Palace is the fastest and most accomplished son of leading sire City Zip
B. Wayne Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm has acquired the breeding rights to leading sprinter Palace, the multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire son of City Zip who is set to retire at the end of his 2015 campaign that will include a start in the $1,500,000 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
“Palace is the best colt by perennial leading sire City Zip, and he’s a great-looking individual,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. “He’s been one of the classiest and fastest sprinters in the country the last couple of years, and we believe breeders will find him to be an exciting opportunity through our ‘Share The Upside’ program in 2016. We’re thrilled to have him, and believe he has a big shot in the upcoming Breeders’ Cup Sprint.”
Palace will participate in Spendthrift’s renowned “Share The Upside” program that the farm offers for its first-year stallions. His “Share The Upside” fee has been set at $7,500, and will require breeders to breed a mare in 2016 and 2017, and then have two live foals on a stands-and-nurses basis to earn a lifetime breeding right in Palace starting in 2018 and lasting throughout his stallion career. Palace’s one-time stud fee is $6,000 on a standard stands-and-nurses contract for people who do not wish to participate in the “Share The Upside” program. Commitments to Palace are being honored prior to the Breeders’ Cup, and his stud fees are subject to change pending race results through the rest of the year.
On the racetrack, Palace owns 11 wins and has been on the board 20 times in 26 lifetime starts for trainer Linda Rice, who also campaigned his sire City Zip a decade prior. Palace broke through on the national scene in 2014 with a win in the $250,000 True North H. (G2) on Belmont Stakes weekend, defeating a cast of top sprinters in a crisp 1:08.29 for six furlongs. He went on to Saratoga last summer where he validated his status as one of the elite sprinters in America, winning the $350,000 Vanderbilt H. (G1) and $500,000 Forego S. (G1) in back-to-back starts.
In the Vanderbilt, Palace zipped six furlongs in 1:08.56 and earned a career-high 107 Beyer speed figure – one of the fastest Beyers recorded at six furlongs in 2014. Just 28 days later in the Forego, he stretched out to seven furlongs and scored a dominant 3 ½-length victory in 1:21.95. Palace would ship to California as one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but he encountered traffic trouble and was beaten by only three lengths at the wire.
Palace will look to avenge that defeat and put an exclamation point on his stellar career when he lines up as a contender in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in coming weeks. He enters that race off an unlucky fourth-place finish in the $400,000 Vosburgh Inv. (G1) at Belmont, where he was beaten just three-quarters of a length by winner Rock Fall in 1:08.70 after being stuck down on the rail for much of the stretch run.
Palace currently holds earnings of $1,391,550 for owner Antonino Miuccio, making him the most accomplished colt ever sired by City Zip. He’s out of the End Sweep mare Receivership, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner French Park.
For more information about Palace or Spendthrift’s Share The Upside Program, please contact Des, Mark, Brian, or David at 859-294-0030, or visit SpendthriftFarm.com.