Collected to Stand at Airdrie for 2019 Breeding Season

Grade 1 winner Collected  will begin his stud career at Airdrie Stud for the 2019 breeding season, the farm announced Oct. 29.

Bred in Kentucky by Runnymede Farm and Peter J. Callahan and campaigned in the silks of Speedway Stable, the Bob Baffert trainee was an Eclipse Award finalist for 2017 champion older male. The season was highlighted by his victory over champion Arrogate  in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic (G1) and a runner-up finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

A five-time graded stakes winner, Collected's current earnings stand at $2,975,500 as he awaits a possible start in the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs as an also-eligible for the field of 14. 

Purchased from SGV Thoroughbreds' consignment to the 2015 Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Old in Training Sale by Marette Farrell for Speedway, the son of City Zip raced twice in his juvenile year, winning his debut at 6 1/2 furlongs on the downhill turf course at Santa Anita Park before finishing a close second in the Cecil B. Demille Stakes (G3T) on turf at Del Mar. A winner of three of his first four starts at 3, including the one-mile Sham Stakes (G3) on the dirt and Keeneland's Lexington Stakes (G3), Collected turned in a disappointing 10th over a sloppy track in the 2016 Preakness Stakes (G1) and did not start again as a sophomore.

Collected's banner season came in 2017 during a campaign that saw him win his first four starts, while distinguishing himself as one of America's best horses in training. Following wins in the Santana Mile Stakes and Californian Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita, Collected took his place among division leaders with a dominant 14-length score over a field that included eventual 2018 Breeders' Cup Classic favorite Accelerate  in the Precisionist Stakes (G3). 

Sent off as the second choice behind American racing's all-time leading earner Arrogate in Del Mar's Pacific Classic, Collected bested his acclaimed stablemate by half a length at the wire with Accelerate another 3 3/4 lengths behind in third. In his next start, Collected battled with Horse of the Year Gun Runner  in the Breeders' Cup Classic from the outset before finishing second, 1 1/4 lengths clear of 2017 Eclipse champion West Coast . 

A son of the late City Zip, who sired 77 black-type stakes winners and six champions, Collected is out of the Johannesburg mare Helena Bay and comes from the decorated Runnymede/Aga Khan family of leading sire Blushing Groom and 2017 Eclipse champion Lady Eli.

"It's a very proud day for Airdrie Stud to be able to announce Collected as our newest stallion," said Airdrie owner Brereton Jones. "One of the smallest bullseyes to hit in our business is to find a young stallion that both fills the eye of the commercial breeder, while also boasting the resume of a genuine leading sire prospect. Collected is that horse. He's a beautiful, masculine, correct Marette Farrell purchase. He was a debut winner at 2 going 6 1/2 furlongs and he trained on to beat the best horses in the world at the classic mile and a quarter distance.

"He's the best son of one of the really special sires we've seen in recent years in City Zip and he comes from a family cultivated by two of the world's best breeders. We couldn't be more grateful to Peter Fluor and K. C. Weiner and their families for allowing us to stand their great horse or more excited about the exceptional partnership we've put together to support Collected at stud. This horse has a chance to be very, very special."

"Collected has been an absolute dream horse for our Speedway Stable family," said partners Peter Fluor and K. C. Weiner in a joint statement. "Our advisers Marette Farrell and John Adger identified him as a perfect Bob Baffert candidate when we bought him as a 2-year-old, and it would be very difficult for a plan to work out better.

"Because of our tremendous confidence that his next career will be every bit as successful as his first, we have elected to stay involved with Collected and to partner with the wonderful group that Airdrie has put together. We will be supporting the horse with several of the very nice fillies and mares we've raced and purchased over the last few years and look forward to doing our part to make him the great success we know he can be."

A stud fee will be announced immediately following Collected's official retirement from racing.