Acclamation could return to the races after the breeding season (Benoit Photos) Champion older male Acclamation will begin his stud career at owner Bud Johnston's Old English Rancho next year, but the California-bred star could still return to the racetrack later in 2013, according to Daily Racing Form. Acclamation has encountered setbacks that have limited his 2012 campaign to just two starts. The six-year-old son of Unusual Heat has won them both, however, extending his winning streak to seven. After scoring an unprecedented three-peat in the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap in his belated reappearance on June 9, Acclamation successfully defended his title in the Grade 1 Eddie Read on July 21. A ligament strain prematurely ended his season, along with his hopes of a Breeders' Cup tilt at Santa Anita. Acclamation will need several more months to recover, prompting the decision to stand him at stud. His initial fee has been set at $20,000. "We need to evaluate the injury and see how it heals," Johnston told DRF regarding a possible return to action.

"The vets say in four or five months it should be 100 percent. If we plan on bringing him back, we'd start jogging every day and breeding him when we want to."

Acclamation was voted the divisional Eclipse Award after ending 2011 on a five-race winning spree. The Don Warren trainee began the skein by romping in the Grade 2 Jim Murray Handicap for the second straight year, and followed up in the Whittingham and Eddie Read. The handsome bay switched to Del Mar's Polytrack for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, where he held off Twirling Candy under a trademark Pat Valenzuela ride, and set a new track record. He next captured the Grade 2 Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship, but a subsequent hoof problem ruled out any 2011 Breeders' Cup thoughts.

Acclamation's scorecard stands at 30-11-2-6, $1,958,048.

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