Trafalgar Pensioned at 14

Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 11 years 1 week ago

The dark bay stallion saw a flood of broodmares this season so no one could blame him for feeling somewhat tired. All told, 64 foals were scheduled to be born as many breeders rushed their broodmares to Wemberley Estate in South Africa before time ran out. Many hoped that he could somehow cheat time meaning that his stud career would never end.

But no stallion has avoided the date with the pensioner and neither would Trafalgar. His day of reckoning ultimately arrived and ended his brilliant stud career at the age of 14. The homebred of Ara Davies sired an incredible 931 foals including 424 winners and 88 stakes winners. His average earnings per runner is currently an impressive $85,288 and he sired both future stallions as well as broodmares, all of which helped build one of the richest legacies in thoroughbred racing.

Trafalgar was one of the first racehorses I encountered when I first started up my own fledgling stable. What attracted me to him was his Scottish name given that it was the name of a street near where I had lived at one time. I got wrapped up quickly in this great racehorse and his rivalries with the best of his generation including Moya, July. Feat and the recently pensioned Jabaar.

One of the first articles I ever wrote was on the exploits of Trafalgar and Moya battling down the stretch of the King George Stakes neither of them willing to yield an inch. At the wire that day, Moya finished a half length ahead. Three weeks later, Trafalgar got his revenge and in one of the most brilliant of all performances, he blew both July and Moya away to win the Arc De Triomphe by five. That day, he tied the world record for 1 ½ miles on the turf and it stood until Elysian Park broke it when he won the same race two years ago. It took its toll on him when he returned for the Steward’s Cup Turf two weeks later when the upstart July got the jump on everyone and won that race handily. It was a lot of fun writing about a group of very talented performers and two of my first contacts with players were from nice PMs I received from Davies and Jolene Danner who owns Moya.

Trafalgar took the Australian tour the following season winning three straight stakes before capturing the Japanese Jockey Club Cup. He’d been a mighty champion his entire career, not even letting a bruised hoof from a whole lot of shed row walking derail his campaign. He’d won two age division titles on the tough European circuit as well as winning Horse of the Year there as well.

It was really impossible to bet against Trafalgar when he went to stud. It seemed a given even in the unpredictable world of turf routing that he’d be anything less than the top of his generation. That’s how it turned out, as among his contemporaries only Feat and another stallion Tattered came closest. His aforementioned stats speak for themselves and stand as a testament to his amazing record in the shed.

He had the bloodlines to pull it off too. His sire, Vernacular collected championship titles himself including Asian and South American Horse of the year and is a half brother to another successful racehorse and stallion Fact Not Fiction. Trafalgar’s mama was Hall of Famer and Broodmare of the Year Banner who was also a highly accomplished racer. Like her son, she won the Prix Arc de Triompe and in the shed, she produced the likes of Hall of Famers Atlas and Everest along with nice broodmares like Watchglass who’s the dam of Mammoth.

Trafalgar went on to sire very nice sons like European Champion Older Male Andre, North American Champion Turf Male Pingu and Gibraltar who captured many stakes until his untimely bowed tendon in the scorcher of an Arc de Triompe sent him to stud. He also became known for siring very nice daughters too including two time African Champion Older Female Signed in Ink and quickly enough, breeders tried to breed them or purchase them for future breeding. He’s had two crops as a broodmare sire so far and has accumulated 30 winners in that category including South African Derby winner Slate and Unwritten who just captured the Barbados Summer Stakes.

The latter is a product of a crossing of one of Trafalgar’s daughters with the hit stallion Tattered and it’s a very potent meshing of bloodlines indeed as breeders have discovered. But Trafalgar still remains a powerful force in churning out winners among his own offspring as only about 60% of his total number of foals have hit the racetracks so far and he proved popular enough even at his $75,000 fee to produce large crops the past several years. So there are many opportunities for the now pensioned stallion to rewrite the record books with his remaining progeny.

The beauty of a stud like him is that there’s much more to him than meets the eye. Sure he’s an incredibly successful turf routing sire but he’s shown potential in other areas as well. He’s sired five all weather winners which doesn’t sound like a lot until you factor in his hefty stud fee. It’s large enough to discourage all weather mares, quite a few who hypo in the “B+” range from visiting him. When one of my mares sired by Hail Sleet ‘n Snow named Sweet in the Sleet also nicked “B+” with him I found that quite interesting.

Yet some of the turf lined mares still produce offspring with some decent all weather workouts. I bred my mare Date (by Colorado) who was bred by Davies and who broke her maiden in the all weather before winning and placing highly in stakes as a chaser. The filly worked five furlongs in 1:00.55, hardly shabby.

Another frontier where he’s shown talent as well is in chasing with 14 winners so far to his credit. Whether or not he becomes a major influence in that arena remains to be seen.

Since news of Trafalgar’s pensioning broke, there’s been wide spread weeping across the land as many breeders look to find replacements for this landmark stud including his own sons. His influence will continue to be keenly felt for generations to come on both sides of the family tree.

Trafalgar became the latest in the epidemic which has swept the stud farms around the globe. Not long after he pensioned, the vet broke more bad news about the fertility status of major all weather stallion Astonishing who has been pensioned as well. Nerves frayed to the point where people wait for the other shoe to drop but at the same time people celebrated the accomplishments of Trafalgar who might just have a monument built at Paris Race Park the epicenter of one of the greatest feats in thoroughbred racing.

A fitting tribute to such an outstanding horse who likely will wind up in the Hall of Fame.

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