Last Gunfighter, who won the 2013 Pimlico Special, will stand at Pin Oak Lane. Photo by Laurie Asseo.
From a Pin Oak Lane Farm release
Lord Shanakill, one of the top first-crop sires in Europe in 2014, and multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Last Gunfighter will stand the 2016 season at Dr. William J. Solomon’s Pin Oak Lane Farm in New Freedom, Pa.
Lord Shanakill, a 9-year-old son of champion sprinter Speightstown, moves from the Irish National Stud to Pennsylvania with four stakes performers, three group/graded, from two crops of racing age. He ranked second among Europe’s freshman sires by number of winners in 2014, with 16 worldwide.
His runners have amassed more than $1 million and include 2015 stakes performers My Dream Boat, winner of the Prix Perth-G3 in France; Great Dancer (Ire), third in the Hill Prince Stakes-G3 at Belmont Park; and Mister Brightside (Ire), second in Santa Anita’s Twilight Derby-G2 in his only U.S. start.
“He’s a Speightstown Group 1 winner,” said Solomon. “And he was a very fast horse. Plus he has an outstanding pedigree for both the grass and the dirt. I think he’ll be a great fit.”
Lord Shanakill won the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat in France at 3 going one mile. At 2 he made eight starts in England and France and hit the board seven times, five in group company, with a victory the six-furlong Mill Reef Stakes-G2 at Newbury, and Group 1 placings when second, by a nose to Intense Focus, in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, and third in the Prix Morny at Deauville. He concluded his career at age 4 with back-to-back seven-furlong stakes scores in England, culminating with the Group 2 Lennox Stakes at Goodwood. In his 18-start career he won five times and placed in seven others, for earnings of $910,021, and counted additional Group 1 third-place finishes in the Lockinge Stakes behind champion Paco Boy (Ire) and St. James’s Palace Stakes to champion Mastercraftsman (Ire).
Lord Shanakill is out of the Theatrical (Ire) mare Green Room, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Spanish Fern and to the dam of Santa Anita Handicap-G1 winner and millionaire Heatseeker (Ire). Green Room also has produced Group 1 winner Together Forever. The family includes champions Al Bahathri, Haafhd and Hasbah (Ire). Lord Shanakill remains the property of the Irish National Stud syndicate and stands for $5,000, with the fee discounted to $3,500 for two or more mares.
Last Gunfighter, bred and owned by John Gunther, counted seven stakes among his nine wins, placed six times, and earned $1,219,205 from 21 starts. Five of his eight starts at 4 resulted in stakes victories, four of them graded – the Grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup and Grade 3 Pimlico Special, Excelsior and Philip H. Iselin Stakes, the latter two part of a six-race win streak launched at the end of his 3-year-old season into the spring of 2013.
“He’s a very attractive horse who beat a lot of good horses,” noted Solomon. A winner at distances from one mile to a mile and a quarter, Last Gunfighter outfinished classic winners Palace Malice, Orb and Ruler On Ice and millionaires Game On Dude, Flat Out, Moreno, Richard’s Kid, Alpha, Paynter and Eighttofasttocatch during his career. In his only starts this year at 6, Last Gunfighter finished third behind Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Liam’s Map in a one-mile allowance at Belmont Park.
A son of multiple Grade 1 winner First Samurai, Last Gunfighter is out of the Sir Cat mare Saratoga Cat, a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Saratoga Boot and Sexy Boots. His second dam, Saratoga Sparkle (by Saratoga Six), is a half-sister to multiple graded winner Costly Shoes. The family includes Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old and champion sire Dehere. Last Gunfighter stands his first season for $4,000, or $2,500 for two or more mares.
