Gunnevera to Enter Stud at Pleasant Acres Stallions

Multiple grade 1-placed, grade 2 winner Gunnevera will enter stud at Joe and Helen Barbazon's Pleasant Acres Stallions near Ocala, Fla., the farm announced Oct. 27. He will stand for $6,000.

The 6-year-old son of Dialed In  retired with a 6-5-3 record from 21 starts and earnings of $5,561,800. Gunnevera won or placed in 10 graded stakes, with six of these performances in grade 1s. His retirement from racing was announced earlier this month.

KING: Grade 2 Winner and Millionaire Earner Gunnevera Retired

"Helen and I, and the entire team at Pleasant Acres Stallions, are thrilled to have Gunnevera begin his stallion career at our farm," said Joe Barbazon. "He has had a very exciting career—earning more than $5.5 million dollars—while beating multiple grade 1 horses like Always Dreaming , West Coast , Practical Joke , and Classic Empire  on the track. In Florida, there are two stallions standing that Gunnevera defeated twice each. One is Girvin  in the Travers Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, and the other is Seeking the Soul in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes and the Woodward Stakes."

Trained by Antonio Sano and owned most recently by Salomon Del Valle, Gunnevera became a multiple graded stakes winner at 2, after capturing the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) and the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes (G3). At 3, he took a prominent position on the Road to the Kentucky Derby by winning the Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and being third in the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1). He would finish a respectable seventh in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1). Gunnevera continued showing he was among the country's best sophomores with a second in the Travers Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) in which he outran Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming , Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Cloud Computing , and Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner Tapwrit .

At 4, Gunnevera's trademark closing kick delivered runner-up finishes in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), where he closed from fifth in deep stretch to come within a length of Accelerate , and in the Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1). He also ran third in the 2018 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1), and ended his racing career at 5 with a third in the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) in 2019.

Bred in Kentucky by Brandywine Farm and Stephen Upchurch, he was purchased by Antonio Sano as agent for $16,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Gunnevera is out of the multiple stakes-producing Unbridled daughter Unbridled Rage. He is a half brother to multiple stakes-placed, stakes producer Minstrel Queen (Cherokee Run). The immediate family also produced graded stakes winner Van Lear Rose, who was a champion 2-year-old filly in Canada.

Darby Dan Farm's Dialed In led his freshman sire class in 2016 and has been a consistent top 10 sire since then. Through Oct. 27, the 12-year-old son of Mineshaft  is the co-leading fifth-crop sire by number of black-type winners with six alongside Stay Thirsty . Dialed In is also one of three fifth-crop sires with a grade 1 winner this year. His son Get Her Number won the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) this fall at Santa Anita Park. Dialed In has sired 15 black-type winners and has total progeny earnings of more than $19.1 million.