Kept to sprinting at four, he went 4-1-1 in eight starts this year, and won back-to-back grade III efforts in the Aristides Breeders' Cup Handicap (gr. III) and Smile Sprint Stakes (gr. III). He also ran third in the Arlington Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap (gr. III).
Champali, an eight-time stakes-winner who won graded stakes at two and four, has been retired and will stand the 2005 season at the Greathouse family's Glencrest Farm near Midway, Ky. In the process of being syndicated, Champali will stand for a fee of $7,500 live foal.Champali, a 4-year-old son of Glitterman out of the Dixieland Band mare Radioactivity, won 11 of 21 starts, placing six other times (five in stakes), and earned $1,073,794.Bred in Kentucky by McKee Stables, he was owned by Lloyd Madison Farms IV and was trained by Greg Foley. Lloyd Madison Farms is operated by Fred Schwartz of Madison, Wisc., his brother-in-law Jim Pakke, and Tim Sweeney. He was a $75,000 Keeneland September sale graduate in 2001.Champali is a full brother to multiple stakes winner Drexel Monorail. Dixieland Band, Champali's broodmare sire, is currently the leading broodmare sire of 2004 with more than $11.6 million in progeny earnings. "We have watched Champali for three years and he always turns in a great performance," said David Greathouse in a release. "When you look at racing nationwide, there are just not a lot of horses who show up often and deliver the knockout punch. He is one of the top-ranked sprinters, and has some of the best Beyer Speed Figures this year, and he retired completely sound."Champali earned a career-best 112 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the Phoenix Breeders' Cup Stakes (gr. III) at Keeneland on Oct. 8. He covered the six furlongs in 1:08.72, and defeated such sprint stars as Gold Storm and Clock Stopper. In the next-to-last race of his career, he finished seventh, beaten just 3 1/2 lengths, in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30. He concluded his racing career with an eighth-place finish in the De Francis Memorial Dash (gr. I) at Pimlico.A winner of three of four starts at two, Champali won the one-mile Iroquois Stakes (gr. III) at Churchill Downs in his third start.He started his 3-year-old campaign with three straight wins, all in stakes, at Turfway Park before running third in the 1 1/8-miles Lane's End Stakes (gr. II). He then ran second in the one-mile Derby Trial Stakes (gr. III) at Churchill Downs and also won the Northern Dancer Stakes under the Twin Spires.