Gunite Follows Fellow Winchell Colorbearer to Ashford

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00:00Last year, Coolmore's Ashford Stud teamed up with Winchell Thoroughbreds to launch the

00:05career of Eclipse Champion Epicenter.

00:08And this year, the two groups will team up once again for Gunite, a dual Group 1 winning

00:13son of Gunrunner.

00:15So this year we're very, very pleased and proud to continue our relationship with Winchell

00:20Thoroughbreds, Ron Winchell and Steve Asterson, in announcing that Gunite will stand the 2024

00:26breeding season here at Ashford Stud, following hot on the heels of Epicenter last year.

00:30One of the main things to consider when breeding to a horse like Gunite is how tough he was,

00:35how durable he was.

00:36He started his career on the 29th of April, broke his maiden on his third start at Churchill

00:40Downs, ran six times in all as a two-year-old, showing his obviously soundness and fortitude,

00:47and culminating in a very, very impressive display beating Witt, who was a very accomplished

00:51horse in his own right, at Saratoga in the Hopeful.

00:55And the thing about Gunite was, not only was he able to display this precocity and

00:59brilliance at two in the Hopeful stakes, but then in the Amsterdam at three, and then his

01:06ding-dong battle and relationship with Elite Power throughout the season in all of the

01:10best races, but obviously culminating in the Forgo, where Gunite was able to better him

01:16by a length of three quarters.

01:18And Gunite is maintaining the lead, and he will defeat Elite Power in the Forgo.

01:25Physically, he's beautiful.

01:26He's got a lot of leg, he's 16'1", very correct horse, very good mover, and he'll be very

01:31popular with breeders.

01:32I think the main thing, when you consider a horse like him, is how similar he is in

01:38many ways to his Sire Gunrunner, and how similar he is to both Cowboy Cal, Sire Giants Causeway,

01:44and Giants Causeway himself.

01:46He was ultra, ultra tough.

01:48And the great thing about the Gunrunners is that they are tough, sound horses.

01:52If you combine that with two doses of the Iron Horse's blood, you get horses that are

01:57going to be built for durability and brilliance.

02:01Obviously Gunite himself was seen to best effect over six and seven furlongs, but you'd

02:06imagine given the stoutness of his pedigree, you'd imagine when mixed with the right mares,

02:11he would get classic distance type horses.

02:13Gunite competed at a very high level in all three years of his racing career, and was

02:19arguably running the best race of his life when finishing second to the champion sprinter-elect

02:24Elite Power, who he had beaten in the forego prior to that.

02:27So I think in today's environment, a horse that is able to demonstrate the soundness,

02:32the fortitude to run and place in five grade ones, to compete at the highest level, not

02:38only in the United States, but in Saudi Arabia and in Dubai, I think that shows how sound

02:44a horse he is, how durable a horse he was, and a horse that I think every breeder should

02:48be interested in bringing to.