Liquid Gold Pensioned at 14

Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 10 years 2 weeks ago

I was engaging in that annual ritual of galloping yearlings the other day and noticed the bay dirt miler colt who galloped wow.

His sire was Gluttony, a nice son of Voracious out of an Original Tough Guy mare who obviously was an example of what often has turned out to be a successful crossing of two venerable bloodlines. It’s likely he could turn out to be very nice and deserving of his own profile but he’s a young buck still, only six and working on siring his second crop.

This profile is about an older but very noteworthy dirt miler stallion who just pensioned at the age of 14. The handsome chestnut piston only saw two mares during his very brief final season including a nicely bred daughter of Hall of Famer Big Dreams.

The pensioning forces descended on Liquid Gold quickly and without mercy relegating him in a flash to life in a pasture at Lakeside Stud in Maryland. It came too suddenly for some of us whose procrastination left us without any more of his foals for this season.

Liquid Gold was bred and owned by Mandy Saunders and boasted some rather interesting bloodlines of his own. He was a son of Baltimore Crown winner Edict who was a regally bred son of Hall of Famer Symbol and out of Cloak, a daughter of Triple Crown winner Tremendous. She produced two other millionaires besides him in Cape and North. Cape was awarded the North American champion two year old title thanks to being undefeated that season. Although a router, he might be best known for siring a trio of nice milers who took that talent to stud in Chief, A.P. Mask (who emerged big on the scene this year when daughter A Harp for Hannah won big in the Steward’s Cup) and Man in the Mask.

North by East was a router who finished second in the Baltimore Crown and struggled to sire winners at stud.

Cloak also produced a slew of nice broodmares in Robe, Sash and Shawl.
It’s not unusual to have the words “dirt miler” and “Baltimore Crown” in the same sentence. Just look at Fire Added Starter and Gabriel for example. Others like Spartan, Philosophy have been the subject of quite a few experiments already with the latter siring last year’s Steward’s Cup Filly and Dirt Mile runner’s up King and Lionheart.

So Liquid Gold’s sire lines are mostly dirt routers trying to and succeeding in putting out honest dirt milers. His dam’s side is somewhat different.

Golden Light spent her breeding career trying to produce all kinds of dirt runners. She went to Lost (twice) and Villain to produce sprinters. One of those dates with the former brought the racing world Piranha the millionaire and North American champion sprinter who produced some nice runners at stud including nice sire Enviable. She produced more sprinters by visiting the likes of Hall of Famer Conduit and Chesapeake Bay, two sires more associated with routing.

The reasoning for the experimentation might have been because during her own career. Golden Light ran a span of distances. She even won some of them including the Maryland Million Oaks. Her own pedigree contributed to that being by Jack of all trades Black Ice and produced by the unraced Shelly Baby who also produced Champion Sprinter and Black Light.

But Golden Light was also bred to studs who seemed more logical for turning out milers like Champion Older Male Lightninginabottle and Edict.

Edict also sired Big Money and Jury Conviction along with Liquid Gold and although the latter didn’t make as much purse money as these two did, he still accomplished the task of being a respectable stakes performer.

During his career, he avoided the most prestigious races including the Steward’s Cup. He did win 11 out of 28 starts with most of his wins being earlier on. His stakes wins included the Radee, Spanish Society and Columbian Derby winning just under half a million dollars. After five years in competition, he went off to stud.

His stud fee started at $1,000 but it’d soon increase reaching $80,000 per foal at the peak of his career. Still he sired 371 foals and at the beginning of a brand new season, 58.1% of his runners became winners with 6.6% of them winning stakes.

So far his top earner is Mercurious who’s out of Disloyal, a daughter of Strike Deadly and she took home over $1.1 million in purse earnings picking up wins in quite a few stakes. She put out a gallant effort in her final race which was the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Dirt Mile but fell short finishing second behind All for Linda. She’s produced a nice looking daughter of Engross named Curious who put out a swift four furlong work of 45.76.

Gold and Copper was a $1.5 million (and change) purchase at auction but she turned out to be quite nice on the racetrack and in the shed where her first foal, Precious Metals (by super sire Big Bucks) capped her first season last year with two graded stakes wins. Broodmare Surf and Sand, who’s by Enforcer and a half-sister to multi-surface sire King of the Desert never earned back her purchase price through her racing but has been a more than decent producer in the shed.

So far he’s not been a major contributor of sending sons to replace him with the best one, only siring three winners so far.

Liquid Gold’s daughters had hit the shed already and began producing the next generation of runners who were sired by studs ranging from Big Bucks to Engross to Pyrotechnic Guy. His daughters have produced 36 winners so far with four being stakes winners. Interestingly enough, two of those runners were sired by King of Kindness led by Are You Kind who won and placed well in several stakes last year.

That cross has produced some nice looking youngsters like the $1 million purchase King Or who worked 45.76 in the mornings as well as filly A Kind Offering who worked 45.80 in her preparation to race later this year.

Other swift looking juvenile runners out of Liquid Gold mares are preparing for the racetrack. Big Toast (by Big Bucks) worked 45.76 and Pocus Hocus who’s by Most Gifted worked 45.68. Two horses worth keeping an eye on when dirt milers start racing in about two months.

Liquid Gold is one of 121 studs who were anticipated to pension this year thus stepping away from stallion duties. With names Feat, War Daddy and July in the mix, he’s not the most well-known but he got hit anyway.

Fortunately like all of them, he continues to live on as a breeding influence through his sons and his daughters.

---

Back to Breeding articles