Illinois Derby (gr. II) and Gotham Stakes (gr. III) winner Cowtown Cat has been retired from racing and will stand at Brent Fernung's Journeyman Stud in Florida for a 2009 fee of $8,000.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old son of Distorted Humor out of the Storm Cat mare Tom's Cat won four of 16 career starts and earned $562,228 while racing for WinStar Farm and Gulf Coast Farms. In addition to his stakes wins, the colt finished third in the Swale Stakes (gr. II) and Timeless Native Stakes.
Bred in Kentucky by Gulf Coast, Cowtown Cat brought the top price of $1.5 million when purchased by WinStar Farm at the 2006 Barretts Equine sale of 2-year-olds in training.
"Cowtown Cat has a striking physical resemblance to his Champion Sire, Distorted Humor," said Doug Cauthen, president of WinStar Farm, said in a release announcing the retirement. "Of all of Distorted Humor's sons, I would have to say Cowtown Cat looks most like his sire. We feel Florida breeders will love a $1.5 Million Sales Topping Two-Year-Old who came out early and displayed speed with the ability to carry it a distance of ground. We have already enjoyed much success with Journeyman Stud so this is clearly a natural fit. He really could be any kind of Sire."
"Cowtown Cat was one of the very best 2-year-old prospects we've ever sold...and when you consider that others in that category have included stallions like Unbridled's Song, Yes It's True, Officer, and the emerging Henny Hughes, I think that's a pretty good indicator of his potential," said Jerry Bailey, co-owner of Gulf Coast Farms.
Cowtown Cat has been retired from racing and will stand at Journeyman Stud in Florida for a 2009 fee of $8,000.
