Stardom Bound, a 2008 champion and winner of that year’s Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), has been retired from racing. She currently is at Meg Levy’s Bluewater Farm near Lexington and will be bred to 2008 champion and dual classic winner Big Brown this spring.
By Tapit , Stardom Bound won or placed in eight of a dozen races and earned $1,861,610. Five of her wins came in consecutive grade I triumphs. She closed out her career running for the partnership of IEAH Stables, Paul Pompa Jr., Michael Dubb, and Gary Tolchin.
Campaigned as 2-year-old by Charles Cono and trained by Christopher Paasch, Stardom Bound broke her maiden in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (gr. I) in her third start and then won the Oak Leaf Stakes (gr. I) and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She was voted divisional champion.
Shortly after the Breeders’ Cup in late October, she was sold to Nick Sallusto, agent for IEAH Stables, for $5.7 million at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale. She was consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, agent. The price was the second-highest at the sale.
Stardom Bound didn’t miss a beat racing for her new owners: IEAH Stables, Paul Pompa Jr., Michael Dubb, and Golden Goose Ent. In her first two starts for them in 2009 she won the Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I) and the Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I). She placed in the Ashland Stakes (gr. I) in April in her next start and then was given a rest. She returned in November and finished unplaced in the Gazelle Stakes (gr. I).
Stardom Bound raced three times this year without winning, She started the year with a runner-up effort in the El Encino Stakes (gr. I). Her last start came in an allowance race on turf April 11 at Keeneland in which she finished unplaced. Following her 2-year-old season, she was trained first by Robert Frankel and then Richard Dutrow Jr.
Speaking on behalf of IEAH, Chris Brothers cited Stardom Bound’s grade I win streak as perhaps her greatest achievement.
“There are not many horses in history who have won five grade Is in a row, especially spanning their 2- and 3-year-old seasons. We are very excited to see the result of the match-up between Stardom Bound and Big Brown – two great champions who carried our silks. The mating is a perfect fit, both on paper and physically.”
Fletcher and Carolyn Gray in partnership with John Youngblood are the breeders of Kentucky-bred Stardom Bound, who was produced from the stakes-winning Tarr Road mare My White Corvette.
Brown Brown, who won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) for IEAH and Pompa and later was voted a divisional championship, stands at Robert N. Clay’s Three Chimneys Farm near Midway, Ky.