Multiple Grade 2 winner PHONE TRICK (Clever Trick), best known as the sire of
Horse of the Year Favorite Trick and champions Phone Chatter and Caller One,
died Monday of natural causes at the age of 23, The Blood-Horse reports. Phone
Trick sired more than 50 stakes winners and most recently stood at Milfer Farm
near Unadilla, New York.
Owned by Howell Wynne and trained by Richard Mandella, Phone Trick captured
his first six starts before recording his first graded win in the 1986 San
Carlos H. (G2). He added the Bold Ruler S. (G2) and True North H. (G2) before
suffering his only setback with a runner-up finish in the Tom Fool H. (G2). The
prolific sprinter was injured training up to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) and
retired to Walmac International near Lexington, Kentucky, with a 10-9-1-0 mark
and $395,112 in earnings.
Out of the Finnegan mare Over the Phone, Phone Trick proved very successful
at stud, siring a slew of graded winners that includes Mazel Trick, Intidab,
Caller I.D., Zavata, Speed Dialer, Confide, Semoran, Day Trader, Auto Dial, Star
of Valor and Pick Up the Phone. Phone Chatter was named champion two-year-old
filly in 1993, and Group 1 winner Caller One earned more than $3 million.
Favorite Trick, a $1.7 million earner, capped an unbeaten 1997 season with a 5
1/2-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and became the first
juvenile since Secretariat to be named Horse of the Year.