Protonico has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Taylor Made Stallions near Nicholasville, Ky., for 2017. The four-time graded stakes-winning son of Giant's Causeway will stand for $6,500 stands and nurses. Taylor Made Stallions is offering lifetime breeding rights for breeders that have two live foals and pay the stud fees.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Protonico was bred in Kentucky by Oussama Aboughazale’s International Equities Holding and was raced by his Sumaya U.S. Stable. The dark bay or brown colt won seven of 16 starts over four seasons in training and earned $997,587.
“We are excited to have Protonico join our expanding stallion roster for 2017,” said Ben Taylor, vice president of Taylor Made Stallions. “He was very unfortunate not to win a grade I, but he ran a 107 Beyer Speed Figure and defeated 22 graded stakes winners, including grade I winners Honor Code and Constitution. Besides being a tremendous value for breeders, Mr. Aboughazale is committed to supporting him heavily and wants to reward breeders who join him with the opportunity to earn a lifetime breeding right in Protonico.”
Protonico’s four graded stakes wins is more than any other son of Giant’s Causeway standing in North America, and he won them over four different tracks.
He broke his maiden at first asking at six furlongs in September of 2013. At 3 he won Parx Racing’s Smarty Jones Stakes (gr. III) at a mile and 70 yards and the Discovery Handicap (gr. III) at nine furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack.
During his 4-year-old campaign he added Keeneland’s Ben Ali Stakes (gr. III) in April and added the grade II Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs in May.
While he was unable to land the coveted grade I win, he did run second to Hoppertunity in the Clark Handicap (gr. I) in 2014 and finished third in this year’s Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (gr. I) to Hopperturnity and Effinex at Belmont Park in his finale.
“Protonico was a serious racehorse who showed grade I talent at every stage of his career,” Pletcher said. “He beat some top-level horses in several graded races at major tracks such as Churchill, Keeneland, and Aqueduct. I believe Protonico was very unlucky not to win a grade I, but he was one of the most versatile and better-looking horses we had in the barn.”
Protonico is the first foal out of the A.P. Indy mare Alpha Spirit. Alpha Spirit is out of the Chilean-bred Wild Spirit, Horse of the Year in Chile and winner of Saratoga’s Ruffian Handicap (gr. I) and Delaware Handicap (gr. II) in 2003.
Breeders interested in a lifetime breeding right in Protonico must breed two mares, have two live foals, and pay the stands and nurses stud fees for each. They can elect to breed two mares in 2017, or one mare in each of 2017 and 2018. After the fees are paid, the breeder would then earn a free breeding right every year for the life of the stallion. Taylor Made is offering a limited number of the lifetime breeding rights, and they will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Protonico will also participate in Taylor Made’s multiple-mare program in 2017, with offers discount to breeders who breed more than one mare.