BC Dirt Mile to be Last Race for Verrazano
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As expected, multiple grade I winner Verrazano will retire to Ashford Stud at the end of his racing career. His final race for trainer Todd Pletcher will come in the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park, it was announced Oct. 29.
Verrazano, who races for Let's Go Stable in partnership with the Coolmore team, will stand at Ashford near Versailles, Ky., for the 2014 breeding season.
"Verrazano is a very welcome addition to the roster here at Ashford, which will be the strongest we've ever assembled," said Charlie O'Connor, Ashford's director of sales. "Verrazano's brilliance is there for all to see, but he's also got the pedigree and looks to match. He's very exciting."
Bred in Kentucky by Emory Hamilton out of the Giant's Causeway mare Enchanted Rock, the son of More Than Ready was a $250,000 yearling purchase by Let's Go Stable from the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale when consigned by Middlebrook Farm, agent.
He burst onto the racing scene with an impressive maiden win going 6 1/2 furlongs in his Gulfstream Park debut this January, then went on to land six of his first seven starts, including this year's Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) and William Hill Haskell Invitational (gr. I). In the latter, he rolled to a 9 3/4-length victory and recieved a Beyer Speed Figure of 116, the highest of any 3-year-old in 2013 and bettered only by older horse Game On Dude, who earned 117 in the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I).
Verrazano has won six of his eight starts, for earnings of $1,556,300.
"Verrazano has given us some magical days, none more than that 9 3/4-length romp in the Haskell," said Let's Go Stable's Bryan Sullivan. "We're really looking forward to Friday."