than $1.6 million, has a four-race winning streak, and is being pointed toward the Aug. 1 Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.

"I have been honored to be able to train two great horses in Blame  and Tom's d'Etat," Stall said. "He has been brilliant, winning four in a row, and I can't wait to lead him back over there in the Whitney."

In the Stephen Foster, Tom's d'Etat defeated multiple graded stakes winner By My Standards and covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.30. The final time came close to Victory Gallop's track and stakes record of 1:47.28 set in 1999. Tom's d'Etat secured a paid berth in the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland. 

"Tom's d'Etat has proven over the last two years to be of the highest quality," said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. "Eleven of his last 12 Thoro-Graph figures are negative numbers. He has nine triple-digit Beyers and eight in a row. He was .02 off the track record in his last start at historic Churchill Downs, and he won two of the best races in the country at 1 1/8 miles in the Stephen Foster and the Clark. Any way you slice it, he is top class. He is the last great son of Smart Strike from the family of Candy Ride .

"We walked Speightstown  into the stallion barn at age 7 and Distorted Humor  at age 6. Hopefully, he will be another story we can tell how he defied the odds like them."

Bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock, Tom's d'Etat is out of the stakes-winning and multiple stakes-placed Giant's Causeway mare Julia Tuttle, who is out of Candy Cane, a full sister to Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) winner and sire Candy Ride. He was purchased by G M B Racing for $330,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment.