Grade 2 Winner Mobile Bay Retired to Whispering Oaks
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges Jr.
Mobile Bay wins the 2015 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs
Two-time Louisiana horse of the year Mobile Bay has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Carrol Castille's Whispering Oaks Farm near Carencro, La.
The 11-time black-type-winning son of Lone Star Special raced as a homebred for Irwin Olian's Tigertail Ranch and was trained
by Victor Arceneaux. Out of the winning Out of Place daughter Tranquility Bay, Mobile Bay finished in the money in 21 of his 29 starts, and his career earnings of $1,246,440 put him fourth on the list of all-time leading accredited Louisiana-bred runners.
Mobile Bay's best win came in the 2015 Super Derby (G2) at Harrah's Louisiana Downs, which he won by 2 1/4 lengths. Other open stakes victories included the Sunland Park Handicap, the Maxxam Gold Cup Stakes, and the Zia Park Derby. Mobile Bay also won the Louisiana Champions Day Classic Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots twice, and he won the LA Bred Premier Night Championship Stakes at Delta Downs in 2017-18. He was named Louisiana's horse of the year in 2015 and 2016 and collected additional state championship titles as champion 3-year-old in 2015 and champion older horse in 2016-17.
"Mobile Bay was a tremendous, durable competitor, shipping to win stakes at half a dozen different racetracks across the South and Southwest, while showing amazing heart and athleticism," Olian said. "Good bone, conformation, and an intelligent mind have enabled him to stay sound and compete at very high levels into his 6-year-old campaign."
Tigertail Ranch will be offering free breeding services to approved mares for the 2019 season and has set a modest $350 fee in order to attract a large initial book.
"He is a remarkable individual, an outstanding and durable athlete, and a specimen with textbook conformation," said Olian. "Mobile Bay has the capacity to hold his own physically against any stallion in the country. His sire, Lone Star Special, has the rare quality of moving up his mares. I expect Mobile Bay will move up his mares significantly as well. Both represent the best of the Unbridled sire line and, I believe, will serve to establish a new branch of that line."