Spend A Buck

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Spend A Buck

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Sire: Buckaroo
Grandsire: Buckpasser
Dam: Belle de Jour
Damsire: Speak John
Sex: Stallion
Foaled: 1982
Country: USA
Colour: Brown
Breeder: Irish Hill Farm
Owner: Hunter Farm
Trainer: Cam Gambolati
Record: 15: 10-3-2
Earnings: $4,220,689
Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards
Major Racing Wins
Arlington-Washington Futurity Stakes (1984)
Kentucky Derby (1985)
Jersey Derby (1985)
Monmouth Handicap (1985)
Racing Awards
U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1985)
United States Horse of the Year (1985)
Honours
Calder Race Course Hall of Fame (1995)
Spend A Buck Stakes at Monmouth Park
Spend A Buck Handicap at Calder Race Course

Infobox last updated on: February 8, 2007.

Spend A Buck (born 1982 in western Kentucky, died November 24, 2002 in Brazil) was an American thoroughbred race horse.

Spend A Buck was sired by Buckaroo [1] out of the dam Belle de Jour. He bears an impressive pedigree, including Man O' War, War Admiral, and Count Fleet.

On May 4, 1985, Spend A Buck won the Kentucky Derby by 5-3/4 lengths over Stephan's Odyssey under Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr. His 2:00 1/5 time is the fourth-fastest to date, as of 2005. He paid $10.20, $5.40, and $3.40. It was his trainer's, Cam Gambolati, first attempt to win the Derby, a feat not matched again until 2003 when Barclay Tagg saddled Funny Cide for his win.

Earlier in the season, Spend A Buck had won two races at the newly reopened Garden State Park in Cherry Hill, NJ: the Cherry Hill Mile on April 6, and the Garden State Stakes on April 20. Before the season had began, Garden State Park owner Robert Brennan had put up a $2 million bonus to the horse that could win the two April prep races, the Kentucky Derby, and the May 27 Jersey Derby, Garden State's signature race.

Spend A Buck owner Dennis Diaz opted to skip the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, and thus trade Spend A Buck's chance to win the Triple Crown for a shot at the bonus. Cordero, Spend A Buck's regular jockey, was committed to another race that day, so Hall of Fame jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. was to ride Spend A Buck at Garden State. Spend A Buck won the Jersey Derby by a neck over eventual Belmont winner Creme Fraiche, capturing a $2.6 million prize, the largest single purse in American racing history. That record stood for 19 years, until Smarty Jones won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and a bonus inspired by Brennan's.

Due to Spend A Buck skipping the last two legs of the Triple Crown, the Triple Crown races immediately put up a bonus of their own, to prevent that from ever happening again.

Spend A Buck was voted the 1985 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year-Old Colt after that impressive season.

There are several races named for Spend A Buck, including the Spend A Buck Stakes at Monmouth Park and the Spend A Buck Handicap at Calder Race Course.

Spend A Buck had a very successful post-racing career standing stud, [2] siring 27 stakes winners with earnings of over $16 million. He died on November 24, 2002, in Brazil, following an anaphylactic reaction to penicillin.

Pedigree of Spend A Buck
Sire
Buckaroo
Buckpasser Tom Fool Menow
Gaga
Busanda War Admiral
Businesslike
Stepping High No Robbery Swaps
Bimlette
Bebop II Prince Bio
Cappellina
Dam
Belle de Jour
Speak John Prince John Princequillo
Not Afraid
Nuit de Folies Tornado
Folle Nuit
Battle Dress Jaipur Nasrullah
Rare Perfume
Armorial Battlefield
Tellaris


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