Sumaya U.S. Stable's MGSW Protonico (Giant's Causeway–Alpha Spirit, by A.P. Indy) has been retired and will stand stud at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, K.Y. for 2017. The 5-year-old will stand for will stand for a fee of $6,500 stands and nurses, and Taylor Made is offering lifetime breeding rights for breeders that have two live foals and pay the stud fees.
“We are very 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 and defeated 22 graded stakes winners, including Grade I winners Honor Code (A.P. Indy) and Constitution (Tapit). 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.”
Breeders interested in a lifetime breeding right in Protonico can elect to breed two mares in 2017, or one mare in each of 2017 and 2018. Protonico will also participate in Taylor Made Stallions' multiple-mare program in 2017, with significant discounts offered to breeders who breed more than one mare during the upcoming breeding season.
The first of Protonico's four graded victories came in the 2014 GIII Smarty Jones S. and he captured his next graded event just two starts later in that year's GIII Discovery H. Runner-up to Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) in that year's GI Clark H., the bay scored back-to-back wins in the 2015 GIII Ben Ali S. and GII Alysheba S. Closing out his career with a third to Hoppertunity in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Oct. 8, the Todd Pletcher pupil retires with a record of 16-7-1-2 and earnings of $997,587.
“Protonico was a serious racehorse who showed Grade I talent at every stage of his career,” said Pletcher. “He beat some top-level horses in several graded races at major tracks like 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 Alpha Spirit, who is a daughter of Chilean Horse of the Year Wild Spirit (Chi) (Hussonet). She is responsible for the unraced juvenile filly California Spirit (Tale of the Cat), a yearling colt named Regal Look (Tiznow) and a weanling colt by Quality Road.
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