Trotter stallions Retiring this year

[Gigi Gofaster]

Just to put this out there for your planning purposes, these two boys will be retiring to stud at the end of this year:

Edinburgh Castle - currently top earning 4yo colt, double grade 1 winner so far including Yankee Trot, Simmy winner at 3, arguably the most gorgeous headshot ever. Plus he's by Castle, so he'll represent the first crop of Castle sons to retire, and he's from a solid dam line (back to the wonderful Bronxville). Fee tbd.

Devon Rampage - currently second highest earning 4yo colt, which is saying something as he has second place disease, being runner up in Yankee Trot, Emotonian, American and Steward's Cup. He's by Marion Marauder and goes back through the neat Cancelled Molly/Canceled Creek line. He will have a headshot this year too...fee tbd.

Who else is retiring this year?

[Michael Looker]

Montecchi - currently third highest earning 4yo colt, is a possibility. Unraced at 2 because I completely forgot about him, he finally debuted at 3 and ran second-last in the Yankee Trot followed by a last placing in the Emotonian. After the experience boost from those two races, and the confidence boost of dropping back to win a maiden, he finished the year by winning the Grade 1 American Trotting Derby and the SC Classic Trot (with Edinburgh Castle and Devon Rampage deadheating for 2nd).

I've reverted back to last year's form by forgetting to enter him in a couple of races earlier this year, but hopefully I'm back on track and he can finish the year out strongly.

Like Edinburgh Castle he's a first-crop son of Devon Castle, and he's from a multiple Grade 3-winning blue hen mare.

I've leased a couple of very nice mares for this year which help tilt the scale towards retirement, but as a rule I like to run my horses until the wheels fall off because it's very hard to retire a horse and have it be a great stallion, whereas it's very easy to enjoy running a high-level horse for years on end. So we'll see what happens.

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I'm looking forward to seeing how Devon Rampage goes. Putting him over Devon Castle mares gives a 3x3 to Wishing Stone, which could be interesting.

[Michael Looker]

Just updating this. Edinburgh Castle and Devon Rampage have been retired. Montecchi will not be. While I fully expect him to be an awesome stallion and I do think his racetrack performances may drop off next year, after back-to-back SC wins he's too close to $1m in earnings to not try to get there. Plus there's the chance of a threepeat at the SC; before today I'd never had a horse win two (I'd never even won two in the same division).

I also have to mention Devon Rampage's crazy career. If Edinburgh Castle and Montecchi didn't exist, and the filly Castle Call had stayed in filly races, he'd have won the Yankee Trot, Emotonian, American Trotting Derby (so two legs of the official Trotting Triple Crown, three legs of the unofficial Trotting Grand Slam), Meadowfields Cup and TWO SCs. As it was, he won a maiden and nothing else.

He'll certainly be getting some mares from me this year.

[Gigi Gofaster]

Poor Devon Rampage had 'not quite winning' disease. That said, I'm VERY impressed with his hypo nicks, so give him a try. he's priced pretty fairly to give him a good start, and yes, he's a super choice for castle mares. Edinburgh castle - nudged out AGAIN in the cup, is also nicking very sweetly and looks like a great alternative to Castle himself.

Good luck to Montecchi for a threepeat!