Derby winner Always Dreaming retired

Always Dreaming, the 2017 Kentucky Derby winner, has officially been retired from racing, it was announced Wednesday. He will stand at stud in 2019 at WinStar Farm for a fee of $25,000.

Always Dreaming was originally owned by Anthony Bonomo, Maryellen Bonomo, and Dominick Schettino, who was the trainer for the colt’s first two career starts as a 2-year-old.

In late summer 2016, the Bonomos merged their racing stables with longtime friends Vinnie and Teresa Viola, and the horse was moved to trainer Todd Pletcher. In early 2017, Siena Farm and West Point Thoroughbreds were brought on as part-owners. In 2018, WinStar Farm, SF Bloodstock, and China Horse Club bought into the colt for his 4-year-old season and stallion career.

In 2017, Always Dreaming won his first four starts, including the Grade 1 Florida Derby – where he ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.47, the fastest time in that race since Alydar won it in 1978 – and the Kentucky Derby, giving Pletcher his second victory in the Run for the Roses.

“He was brilliantly fast, and he has everything you want in a stallion – looks, pedigree, and performance,” Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar Farm, said in a press release issued Wednesday. “We dream about the Kentucky Derby every day, but the race I really liked was the Florida Derby. When I saw the Teletimer, I was amazed. We are excited to add a potentially breed-shaping stallion from the Unbridled line, which has proven to be today’s preeminent classic sire line.”

Following the Kentucky Derby, Always Dreaming finished eighth in the Preakness, third in the Jim Dandy, and eighth in the Travers before shutting it down for the remainder of the year.

This year, Always Dreaming came back with a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile in March before running fifth in the Alysheba Stakes on May 4 at Churchill Downs in what would be the final start of his career.

Always Dreaming, a son of Bodemeister out of the In Excess mare Above Perfect, retires with four wins, two seconds, and two thirds from 11 starts and earnings of $2,415,860.

Pletcher said that from the time he started training him in November of his 2-year-old season through the Kentucky Derby, Always Dreaming “was as good as any horse we’ve had.”

Pletcher sees the potential for Always Dreaming to be a successful stallion.

“I think he was a beautiful yearling, he’s got a great pedigree, he’s versatile, he had that high cruising speed – natural speed – the ability to stay a mile and a quarter,” Pletcher said. “I think he has all the ingredients.”