Multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Dullahan has been retired with a tendon
injury, Donegal Racing announced on Monday. Stud plans are pending for the
four-year-old half-brother to 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.
“Dullahan is the most spectacular-looking horse Donegal has ever campaigned,
and that takes in some territory,” Donegal Managing Partner Jerry Crawford said
in a press release.
“Not many horses win three Grade 1s for their owners, but that is what
Dullahan did. Those wins included beating Game On Dude and other older horses in
the Pacific Classic in August of his three-year-old season.
“In my eyes, he is from a similar mode of stallions like Tiznow, Candy Ride,
Indian Charlie, or Harlan’s Holiday, as all of them were great racehorses whose
sires weren’t perceived to be commercial at the time of their retirement. We
believe that Dullahan has many attributes equipped to make him an excellent
sire.”
Dullahan “tried really hard all the time,” trainer Dale Romans noted. “I
don’t even think we ever got to see him at his very best. He might have been the
most talented colt I ever trained.”
Purchased for $250,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, Dullahan is a son
of the Unbridled’s Song stallion Even the Score. The massive chestnut bankrolled
$1,735,901 from an 18-3-2-4 record, with all three victories coming in Grade 1
events on Polytrack.
As a thrice-raced maiden, Dullahan lined up in the 2011 With Anticipation at
Saratoga and finished a troubled third. He broke his maiden next time in the
Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, his first try on Polytrack, and ended his
season with a rallying fourth to champion Hansen in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
After a fine second in the 2012 Palm Beach on the Gulfstream turf to open his
classic campaign, Dullahan rolled home late to defeat Hansen going away in the
Blue Grass back on Keeneland’s Polytrack. He thus joined Hall of Famer Round
Table as the only horses to turn the Breeders’ Futurity/Blue Grass double.
A boldly-closing third to I’ll Have Another in the Kentucky Derby, Dullahan
later wound up seventh in the Belmont Stakes and fifth in the Haskell
Invitational. For the rest of his career he stuck to turf or synthetic.
Dullahan shipped to Del Mar for the Pacific Classic, where he caught Game On
Dude in a track-record time of 1:59 2/5 for 1 1/4 miles on Polytrack. He was not
as successful reverting to turf for his final outings at three, resulting in a
fifth on rain-softened going in the Jamaica and a ninth to stablemate Little
Mike in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Venturing to Dubai ahead of the World Cup, Dullahan did not transfer his
Polytrack form to the Tapeta at Meydan. He was 11th in both the March 9 Burj
Nahaar and in the March 30 Dubai World Cup.
Dullahan returned to action in the July 13 Arlington Handicap on the turf,
rallying stoutly for a close third. That figured to set him up for a title
defense in the August 25 Pacific Classic, but he failed to produce his usual
late kick and reported home eighth in what turned out to be his swan song.
His famous half-sibling, Mine That Bird, reigned as Canadian champion
two-year-old before upsetting the Run for the Roses at odds of 50-1. Mine That
Bird also placed in the 2009 Preakness and Belmont.
Out of the unraced Smart Strike mare Mining My Own, Dullahan hails from the
extended family of 1983 champion older mare Ambassador of Luck.
Plans call for Dullahan to spend some time in rehabilitation at WinStar Farm.
He will be available for inspection at the Versailles, Kentucky, facility while
stud plans are formulated.
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