Holy Bull

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Holy Bull is a famous American thoroughbred foaled in 1991 and was sired by Great Above and was voted the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year in 1994. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, he was ranked #64.

Holy Bull was trained by Warren (Jimmy) Croll and was usually riden by jockey National Museum of Racing and Hall of Famer Mike Smith.

[edit] Race History

Holy Bull was unbeaten as a two-year-old.

As a three-year-old, he won eight stakes races out of ten starts, five of them Grade I victories. He scored wins in the Hutcheson Stakes, Florida Derby, and the Blue Grass Stakes. After defeat as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, he defeated older horses Cherokee Run and Devil His Due in the Metropolitan Handicap. Winning the Metropolitan placed Holy Bull on a six-race winning streak that included the Dwyer Stakes, Haskell Invitational Handicap, Travers Stakes, and Woodward Stakes, which he won with a five-length victory over Devil His Due and Colonial Affair. Holy Bull ended the season as champion 3-year-old male and Horse of the Year for 1994.

As a four-year-old Holy Bull won the Olympic Handicap easily but was injured and pulled up during the Donn Handicap. In retirement, he stands at stud at Darley's Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Holy Bull was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2001.

His offspring include 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, also ridden by Mike Smith.