Medal Count retired to Spendthrift Farm

Classic-placed Grade 3 winner Medal Count has been retired from racing and will stand the 2016 breeding season at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky. The 4-year-old son of Dynaformer will participate in Spendthrift’s Share The Upside program, under which he will stand for an advertised fee of $6,500, and breeders will earn a lifetime breeding right to Medal Count after producing a live foal in 2017. He will also be available on a traditional stands and nurses contract for a fee of $5,000.

Medal Count is very similar to Temple City, another Grade 1-performing [son of] Dynaformer we raced and then retired to stud on our Share The Upside program,” said Spendthrift Farm owner B. Wayne Hughes. “Temple City has proven to be successful for our Share The Upside partners, and he booked full in 2015 at a substantially higher fee than his original Share The Upside price. Medal Count could be the last top son of Dynaformer to enter stud, and we feel like he’s another good opportunity for breeders through our Share The Upside program.”

Medal Count retires with three wins in 14 starts for earnings of $480,671. At age three, he won the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes on the turf at Keeneland, then turned around eight days later to finish second in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on Keeneland’s former main Polytrack surface. He later finished third in the 2014 Belmont Stakes and second in the non-graded Dueling Grounds Derby.

Spendthrift Farm campaigned Medal Count during his on-track career after purchasing the colt for $360,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September yearling sale. He was trained by Dale Romans for his first two campaigns before being moved to the barn of Al Stall Jr. “Medal Count is a unique [son of] Dynaformer because he was precocious and had Grade 1 ability on the dirt,” said Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey. “You don’t see many of them win their debut on dirt as 2-year-olds, and then become classic-placed on dirt as 3-year-olds. “Like Temple City, Medal Count has a strong dirt female family, and is more refined than your typical Dynaformer, while still possessing the soundness and toughness that’s synonymous with that sire line,” Toffey continued. “We believe breeders are going to like Medal Count and the value he presents.”

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Medal Count is out of the Grade 3-placed Unbridled’s Song mare Brisquette, whose five winners from six foals to race also includes Grade 3 winner Garden District. His extended family includes Grade 1-placed Pirate’s Glow and Grade 2-placed Quake.