Instilled Regard, a horse who illustrated the upside of redefining himself, retired Tuesday, his owners OXO Equine LLC announced.
And, according to OXO Equine, Instilled Regard already has his first date. That would be Blue Prize, the three-time Grade 1-winning Argentinian mare. She is currently in foal to Into Mischief, but will join Instilled Regard in the breeding shed in 2021.
OXO Equine did not disclose Instilled Regard’s stud fee, saying in a release that more information about the 5-year-old stallion would be announced at a later date.
Instilled Regard heads to stud off his career-best year on the track. He won two of his four races this year, both graded stakes. He won the Grade 2 Fort Marcy Stakes on June 6, and ended his career on July 4 with his first career Grade 1 win – the Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park.
He retires with five wins, three seconds, and four thirds in 18 races. Three of those wins came in his last five races, and all three were graded stakes.
How to Reinvent Yourself — Equine Edition
This capped a career in which Instilled Regard morphed from modestly talented dirt colt to one of North America’s the top male turf runners. Instilled Regard broke his maiden via a 4-¾-length win at Santa Anita Park in October 2017. Then trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Instilled Regard won the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds. He broke into the spotlight as the last horse to get into the 2018 Kentucky Derby.
He parlayed that into the final spot in the superfecta. At 90/1, Instilled Regard brought $1 superfecta bettors holding tickets with Justify, Good Magic, Audible — and him on the back end — a $19,600 payday.
Finding Splendor in the Grass
Three months later, owner Larry Best moved Instilled Regard to Chad Brown’s barn. The recognized turf training maestro played a hunch and moved his new charge to the grass. He finished second and third in two turf allowance races. A year ago this month, Instilled Regard won his first turf stakes, the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream.
He followed that with a third in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational in January.
Instilled Regard barely missed joining the $1 million club. He retired with $983,240 in career earnings. Nearly $400,000 of that came this year.