Sprint champ, star sire Speightstown is euthanized at age 25

Speightstown, Eclipse Award-winning champion sprinter of 2004 and one of North America’s most prolific and most versatile sires, was euthanized Friday due to foot issues from old age, the WinStar Farm announced.

Speightstown, a Taylor Made-WinStar stallion, was 25 years old.

“Speightstown was a foundational sire for WinStar and helped stamp our legacy as a sire-making farm,” said Elliott Walden, president, CEO and racing manager of WinStar Farm. “I want to thank (stallion manager) Larry McGinnis and his team for all the love and care they gave Speighty, as he was lovingly called. They helped him through three colic surgeries, and he had none in the last 13 years.

“His progeny ran on dirt, turf, six furlongs to 1 1/4 miles, and they always showed their grit. Like with any family member, he will be truly missed. We are fortunate to have his son Nashville in the shed row, and we look forward to seeing Speightstown’s legacy continue through him and as a broodmare sire.”

“We’ve been through a lot together in the last 19 years,” McGinniss said. “We’ll miss our friend.”

A 1998 son of Gone West, Speightstown possessed a commanding presence that was evident right from the start. An outstanding physical specimen who was handsome, compact, and muscular, Speightstown was a $2 million yearling sold out of the Taylor Made sales-agency consignment at the 1999 Keeneland July sale of selected yearlings.

Equipped with brilliant speed and a heart to match, Speightstown went on to be crowned a champion on the racetrack. He won 10 of 16 starts, placed in four others and amassed earnings of $1,258,256 for owners Eugene and Laura Melnyk and trainer Todd Pletcher.

Speightstown’s signature win came in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Lone Star Park in 2004, where he polished off a competitive field at age 6, getting six furlongs in a blazing 1:08.11 under John Velázquez. The impressive victory earned Speightstown champion sprinter honors at season’s end.

In addition to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in his championship season, Speightstown won the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G2), registering a 117 Beyer Speed Figure according to Daily Racing Form and equaling the track record for six furlongs in 1:08.04. He also won the True North Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G2), the Churchill Downs Handicap (G2) and finished third in the Vosburgh (G1).

What made his championship season even more remarkable was what Speightstown overcame in his racing career leading up to that point. Injuries limited Speightstown to just one start in 2000 at age 2. He returned and won 4 of 7 starts at age 3.

Off nearly two years, he resumed his racing career in 2003, winning an allowance race in his first start since finishing second in the Amsterdam (G2) in 2001. He followed that win with a runner-up effort in the Jaipur Handicap in his only other outing that year.

Speightstown’s accomplished racing career was a prelude to establishing an enduring legacy as an influential stallion at WinStar. A sire of sires, Speightstown was a regular fixture among the ranks of leading stallions. In 2013, Speightstown was the top sire in North America by number of stakes wins with 36, higher than Kitten’s Joy, War Front, Harlan’s Holiday and Giant’s Causeway.

From 16 crops of racing age, Speightstown sired 26 Grade and Group 1 winners on every surface, and from six furlongs to 1 1/4 miles, all over the world. He is represented by 228 black-type horses, 138 black-type winners, 65 graded-stakes winners, and he has more than $154 million in progeny earnings.

Speightstown is one of only three active sires to win a Breeders’ Cup race and sire multiple Breeders’ Cup winners, colt and filly, dirt and turf. His Breeders’ Cup winners are Tamarkuz, winner of the 2016 Dirt Mile, and Sharing, winner of the 2019 Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Among Speightstown’s leading earners are Grade 1 winners Charlatan, winner of the Arkansas Derby (G1) and Malibu S. (G1) and an earner of $4,047,200; Mozu Superflare, 3,704,317; Olympiad, a five-time graded-stakes winner in 2022 who bankrolled $3,027,560; Switzerland, $2,359,052; and Reynaldothewizard, $2,210,790).

Speightstown also is represented by Canada champions Lady Speightspeare, 2011 and 2012 sprint star Essence Hit Man, Bold Script and Italy champion Farmah.

Not only was Speightstown a champion sprinter and sire of top sprinters, he also sired horses who excelled over a route of ground, such as Travers (G1) winner Golden Ticket and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) winners Haynesfield and Olympiad. Top turf runners include the likes of Force the Pass, winner of the 2015 Belmont Derby Invitational (G1); 2013 Hollywood Derby (G1) winner Seek Again; and Lord Shanakill, winner of the Prix Jean Prat (G1) in France in 2009.

In 2023 Speightstown has been the sire of 106 winners, eight black-type victors and 21 black-type horses. He is represented by Prince of Monaco, winner of the Del Mar Futurity (G1); Switzerland, a graded-stakes winner this year at age 9; and stakes winners Gold Sweep, Chiseler, Ultimate, Dean’s List and Otago.

Poised to carry on his legacy, Speightstown’s sons are distinguishing themselves at stud and are led by Munnings, currently the seventh-ranked general sire of 2023. Nashville, the speedy stakes winner and new track-record setter at Keeneland with a six-furlong time of 1:07.89, will carry on his sire’s line at WinStar Farm with first foals arriving in 2024.

As a broodmare stallion, Speightstown is the sire of 451 dams of 1,383 named foals of racing age with 1,011 runners, 73 percent; 698 winners, 50 percent; and 68 stakes winners topped by 2021 Breeders’ Cup Sprint victor Aloha West with $1,507,290.

Bred in Kentucky by Aaron and Marie Jones, Speightstown is produced from the Storm Cat mare Silken Cat, champion 2-Year-Old filly in Canada.