E Z Warrior To Breed at Coolmore
Unbeaten 3-Year-Old's Next Race on Hold Since Stud Sale
Trainer Bob Baffert has referred to E Z Warrior as a Smarty Jones type horse, a "freak" in horse racing terms, which means the colt is a throw back to the old runners of track instinct, desire, and stamina, racers who pounded up the course for the pure joy of it, not because their recent breeding suggested it should happen that way. E Z Warrior is unbeaten in three starts, two as a juvenile.
Apparently, that "freak" remark carried some weight. E Z's owner wants to put some of that freakishness to work in the stud shed. A week ago, he quietly sold breeding rights of the colt to Coolmore Stud. The colt was withdrawn from a scheduled race February 11 at Santa Anita to accommodate the continuance of sale negotiations.
In 2004, Smarty Jones' owners, Roy and Pat Chapman, met with a rush of critical discontent from the racing public when they retired their Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes champ in the colt's three-year-old season after he was diagnosed with bruised canon bones. Smarty was a very popular commodity, and the public didn't want to let go of him. They longed to see the chestnut warrior run as a four-year-old.
Why couldn't he be rested and recoup from his ills so he could race again in 2005? Curious minds wanted to know.
It happened again in 2005. Afleet Alex was retired at three after suffering a minor injury that impeded his next race.
Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex both won two of their three Triple Crown races. Smarty is standing at stud at Three Chimneys Farm garnering for his owners $100,000 per each live foal he produces.
In 1973, people wanted Secretariat's career to continue into his four-year-old season. He had more track thrills to offer, didn't he? Secretariat's future, however, was about passing on genes at a high rate of return.
In 1940, Charles Howard pulled Seabiscuit off the track at the age of seven, after the hero colt had returned to it following the healing of a potentially life-threatening injury. The public was disappointed. They wanted more. Howard never allowed Seabiscuit off his farm. His stud service was rendered strictly as a homebreeder.
Public desire is not the driving force in these decisions. The racing public popularizes a thoroughbred, but has little to say about his future. That is dealt with at the discretion of his owners. And it should be that way. His owners have spent the necessary money to keep him running and have cared for him. His owners should receive the pay back for their original investment in him. It is a business, after all.
E Z Warrior is barely into his three-year-old season. Winning three of three races is enough to make connections consider the future while it's still available. Barbaro never got to his future.
Ahmed Zayat, owner of E Z Warrior, plans to retain partial interest in his colt when the horse goes to stud. When that will happen was not declared. Zayat sold breeding rights to Coolmore Stud in a private sale on Februay 23. He will keep 100% ownership of E Z Warrior during the remainder of the colt's racing career. There was no announcement of when E Z Warrior will race again. The colt was taken out of contention for the San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita.
E Z Warrior's race record to date includes victories last season on June 18 at Hollywood Park, Inglewood, California, in his five-furlong maiden, and on July 4 in the Hollywood Juvenile Championship Stakes (gr lll).
Trainer Bob Baffert rested his charge to let the colt recover from sore shins before entering him in 2007's San Miguel Stakes at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California, January 7. The colt had a shining moment there, dazzling the crowd with a six-furlong run in 1:08.82.
E Z Warrior has been mentioned in early Triple Crown conversation. Baffert's comparison of him to Smarty Jones created an additional buzz. Three Baffert-trained colts, Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), and War Emblem (2002), are on the list of recent Triple Crown championship prospects that won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, but couldn't complete the sweep in the 1-1/2 mile Belmont Stakes.
Exploit out of Carson Jen, by Carson City is E Z Warrior's parentage. Owner Zayat collected E Z Warrior in the 2006 Barretts March sale for two-year-olds for $1.2 million. Zayat, a leading buyer in 2006, began building his stable in 2005. He also owns E Z Warrior's two-year-old half sister, his yearling half brother, and his dam.
The unbeaten colt may get a chance to add to his own line sooner than anyone thought, if Zayat's early sale is an indication of what the near future holds.
