WinStar Welcomes Three New Stallions to Its 2021 Roster

Three of WinStar Farm's next generation of stallions exited the Breeders' Cup World Championships in good order and arrived at Kenny Troutt's farm near Versailles, Ky., Nov. 8. Two will start settling into the next phase of their careers, and one could have one more grade 1 test ahead before being retired.

Four-time grade 1 winner and Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) runner-up Improbable  and Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) winner Tom's d'Etat  are the ones fully retired, and grade 1 winner Global Campaign —third in the Classic—will spend about a week on the farm before a decision is made whether to send him to the Jan. 23 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park.

"Improbable is retired, and we don't know what Authentic  is going to do," said Elliott Walden, the president/CEO and racing manager of WinStar, referring to the Classic winner, of whom Spendthrift Farm is the majority owner. "That was a deep, deep Classic field, one of the deepest we've had in a long time. Global Campaign really ran well. In seven to 10 days we'll make a decision, but we are leaning that way."

Global Campaign, a 4-year-old son of Curlin  out of the A.P. Indy mare Globe Trot, was bred by WinStar Farm and raced by the farm with Kevin Plank's Sagamore Farm. A grade 3 winner at 3, Global Campaign signaled he was viable stallion prospect when he earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure in a seven-furlong race at Gulfstream Park in his 2020 debut.

"That is when we said we wanted to stand him and made a deal with Kevin," Walden said. "We already owned a piece of him, but we bought up to make that happen. He's only run one poor race at Churchill Downs, and they said he didn't get a hold of the track. We came back at Monmouth and he did great and then he won the Woodward (G1)."

Global Campaign captured the Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3) in near-gate-to-wire fashion by 1 1/2 lengths and followed that with a 1 3/4-length win the Woodward Handicap. Despite rough going soon after the break in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Global Campaign settled into a stalking position and finished a good third.

Walden said he was even more impressed with Improbable's second in the Classic, where the son of City Zip ran 67 feet farther than Authentic.

"It was a big effort. He ran 67 feet farther than the winner, which is eight lengths, and he got beat by 2 1/2. So we take nothing away from the winner, who ran a great race, but if we got a better trip, who knows," Walden said. "Go back and look at this horse's race record and workout pattern. He breezed or raced nearly every week for more than two years. It was phenomenal. He breezed more than 50 times fast and is so extremely sound. Part of that is his motion; he's poetry in motion. Improbable is such a perfect-looking horse; he is the epitome of balance and size."

Improbable is out of the A.P. Indy winner Rare Event from the family of Darley's classic-placed sire Hard Spun . The colt became a grade 1 winner at 2 in the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1). At 3, he was second in the Arkansas Derby (G1) and finished a good fourth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). At 4, he began turning close finishes into victories and strung together three consecutive grade 1 wins in the Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G1), Whitney Stakes (G1), and Awesome Again Stakes (G1). He was retired with a 7-4-0 record out of 15 starts and earnings of $2,729,520.

Tom's d'Etat also improved significantly with maturity. The son of Smart Strike out of the Giant's Causeway stakes winner Julia Tuttle didn't win his first black-type stakes until late in his 5-year-old season. At 6, he put it all together and graduated from minor stakes winner to multiple graded stakes winner in the Clark Stakes and Hagyard Fayette Stakes (G2).

Raced by G M B Racing, Tom's d'Etat maintained his momentum at 7 this year by starting with a win in the Oaklawn Mile Stakes and following that effort with a score in the Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs. He placed third in the Whitney before finishing unplaced in the Classic.

"He just looks so good and is moving well. I think the Foster and Whitney were enough for him at this age because he gave us every indication he was doing fine," trainer Al Stall Jr. said. "He is a smart ol' boy. I would love for him to promulgate the Smart Strike line; that would be beautiful."

Tom's d'Etat was retired with a 11-2-2 record from 20 starts and earnings of $1,762,272.

"His numbers have been as fast as any horse in training. He didn't show up yesterday, but it was the end of a long career," Walden said about the horse's ninth-place finish in the Classic. Like Improbable, though, Walden said Tom's d'Etat showed durability as a racehorse and possesses a stallion's pedigree with his dam out of Candy Cane, who is a full sister to prominent sire Candy Ride .

"Being by Smart Strike out of the family of Candy Ride, there are two proven stallions in his pedigree," Walden said. "He has a lengthy stride and is full of quality. He has the (body) length of a Candy Ride/Smart Strike kind of look, a long two-turn-type horse."

Also new to WinStar's stallion roster is grade 1 sprinter Promises Fulfilled , a 5-year-old son of Shackleford who was able to stretch out to take the 2018 Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2). He has been at WinStar since early October.

"He's fast. He has been on the lead in 15 of his 17 starts. He has a genuine race record. He was the only horse to be in front of Justify . Of course, it didn't last," Walden said, referring to the opening six furlongs of the 2018 Kentucky Derby. "We were hoping to have a big year with him, and he injured a tendon prior to the True North Stakes (G2)."

Promises Fulfilled compiled a 7-0-3 record out of 17 starts and earned $1,455,530.

Improbable leads the new stallions with a $40,000 stud fee, followed by Tom's d'Etat at $17,500, Global Campaign at $12,500, and Promises Fulfilled at $10,000. Global Campaign's fee is subject to change depending on how he fares in the Pegasus World Cup.