Value Plus Pensioned Due to 'Failing Health'

British Columbia stallion Value Plus , the Canadian province's leading active sire in 2017, has been immediately pensioned due to failing health, according to Stride Away Thoroughbreds, where the stallion stood beginning with the 2017 breeding season.

Stride Away's Steen and Cathy Reggelsen acquired the grade 1-placed, stakes-winning son of Unbridled's Song at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale, where Four Star Sales sold him for $13,000 to Fleetwood Bloodstock. Value Plus was represented in 2017 by multiple graded stakes winner Long On Value  , who finished third in that year's Ricoh Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1T).

Value Plus became the leading active British Columbia sire for 2017 with $687,041 in progeny earnings and was a top 10 sire for the province in 2018 and 2021. He has sired 21 black-type performers so far, including stakes winners Long On Value (who became a millionaire and won his eighth stakes in the 2018 Highlander Stakes (G1T); grade 1-placed stakes winner All Due Respect ; and, stakes winner Sliver of Hope . His foals of racing age included 71% starters and 55% winners (230). Value Plus' runners earned nearly $14 million and averaged $46,716 per runner.

"Value Plus has been a true friend to us, and it was only right to be a friend to him and do what's in his best interests," said Cathy Reggelsen. "We're sad, of course, but he owes us nothing, and he will spend the rest of his days here with us. He's part of the family."

Bred in Kentucky by Just the Beginning Farm, Value Plus lit up the bid board at the 2002 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale where the late agent Buzz Chace bought him for $1.1 million on behalf of owner/breeders Aaron and Marie Jones. The colt is out of the stakes winner Roll Over Baby , who also produced grade 3 winners Roll Hennessy Roll  and Sing Baby Sing .

At the track with trainer Todd Pletcher, Value Plus won his debut at 2 at Saratoga Race Course and was second in the Futurity Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park in his second start. At 3, he was second in the Florida Derby (G1) by three-quarters of a length to Friends Lake . At 4, he set a track record for 7 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream Park in the Artax Handicap and went on to finish third in the Westchester Handicap (G3). He was retired with a 3-4-1 record from 15 starts and $414,595 in earnings.

Value Plus retired to stud in 2006 at Stonewall Farm Stallions in Kentucky. Stonewall relocated him to its HallMarc Stallions at Stonewall Farm Ocala in 2011 and stood him until he was sold to Stride Away. His last two years in Florida, he was among the top 10 active sires in the state by progeny earnings.

In 2021, Value Plus' runners included stakes-placed winner Saturday Value  and stakes-placed Spot On Dude .

As broodmare sire, Value Plus has been represented by 11 black-type performers, including multiple stakes winners Chanel's Legacy , Snowball , and My Heart Goes On , plus graded-placed winners Valuable Package  and Cotizado Key.