WinStar stallion Exaggerator off the mark thanks to fitting Golden Gate success

WinStar Farm’s Classic winner Exaggerator, a three-time Grade 1 winner by Curlin, sired his first winner when Xtrema made an auspicious career debut, proving much the best in a five-furlong maiden special weight at Golden Gate Fields.

Fittingly, Xtrema shares a host of the same connections as her Classic-winning sire Exaggerator.

Trained and co-owned by Keith Desormeaux, along with Big Chief Racing, and Rocker O Ranch, she was bred in Kentucky by K.C. Garrett Farm.

Thursday's winner Xtrema, a Keeneland September graduate, is produced from the winning Seeking The Gold mare Gold N Eskimo, who is out of the multiple Graded-stakes winning millionaire Silent Eskimo. Xtrema is a half-sister to stakes-placed Weavers Ice Cold and multiple winner Diesel Only.

“Exaggerator was a star on the track, and we are excited to see his first-crop two-year-olds come out running,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar’s president, chief executive and racing manager. “We’ve been thrilled about them ever since they started breezing for the two-year-old sales.”

A three-time Grade 1 winner at three, Exaggerator turned in dominant performances to capture three of the biggest races for three-year-olds in America in 2016. He won the $1,000,000 Santa Anita Derby, the $1,500,000 Preakness Stakes and the $1,000,000 Haskell Invitational.

In addition to his standout success at three, Exaggerator was also a well-travelled and accomplished juvenile, winning the 2015 Saratoga Special Stakes and $1,000,000 Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes, and finishing second in the Breeders’ Futurity.

Exaggerator is out of the Vindication mare Dawn Raid, a stakes-placed two-year-old herself and half-sister to Canadian champion Embur’s Song. Exaggerator retired to WinStar with earnings of $3,581,120.

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