'He took the ownership on quite a ride for three years' - Hot Rod Charlie on way

Classic-placed $5.6 million earner Hot Rod Charlie will join the stallion roster this year at Shadai Stallion Station. He will stand for an advertised fee of ¥2 million (£12,500/€14,100).

Shadai Stallion Station previously purchased leading racehorses from the United States that became successful sires in Japan, chief among them 1989 Kentucky Derby winner Sunday Silence.

Hot Rod Charlie's move to stud in Japan brings to a conclusion a racing career in which the son of Oxbow compiled a 5-5-4 record in 19 starts for trainer Doug O'Neill and owners Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing, Gainesway Stable and Strauss Bros Racing.

"I guess we have to say sayonara to Charlie from the US and have him head over to Japan," said Mike Helm, who heads the Roadrunner Racing partnership. "He took the ownership on quite a ride for three years."

High-class from ages two to four, Hot Rod Charlie captured the Grade 1 2021 Pennsylvania Derby and advanced his reputation with some close defeats.

He ran second in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and also finished second in the 2021 Kentucky Derby (via the disqualification of Medina Spirit), the 2021 Belmont Stakes and the 2022 Dubai World Cup.

His three-year-old year was a roller-coaster ride, with one low point coming when he was disqualified in the 2021 Haskell Stakes for interfering with Midnight Bourbon, who fell in the race.

At the end of his three-year-old season, he was honoured with the Secretariat Vox Populi Award, an annual prize that recognises a horse whose popularity and racing excellence best resounded with the general public and gained recognition for thoroughbred racing.

"He's got more frequent flyer miles than I do," said Helm. "He was quite a fan favourite. We all know that. Perhaps part of that was his travels all over the country and the world. We followed him to quite a few, though we didn't make every race. It was the thrill of a lifetime."

Hot Rod Charlie's four other victories came in a maiden race at two, the 2021 Grade 2 Louisiana Derby as a three-year-old, and last year as a four-year-old in the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 at Meydan and Grade 2 Lukas Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs.

His final start was a sixth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic, after which he went to Gainesway while his ownership pondered his racing and stallion options.

The partners ultimately passed on another season of racing and sold Hot Rod Charlie to Shadai Stallion Station in a deal brokered by Eugenio Colombo of Colombo Bloodstock Service.

Bred in Kentucky by Edward Cox jnr, Hot Rod Charlie is a half-brother to Spendthrift Farm stallion Mitole, the champion male sprinter of 2019, produced by 2021 Broodmare of the Year Indian Miss (Indian Charlie).

Bloodstock agent Dennis O'Neill, the trainer's brother, bought Hot Rod Charlie for $110,000 from Small Batch Sales' consignment to the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearlings Sale.

"Hot Rod Charlie was a phenomenal racehorse," said Doug O'Neill. "He competed against the best of his generation and proved his class time and again. As a half-brother to champion sprinter Mitole, the sky's the limit. We look forward to following his stud career."

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