Oscar Performance to Retire to Mill Ridge Farm for 2019

Three-time grade 1 winner and track-record holder Oscar Performance will retire to stud at Mill Ridge Farm at the end of the year, the farm announced July 5.

"We at Mill Ridge are so appreciative to Jerry and John Amerman for the opportunity to stand a stallion with the potential to contribute to the breed like Oscar Performance," said Headley Bell, Mill Ridge Farm's managing partner. "Since Diesis and Gone West, we have been waiting for the special horse to carry on from their legacies and believe Oscar Performance has all the qualities to do so. We commend Brian Lynch and his team for managing his career and look forward to him competing the remainder of the year and returning to his birth place."

Bred and raced by the Amermans, Oscar Performance has won six graded stakes between 2 and 4. The son of Kitten's Joy  out of the Theatrical black-type winner Devine Actress won his first grade 1 at 2 when he captured the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita Park. At 3, he added the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) and the Secretariat Stakes (G1T) to his grade 1 tally.

This year, his debut in the Poker Stakes (G3T) at Belmont Park produced a record-breaking performance. Oscar Performance stopped the timer in 1:31.23 to break the one-mile turf record at Belmont Park—which had stood for 20 years—and tied the overall North American record for a mile on the turf.

Lynch, who trains Oscar Performance, said the colt identified himself early as a standout individual.

"He validated that with authority in his 2, 3, and 4-year-old campaigns," Lynch said. "He is a trainer's dream, Lasix-free, speed, stamina, and soundness. Certainly one of the best."

Oscar Performance is a full brother to grade 3 winner Oscar Nominated. His record is 7-0-1 out of 12 starts, with earnings of $1,967,632.