Ransom the Moon to Enter Stud at Calumet in 2019
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Photo: BENOIT PHOTO
Multiple grade 1-winning sprinter Ransom the Moon is expected to retire after the Breeders' Cup World Championships and enter stud at Calumet Farm in 2019, the farm announced Sept. 6.
"As the only grade 1-winning sprinting son of Malibu Moon to go to stud, Ransom the Moon offers breeders with a dirt-speed option on an incredible sire line," said Jak Knelman, Calumet's director of stallions. "Since a surface change to the dirt, Ransom the Moon has gone on to win two grade 1 races in California, including the 2018 Bing Crosby (Stakes, G1) at Del Mar.
"To win sprinting in California, you have to be fast, and to defeat the likes of champion sprinter Roy H in grade 1 competition in both 2017 and 2018, you have to be very good," Knelman added.
Ransom the Moon is scheduled to make one more start in preparation for the Nov. 3 TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Churchill Downs. After the Breeders' Cup, the 6-year-old stallion will be available for inspection at Calumet.
Bred in Ontario by Sam-Son Farm, Ransom the Moon is out of the graded-placed, black-type winner Count to Three, a daughter of Red Ransom and a Sam-Son homebred. Count to Three is a full sister to grade 3 winner Think Red and a half sister to other stakes-placed winners.
Ransom the Moon was initially campaigned by Sam-Son, which raced him until December 2016. Sam-Son then sold the horse privately to Agave Racing Stable and Jeffry Wilke.
Under the care of trainer Phil D'Amato at Santa Anita Park, Ransom the Moon won his first start for the new owners by 4 1/4 lengths in an optional-claiming allowance race. He became a graded stakes winner in his next start, taking the 2017 Kona Gold Stakes (G2). Since then, he's won consecutive editions of the Bing Crosby Stakes and placed in the 2017 San Carlos Stakes (G2) and 2018 Kona Gold.
"Ransom the Moon possesses speed, an immense turn of foot, and class above all else," D'Amato said. "Those are the qualities I look for in a top-class racehorse. He's one of the most talented horses that I have ever trained."