Spend a Buck Headed to Brazil

Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Spend a Buck, who has achieved remarkable success with his South American runners, has been sold to Brazilian breeders and will take up stallion duty at Haras Bage do Sul. Currently in quarantine in Miami, the 19-year-old Buckpasser grandson will be headed to Brazil in about a week, according to Jose L. DeCamargo, who helped engineer the deal. Spend a Buck had served as a shuttle stallion there several years earlier.

Spend a Buck, who recently completed the Northern Hemisphere breeding season at Jay Adcock's Red River Farms near Coushatta, La., as the property of J. Weldon Granger, is represented in Brazil this year by group I winners Forever Buck and Investor's Dream, and by group II winner Irish Lover. All three were from Spend a Buck's first Brazilian crop, foaled in 1998.

Spend a Buck's earlier South American stakes winners include Peruvian champion and 2001 group II winner Black Coffey, plus Brazilian multiple group I winner Clausen Export. The latter also was a group I winner in Argentina.

Spend a Buck, who began his stallion career in 1986 at William S. Farish's Lane's End Farm near Versailles, Ky., shortly after being named Horse of the Year, also achieved success as a stallion in North America. A daughter, Antespend, won three grade I stakes her 3-year-old season and was retired a millionaire. Spend a Buck's other North American runners include graded stakes winners No Spend No Glow, Adhocracy, Pie in Your Eye, Dust Bucket, Cheerful Spree, Table Limit, and Worth Avenue, Overall, 27 of his runners are stakes winners.

Spend a Buck (Buckaroo--Belle de Jour, by Speak John) won the Run for Roses in 2:00 1/5, which remains the fourth-fastest Derby time. He won 10 of 15 races and earned $4,220,689 in his two years of racing.

Since Spend a Buck won the Derby, there have been several other Derby winners sold to oversea interests. The others are Ferdinand, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Strike the Gold, and Sea Hero.