10-Year-Old Multisurface Graded Stakes Winner Brass Hat Retired

All good things must come to an end, and yesterday, racing said good -bye to one of its war horses when it was announced 10-year-old multi-millionaire Brass Hat had been retired.

The bay Prized Son’s career spanned almost a decade as he started winning graded stakes at three years of age and continued that tradition through his nine year old year where he pulled off a win in the G3 Sycamore Stakes last October.

The gelding’s biggest triumph may have been in the 2006 Donn Handicap where he set the nine furlong track record.  However, the gelding wasn’t done with track records as he set the 1 1/16 mile record at Churchill Downs in 2007 after returning from more than a year layoff.

Brass Hat’s career also included some controversy in 2006 when he finished second in the Dubai World Cup but was disqualified after a medication violation was discovered. The gelding’s owner Fred Bradley (the gelding was trained by Bradley’s son Buff) fought the ruling, saying the medication was given well within the 28-day guideline the ERA gave to trainers running horses in the race, but ultimately lost the appeal.

Brass Hat won on all three surfaces during his career and eight of his wins came at different racetracks. He was gearing up for another year of racing when the Bradleys’ decided to retire the horse.

“He has been galloping strongly at Churchill Downs, but we just didn’t feel as confident with him,” Buff Bradley told Bloodhorse.com . “It’s been a little harder to get him fit and knowing how much work we had to do with him for what was only going to be probably two starts this year, we figured it was time. He was training super and there was nothing wrong with him, but both of us felt that it was time. He has done enough.

“We always said that we would never push it with him. We were finally seeing some signs of wear and tear, although his mental attitude was still great. It’s emotional but we’re comfortable with the decision.”

The gelding retires to the family’s Indian Ridge Farm with a record of 40-10-8-5 for earnings of $2,173,559.  Bradley invites fans to come visit the gelding at the farm.

“It’s a little sad for us, but at least we will get to enjoy him every day. And I hope fans will come and see him. We’re right between Lexington and Louisville, and we’re about 15 minutes from Old Friends. People are welcomed to come on by.” Fred Bradley told Bloodhorse.

The family is hoping to set up an event to honor Brass Hat at Churchill Downs in the coming week.