Gun Runner (KY)

Biography

Gun Runner showed talent early, delivered on his promise as a sophomore, and was a force of nature thereafter. When he was retired to stud following a smashing victory in the 2018 Pegasus World Cup Invitational — his fifth consecutive Grade 1 win — Gun Runner had established himself as one of the most prolific American racehorses of the 21^st century.

“We’re not saying goodbye,” Gun Runner’s Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen remarked after the Pegasus. “What Gun Runner has given us will live in our memories forever.”

It’s hard to argue with Asmussen’s assessment. Gun Runner’s achievements place him in select company for his era. A chestnut colt bred in Kentucky by Besilu Stables, Gun Runner (Candy Ride—Quiet Giant, by Giant’s Causeway) won the Eclipse Awards for Horse of the Year and Champion Older Dirt Male in 2017. Racing from 2015 through 2018, Gun Runner completed his career with a record of 12-3-2 from 19 starts and earnings of $15,988,500, the second-highest total of any North American-based horse (behind Hall of Famer Arrogate).

Trained by Asmussen for owners Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm, Gun Runner’s championship season in 2017 included Grade 1 wins in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Woodward, Whitney, and Stephen Foster. He also won the Grade 3 Razorback that year. As a 3-year-old in 2016, he won the Grade 1 Clark Handicap, earned Grade 2 wins in the Louisiana Derby and Risen Star, and won the Grade 3 Matt Winn. His victory in the 2018 Pegasus by 2½ lengths over West Coast was his 10^th graded win (sixth Grade 1). Gun Runner won races at seven tracks (Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Fair Grounds, Oaklawn, Saratoga, Del Mar, Gulfstream).

After the Pegasus, which pushed his career earnings past Hall of Famer California Chrome, Asmussen thought about Gun Runner’s legacy.

“Now we’ll get to watch his videos in the Hall of Fame for as long as we’re around,” he said.

Gun Runner’s journey began with a one-mile victory in his career debut in September 2015 at Churchill Downs. A little more than a month later he scored by two lengths at Keeneland going 11/16 miles. He then made his first attempt in a graded stakes event. Back at Churchill in late November for the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, Gun Runner led in the stretch before fading to finish fourth in his final start as a juvenile.

Asmussen put his promising colt away until joining the 2016 Triple Crown trail in Louisiana at Fair Grounds. With Florent Geroux taking over as his regular rider, Gun Runner earned consecutive Grade 2 wins at Fair Grounds in the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby. As the third betting choice in the Kentucky Derby, Gun Runner had his head in front a mile into the race before finishing third behind Nyquist and subsequent Preakness winner Exaggerator.

Following the Derby, Gun Runner rebounded to win the Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill before finishing fifth in the Haskell, third in the Travers, and second in both the Pennsylvania Derby and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Gun Runner returned to the win column in his final start as a 3-year-old, earning his first Grade 1 with a sharp performance in the Clark Handicap.

Gun Runner began his 4-year-old campaign in 2017 by winning the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn. He then traveled to the Middle East and finished second to Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup. A string of exceptional performances followed, as Gun Runner never lost again.

Beginning with the Stephen Foster at Churchill in June, Gun Runner competed exclusively in Grade 1 events for the remainder of his career — and he was unstoppable. He won the Stephen Foster by seven lengths then traveled to Saratoga, where he romped in the Whitney by 5¼ lengths and decimated the Woodward field by 10¼.

“That was better than the Whitney — stronger, faster,” Geroux said of Gun Runner’s Woodward. “Overall, he is just getting better ... and I don’t think he is 100 percent cranked up yet. I really do think he has another step forward (in) him.

“When he starts leading on his left foot, he is very strong. From the three-eighths pole, I just knew it was a matter of how many lengths I (was) going to win (by). I was just hanging on. That is it. He swaps back onto his left (lead), but he does not really get tired, he just has so much energy.”

Geroux was correct in evaluating that Gun Runner still had more in him. Two months later in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar, Gun Runner had little trouble with a talented field that included future Hall of Famer Arrogate, champion West Coast, and five-time graded winner Collected. Gun Runner crept away from Collected in the stretch and was 2½ lengths clear at the finish line. It was his first win at 1¼ miles and he had to earn it with a hot pace and Collected pressuring him throughout.

“We let Gun Runner be who he is,” Asmussen said following the Classic. “I think the amount of success we’ve had with him ever since we quit worrying about who he was in with or where they were going to be — he’s let them adjust around him. ... The year that this horse has put together is a little hard to top. I think he’s better today than he’s ever been, and that was the plan all year.”

The Breeders’ Cup victory concluded Gun Runner’s 4-year-old campaign with a record of 5-1-0 from six starts and earnings of $6,950,700. He was an easy winner of the Eclipse Awards for Horse of the Year and Champion Older Dirt Male.

Gun Runner’s cherry on top was the $7 million portion of the purse he earned for his Pegasus win two and a half months after the Classic. Not a bad way to call it a career.

“What I reflect on is how fortunate we are. How, for this horse, for whatever reason, everything has come so easy for him,” said Ron Winchell of Winchell Thoroughbreds, who co-owns Gun Runner along with Three Chimneys. “He’s just been one of those horses where things have gone so right for him. His recovery from races is unbelievable; he always has unbelievable energy levels. There are always positives when I get phone calls about Gun Runner — and that’s unusual in this game.”

Following the Pegasus, Gun Runner settled into retirement at Three Chimneys in Versailles, Kentucky, where he has become a prolific stallion. His graded stakes winners have included champion Echo Zulu, Preakness winner Early Voting, Cyberknife, Disarm, Gunite, Gun Pilot, Gun Song, Red Route One, Sierra Leone, Society, Taiba, Vahva, and Wicked Halo, among others.