John Oxley's dual graded stakes winner Prospective has been retired from racing and will enter stud in 2014. Where the colt will stand has not been finalized.
By Spendthrift Farm's Malibu Moon , Prospective captured the 2012 Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II) at Tampa Bay Downs and later the Ohio Derby (gr. III) at Thistledown en route to career earnings of $719,130.
"Prospective was a pleasure to train," said Mark Casse of the 4-year-old colt. "He was immensely talented, versatile and sound. He possesses a great mind and outstanding conformation, key qualities that should serve him well in his stallion career."
Purchased by Oxley for $250,000 at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select yearling sale in 2010, Prospective won on dirt and synthetic surfaces from seven furlongs to 1 1/8 miles. As a juvenile in 2011, Prospective captured the 1 1/16-mile Grey Stakes (Can-III) at Woodbine over its all-weather synthetic surface. The following year at 3, he won the Pasco Stakes at seven furlongs over Tampa Bay Downs dirt main track and was narrowly defeated, finishing second, in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (gr. III), the traditional prep race for the Tampa Bay Derby.
Rebounding from the runner-up effort in the Sam F. Davis, Prospective won the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby in impressive fashion over a field that included subsequent Travers Stakes (gr. I) co-winner Golden Ticket . His final time of 1:43.35 for the 1 1/16 miles in the Tampa Bay Derby was only .52 of a second off the track record of 1:42.83.
Following a sixth-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) at Keeneland, Prospective contested the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) where he clipped heels early, encountered traffic trouble and finished unplaced.
Prospective resumed his winning ways in the $153,300 Victoria Park Stakes over 1 1/8 miles at Woodbine, and added another graded stakes score to his slate with a sharp 2 1/2-length victory as the odds-on favorite in the Ohio Derby. He closed out 2012 with a score in the Delta Mile Stakes at Delta Downs.
Bred by Spendthrift Farm, Prospective is out of the stakes-winning Awesome Again mare Spirited Away. All told, Prospective won seven of 17 career starts, placed in three others and earned $719,130.
