Spend a Buck
| Spend A Buck | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Buckaroo |
| Grandsire | Buckpasser |
| Dam | Belle de Jour |
| Damsire | Speak John |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | May 15, 1982 |
| Died | November 24, 2002 (aged 20) |
| Country | United States |
| Colour | Brown |
| Breeder | C. Rowe Harper, Irish Hill Farm |
| Owner | Hunter Farm |
| Trainer | Cam Gambolati |
| Record | 15: 10–3–2 |
| Earnings | $4,220,689 |
| Major wins | |
| Arlington-Washington Futurity Stakes (1984) Kentucky Derby (1985) Jersey Derby (1985) Monmouth Handicap (1985) | |
| Awards | |
| U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1985) United States Horse of the Year (1985) | |
| Honours | |
| Calder Race Course Hall of Fame (1995) Spend A Buck Stakes at Monmouth Park Spend A Buck Handicap at Calder Race Course | |
| Last updated on February 8, 2007 | |
Spend A Buck (May 15, 1982 in western Kentucky – November 24, 2002, in Brazil) was an American thoroughbred race horse.
Background
Spend A Buck was sired by Buckaroo[1] out of the dam Belle de Jour. Through his son Einstein (BRZ), he is now the primary source for the Buckpasser sire line in the United States.[2] Spend a Buck is inbred 5x5 to Prince Rose and is line bred 5x8x8x6 to Man o' War, while his sire Buckaroo is inbred 4x5 to Blue Larkspur and La Troienne.[3]
Racing career
On May 4, 1985, Spend A Buck won the Kentucky Derby by 5-3/4 lengths over Stephan's Odyssey under jockey Angel Cordero Jr. His 2:00 1/5 time is the fourth fastest as of 2020. He paid $10.20, $5.40, and $3.40. It was his trainer Cam Gambolati's first attempt to win the Derby, a feat not matched again until 2003 when Barclay Tagg saddled Funny Cide for his win.
Earlier in the season, Spend A Buck had won two races at the newly reopened Garden State Park Racetrack in Cherry Hill, New Jersey: the Cherry Hill Mile on April 6 and the Garden State Stakes on April 20. Before the season began, Garden State Park owner Robert Brennan had put up a $2-million bonus to the horse that won the two April preparatory races, the Kentucky Derby, and the May 27 Jersey Derby, Garden State's signature race.
Spend A Buck's owner, Dennis Diaz, opted to skip the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes and thus trade Spend A Buck's chance to win the Triple Crown for a shot at the bonus. Cordero, Spend A Buck's regular jockey, was committed to another race that day, so Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. rode Spend A Buck at Garden State. Spend A Buck won the Jersey Derby by a neck over eventual Belmont winner Creme Fraiche, capturing a $2.6-million prize, the largest single purse in American racing history. That record stood for 19 years, until Smarty Jones won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and a bonus inspired by Brennan's.
Because Spend A Buck skipped the last two legs of the Triple Crown, the Triple Crown races put up a bonus of their own to encourage participation in the series.
Honors and awards
Spend A Buck was voted the 1985 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt.
Several races are named for Spend A Buck, including the Spend A Buck Stakes at Monmouth Park and the Grade III Spend A Buck Handicap at Calder Race Course.
Stud career
Spend A Buck had a successful post-racing career standing stud,[4] siring 27 stakes winners with earnings of over $16 million. He died on November 24, 2002, at Haras Bage do Sul in Brazil following an anaphylactic reaction to penicillin.[5]
Pedigree
| Sire Buckaroo |
Buckpasser | Tom Fool | Menow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaga | |||
| Busanda | War Admiral | ||
| Businesslike | |||
| Stepping High | No Robbery | Swaps | |
| Bimlette | |||
| Bebop II | Prince Bio | ||
| Cappellina | |||
| Dam Belle de Jour |
Speak John | Prince John | Princequillo |
| Not Afraid | |||
| Nuit de Folies | Tornado | ||
| Folle Nuit | |||
| Battle Dress | Jaipur | Nasrullah | |
| Rare Perfume | |||
| Armorial | Battlefield | ||
| Tellaris |
References
- ^ http://www.chef-de-race.com/dosage/chefs-de-race/buckaroo-pleasant_colony.htm
- ^ Peters, Anne (June 20, 2014). "Buckpasser and his influence on the breed". The Blood-Horse. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
- ^ Avalyn Hunter (1 January 2003). American Classic Pedigrees (1914-2002). Eclipse Press. pp. 472–. ISBN 978-1-58150-095-0. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
- ^ http://www.pedigreepost.com/archives/SpendaBuckJoseOliveira.html
- ^ "- Thoroughbred Times".