Classic Runner-Up Olympiad Attracts Breeders at Gainesway

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00:00A top older dirt male in 2022, Olympiad finished behind only flight line in the Breeders' Cup

00:08Classic in his career finale.

00:10He's since taken up stud duty at Gainesway Farm, and Ryan Norton tells us why the son

00:15of Spicetown offers a unique opportunity for breeders.

00:19Olympiad's been very well received.

00:21We had open house immediately after the Breeders' Cup.

00:24He had hundreds of people every day coming to view him.

00:27He was booked full within three weeks after arriving at Gainesway.

00:30When a lot of potential breeders came in and expected Olympiad, one of the main things

00:35they kept saying was he has a lot more size and a lot more scope than the typical Spicetowns.

00:40He's 16'1", so he's got a little bit more height.

00:42He's got a little bit more scope, so you see a lot of Medaglia d'Oro, his broodmare sire,

00:45coming out of him as well.

00:47That has been the cross recently that has seemed to work with Spicetown, is throwing

00:50Medaglia underneath.

00:52It's worked well because you get the speed of Spicetown with the stamina of Medaglia

00:56d'Oro.

00:57Olympiad's pedigree is filled with, you have Hungry Island, you have Verrazzano, you have

01:01multiple grade one winners.

01:02It's a very deep family, which is why, between his looks and that female family, why he was

01:07a $700,000 Keeneland September Yearling.

01:10Bill Maude had Olympiad ready to run in all the races he showed up in.

01:13I mean, obviously he ran it against the top ones in his generation's flight line, Life

01:16Is Good.

01:18In his career, he ran eight triple-digit byers, two 1.11s.

01:22He won at seven furlongs, he won at a mile and a quarter.

01:25He set a new track record in the mineshaft, and was a tenth of a second off the track

01:29record in Stephen Foster.

01:31So he had speed that you could place him various places in the track, but he could carry it

01:34for a longer distance.

01:36The Jockey Club Gold Cup stakes was the race that really put Olympiad on the map.

01:40It was his first grade one, he had won four graded stakes wins before that.

01:43That's the one that really marked Olympiad as an older horse to be reckoned with.

01:48The Breeders' Cup Classic was the pinnacle of Olympiad's career.

01:54To run second to a horse like Flightline, a horse of a generation, we couldn't have

01:57been any more happy in the result that we had.

02:00It was really the race that had breeders look at him and go, this is a real deal horse,

02:05and I think was the reason why that put him over that he was such a success when he retired

02:09here to Gainesway.

02:11So Lee Slit bought the horse for $700,000.

02:13They're known for picking out very attractive horses, so breeders are aware when they came

02:17here that he was going to have a certain look that they were going to like.

02:21Olympiad has a great walk.

02:23He drops his head, really extends out, walks like a cat, very low to the ground.

02:27You understand exactly how he was such a good racehorse.

02:30I started at Gainesway in October.

02:32It's been a whirlwind.

02:33We announced Drain the Clock and Olympiad both within two weeks of my starting here,

02:36so it was a real jump in the deep end right from the beginning.

02:42But I'm very excited to be at Gainesway.

02:44We obviously have Tappet, and then to come on with Olympiad and Gainesway and even McKenzie.

02:49There's really good horses here to promote, and I look forward to the future with all

02:53these horses.

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