'Country Grammer makes for a special stallion prospect' - new sire for WinStar in 2024

Multiple Grade 1 winner Country Grammer, the third-leading North American earner of all time, has been retired and will stand the 2024 breeding season at WinStar Farm. 

Country Grammer will stand the 2024 season for an introductory fee of $10,000.

Campaigned by Commonwealth, WinStar Farm, and Zedan Racing Stables, and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Country Grammer amassed $14,921,320 in earnings in an illustrious career; only the late Arrogate and Gun Runner have earned more in North America.

In 2022, Country Grammer won the $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan, defeating four international Grade 1 winners, including Hot Rod Charlie and Life Is Good. 

Country Grammer’s victory in the UAE came on the heels of a second-place finish in the world’s richest race, the $20m Saudi Cup in Riyadh,  which marked his first start in nearly nine months.

“Being a Grade 1 winner on the biggest stage in Dubai, beating 24 individual Grade 1 winners in his career, and being the third-highest earner of all time, Country Grammer makes for a special stallion prospect,” said Elliott Walden, president, CEO and racing manager of WinStar Farm. 

“He is a real throwback to the great horses of our time, and he retired sound.”

Country Grammer also won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2021, recording a game win over Grade 1 winners Royal Ship and Express Train. 

In addition to his Grade 1 scores, Country Grammer also captured the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita last year, while his initial stakes score as a three-year-old came when he defeated subsequent Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes in 2020, run that year at Saratoga.

All told, Country Grammer won or placed in ten Graded stakes races and was runner-up consecutive years (2022-’23) in the Saudi Cup. Country Grammer lost his maiden status on his second start at two in a maiden special weight at Aqueduct.

Bred in Kentucky by Scott and Debbie Pierce, he is by Classic winner and multiple Grade 1 winner Tonalist. A half-brother to the multiple Graded stakes-placed Joyful Cadence, Country Grammer is out of the winning Forestry mare Arabian Song, and hails from the family of Grade 1 stakes winner Etoile Montante, winner of the Prix de la Foret, Graded stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Bonny South, and multiple Graded stakes winner Starformer.

A $450,000 graduate of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring Sale as a two-year-old, Country Grammer was later acquired by WinStar Farm at the 2021 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale following the passing of original owner Paul Pompa Jr.

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