Runaway - by Meagan D'amoure

The tiny gray colt used to frolic in the fields next to his dam under the watchful eye of breeder Emily Hufford in the early days of Runaway's life. The Future Hero son ironically always seemed to run away with the lead in all but one of the races he ever ran in.

From day one Future Hero was bound to become one of the greats. He proved to be a worthy contender on both the dirt and turf, won the Steward's Cup Mile along with many other graded stakes, and acquired a Simmy Award for Champion Turf Male. Once retired to the shed, a small mare that is worthy to note was lined up to pay a visit to the extraordinary Future Hero in Year 4.

That mare was Emily Shields's blue hen, Tuzla. Standing at only fifteen hands high, Tuzla had not quite proven her weight in gold. She had never broken her maiden race record on the track, and raced only four times before she was retired. However, she made several impressive finishes in the four races that she did make an appearance in; including a second place finish behind Magellan in the Sunshine Turf Classic, a third in the Louisville Mile, a sixth place finish in the Oak Tree Handicap, and a beautiful second behind Fleet Lady in the Steward's Cup Filly and Mare Turf. By the time Tuzla was sent to Future Hero she had four foals on the ground: one of those foals included a chestnut stallion named Farewell Friend who would one day exceed $3,000,000 in earnings when he became old enough to debut at the track.

But what did Emily Hufford attain from the Tuzla rendez-vous with Future Hero? None other than Runaway.

The tactics used during Runaway's racing career were a bit different than his big brother Farewell Friend's tactics. Instead of hitting the dirt track first, Runaway was pointed towards the turf course. He made his maiden premiere at Hot Springs Park in Arkansas when he was entered in a 5 furlong maiden race for two year olds on the turf. With just a nasal strip and hind wraps to help him get through the race, Runaway galloped to the wire in a dead heat with Jess Paquette's horse Effortless Focus five lengths ahead of the rest of the field.

After such an impressive performance Runaway's connections bumped him up to an allowance level horse. The horse travelled from Arkansas to Florida to run in a six furlong turf allowance race on Year 6 Week 6 (Saturday). Only four horses made up the field, and the small pack of them bounced to the finish with Runaway leaving the other three on the track afterwards to head to the winner's circle.

Year 6 Week 10 (Saturday) was Runaway's first real challenge. He was slated to run in the 6 ½ furlong Favorite Trick Stakes against On Broadway, Tulloch, Super Hero, and Crowned Jewels - all of which would go on to be great racehorses one day. Runaway, once again, ran away from the field and earned an addition $90,000 in earnings from his third consecutive win.

The Grade 2 $150,000 Commitisize Stakes was where Tulloch, Super Hero, Crowned Jewels, and Runaway reunited for the second time. The Commitisize Stakes was a mile long race on the turf, and the longest that Runaway had ever run before. Despite showing that he was not as comfortable with the extra distance, Runaway managed to finish second behind Tulloch for the last race of his two-year-old season.

When the new year rolled around, Runaway made the grueling trip across the world to Paris Race Park in France for his three-year-old season in Europe. Runaway remained undefeated as he won such races as the Studs Gladness Stakes, the Cork and Orrey Stakes, the 2000 Guineas, the Darley July Cup, the Sprinters Stakes, and the Takomatsunomiya Stakes. By the end of his three-year-old season Runaway had earned earnings in excess of $1,859,000.

Runaway's newest challenge would come in his four-year-old season, when his connections decided to try the stallion on the dirt and the gray was shipped to the United Arab Emirates. It was the Dubai Golden Shaheen which was the colt's first race on the dirt. He cruised to victory ahead of Ready for Apremont, Really Honest, Gallantry, After hours, and Apollogy Accepted, respectively, and won the $600,000 purse of the Dubai Golden Shaheen.

It was decided that Runaway would head back to the United States for the Steward's Cup Dirt Sprint for the end of the year. Runaway only ran once more across seas, in the Darley July Cup at 6 furlongs on the turf, which he easily won before his return trip to America. He was given three weeks off before he was sent to a prep race for the Steward's Cup Dirt Sprint, which was an Allowance at 6 furlongs on the dirt. The Steward's Cup Dirt Sprint was another challenge for Runaway since he would be running against the best-of-the-best.

A field of eleven horses lined up for the start of Year 8's Stewards Cup Dirt Sprint; including Em's Always Busy, Cyclone, and Accio Firebolt amongst the contenders. Runaway showed outstanding power for being a small horse when he overcame the best of the dirt sprinters when he won.

Not long after his Steward's Cup win, it was announced that Runaway was retiring to the breeding shed under the watchful eye of Susie Raisher during his stud duties. He retired from the track with $3,167,400 in earnings and a record of 14-1-0 out of fifteen starts. He was also labeled with two Simmy Awards: Champion Sprinter and European Champion Sprinter in his three years of racing.

The stallion spent fifteen years servicing mares before it was discovered that he had declining fertility and was retired on January 29, 2008. In those fifteen years, Runaway sired a total of 110 foals and 44 of those foals have gone on to become winners. All in all, Runaway offspring have given him Total Progeny Earnings of $4,488,690 with his youngest crop being two-year-olds in Year 22. Some of his top progeny include Kind (Runaway - Gentle, by Giant's Causeway), Temptation (Runaway - French Kiss, by Bonapartiste), and Earthbound (Runaway - Cambiocorsa, by Avenue Flags).

Runaway's highest earning offspring, Wherethecircleends, just recently retired to the breeding shed in Year 21. While Lisa Strummer's stallion didn't appear to take a liking to the dirt surface as much as his sire did, he did go on to win races on the turf such as the Year 21 Los Campeones Turf Sprint, the Grande Premio Presidente Julio Mesq, and many more. Wherethecircleends retired with a record of 8-3-1 out of 18 starts, and lifetime earnings of $629,550 under his name.

The eighteen year old gray stallion known as Runaway is now happily residing in New York at Fox Lair with Susie Raisher to live out the rest of his days. It is now apparent that Runaway not only ran away with the lead to win races, but he also ran away with the hearts of many of his fans.