Idol to Stud at Taylor Made Stallions

Idol  , winner of the 2021 Santa Anita Handicap (G1) and a full brother to leading 3-year-old filly and multiple grade 1 winner Nest , has been retired from racing and will stand the upcoming breeding season at Taylor Made Stallions. Idol will stand the 2023 season for a $10,000 fee, stands and nurses, as a Repole Stable/Taylor Made Stallions Venture.

The son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin   out of the stakes-winning A.P. Indy mare Marion Ravenwood  was a $375,000 Keeneland September Sale graduate from the Denali Stud consignment. Unplaced in one start this year, he retires having hit the board in six of eight starts with earnings of $426,964 for owner Calvin Nguyen and trainer Richard Baltas. 

"Idol fits the profile of what we are looking for," said Taylor Made's Ben Taylor. "He's by a world-class sire and out of a world-class producer. He's got the looks, and he's a (grade 1) talent. It's the same ingredients Not This Time   possessed when he arrived at Taylor Made."

Not This Time, North America's top third-crop sire, narrowly missed in grade 1 company at age 2 in 2016 and didn't race thereafter due to injury. Idol's biggest victory came last year at age 4 in the historic Santa Anita Handicap, when he defeated a contentious field that included grade 1 winners Maxfield  —who was previously unbeaten—and Express Train , as well as graded stakes winners Independence Hall   and Tizamagician .

With Joel Rosario aboard, Idol traveled five-wide around the far turn, collared the leaders in the stretch following a powerful rally, and won going away in the end, recording a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 102.

It didn't take long for Idol to announce his arrival on the scene. He broke his maiden in his second career start at 3, winning a seven-furlong maiden special weight event in 1:22 at Churchill Downs, running a 94 Beyer. Next up, he set a Churchill Downs track record in just his third lifetime start, winning a 1 3/16-mile allowance race by 5 3/4 lengths in 1:55.97 and earning a 98 Beyer.

Bred in Kentucky by Leonard Riggio's My Meadowview, Idol hails from a strong and active family replete with black type. Full sister Nest has banked more than $1.8 million in her sensational racing career and comes off a victory in which she crushed her opposition by 9 3/4 lengths in the Beldame Stakes (G2). She is expected to race as one of the favorites in the upcoming Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

In addition to her facile win in the Beldame, Nest has captured the Alabama Stakes (G1), the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1), and the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1). She also finished second to the boys in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) and was runner-up in this year's Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Idol's 2-year-old half brother, Lost Ark  (Violence  ) won his first two career starts, including the Sapling Stakes at Monmouth Park in August by 7 1/2 lengths. He was sixth last week in his third career start in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland.