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Grade 1-winning sire to sit out Australian season

Grade 1-winning stallion Bolt d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) will not shuttle to Spendthrift’s Australian base for the 2020 breeding season the farm announced on Friday. 

The dual Grade 1 winner covered 104 mares in his first season at the Victorian farm at a fee of $13,750 (inc GST), but he will not return to Australia this year after it was deemed the stallion did not handle the shuttle process. 

"We are disappointed to announce that Bolt d’Oro will not shuttle to Australia in 2020 due to him not handling the shuttle process last season. Our decision has been made with the welfare of the horse in mind,” Spendthrift’s general manager, Garry Cuddy tweeted. 

Bolt d’Oro landed his first three starts as a two-year-old, including the Del Mar Futurity (Gr 1, 7f) and Frontrunner Stakes (Gr 1, 8.5f), while he also finished third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (Gr 1, 8.5f) on his final start as a juvenile. 

The son of former shuttler Medaglia d’Oro (El Prado) returned as a three-year-old by winning the Anita San Felipe Stakes (Gr 2, 8.5f), before being beaten by a head by subsequent Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) in the Santa Anita Derby (Gr 1, 9f).