Grade I winner Spring At Last has been retired from racing and will enter stud in 2009 at Bill Casner and Kenny Troutt’s WinStar Farm near Versailles, Ky.
The leading U.S. male earner by Silver Deputy, Spring At Last compiled a record of five wins and four placings from 13 starts and earnings of $1,139,150.
The highlight of Spring At Last’s career came this year at Gulfstream Park when he won the Donn Handicap (gr. I) for WinStar and J. Paul Reddam over a field that included such successful runners as A. P. Arrow, Brass Hat, Fairbanks, Einstein, and Daaher.
Spring At Last also captured the Etisalat Godolphin Mile (UAE-II). He ran second in both the Malibu Stakes (gr. I), with subsequent sprint champion Midnight Lute third, and Strub Stakes (gr. II).
"Spring At Last was a very fast, talented, and versatile racehorse who could go from seven furlongs to 1 1/8 miles with the best,” said trainer Doug O’Neill. “He was a brilliant miler, at which distance he was undefeated, but he also proved that he could carry that speed 1 1/8 miles in the Donn.”
Majority owner Reddam commented, “It's unfortunate that we have to retire this talented racehorse just as he was developing into a very special horse. But with his talent and pedigree, I am excited to participate with WinStar in the next phase of his career."
Bred by WinStar, Spring At Last initially raced for the farm before Reddam bought the horse from the WinStar consignment for $675,000 at the 2006 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Spring At Last later started racing for the two parties.
Out of the Dynaformer mare Winter's Gone, Spring At Last is a half-brother to grade I winner Sharp Lisa and grade II winner Sharp Susan.
“He is a special kind of Silver Deputy,” said WinStar president Doug Cauthen. “He had the speed you expect, like that exhibited by leading freshman sire Posse (also by Silver Deputy), but he also carried that speed 1 1/8 miles. I think the depth and class of his female family is what made him unique.”
A stud fee will be announced later.