Campaigned as a homebred for Joseph Vitello and trained for all but his first start by Donald Winfree, Tenpins scored additional added-money wins in the Philip H. Iselin Breeders' Cup (gr. III) and Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Breeders' Cup (gr. III) Handicaps as well as the Fayette Stakes (gr. III) and William Donald Schaefer Handicap (gr. III). His four stakes-placings included a runner-up effort in the Hawthorne Gold Cup (gr. II) to Perfect Drift and a third in the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. I) to winner Street Cry.Tenpins is a half-brother to three stakes winners and is out of the Deputy Minister mare Maid's Broom.
Tenpins, a millionaire and five-time graded stakes winner, will stand his first season in 2005 at Walmac International near Lexington. The all-time leading money-winning son of Smart Strike has been syndicated and will stand for $6,500 live foal.John T.L. Jones III, Walmac managing director, expressed his admiration for Tenpins' talent and consistency, as well as his lineage. "All the components we like to see in a stallion, Tenpins has," Jones said. "Graded stakes class, record speed, a top sire, black-type dam (as a producer)."Six-year-old Tenpins won or placed in 14 of 17 career starts at nine different racetracks, and shattered a 27-year-old track record held by Royal Glint in the 2002 Washington Park Handicap (gr. II) at 1 3/16 miles at Arlington Park.