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Volatile Retired Due to Injury, Enters Stud in 2021

Volatile is a grade 1 winner, who set a stakes record at Churchill Downs.

Volatile wins the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course

Volatile wins the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course

Skip Dickstein

Three Chimneys Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds announced Sept. 21 that grade 1 winner and stakes record-setter Volatile , winner of the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) against a field of all grade 1 winners at Saratoga Race Course, has been retired due to a hairline fracture of his right front cannon bone. He will take up stud duty at Three Chimneys for the 2021 breeding season.

Volatile is a 4-year-old son of Hill 'n' Dale Farms' sire Violence , who is the co-leading North American sire by number of 2020 grade 1 winners alongside Speightstown  as of Sept. 21. Bred in Kentucky by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and Stretch Run Ventures, Volatile was his sire's most expensive yearling sold at public auction when hammered down for $850,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was sold to bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe and Three Chimneys.

The gray colt proved to be a model of consistency, compiling a record of five wins and a second from six starts. Undefeated this year, he rose to the top of the sprint division with dominant victories culminating in the Vanderbilt where he clocked a final quarter in :22.94. His two starts prior to that saw a combined margin of victory of nearly 16 lengths, including a stakes record and near-track record performance in the Aristides Stakes at Churchill Downs. His final time for six furlongs in 1:07.57 while being throttled down was just .02 off the track record and he ran the final eighth-mile in :11.91. Volatile retires with $341,040 in earnings.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who recently became the second-winningest trainer in North America with 9,000 wins, said of Volatile: "He reminds me very much of Mitole  in his championship season. Volatile is as fast as any horse I have ever trained. His brilliant performances this year would have made him the likely favorite for the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and a tough horse to beat. I trained his mother and his grandmother, the incredible Lady Tak, who won multiple grade 1 races for us. You will not find a better looking individual than Volatile, nor one with as much speed and raw talent."

Volatile is out of the Unbridled's Song stakes winner and stakes producer Melody Lady, who is also the dam of Volatile's graded-placed stakes-winning full sister Buy Sell Hold.

"Volatile is a beautiful horse that breeders will like when they see him. He exudes class and is a great physical. He was brilliant and that is what can make a stallion special," said Three Chimneys owner Gonçalo Torrealba. "Three Chimneys will proudly support him with plenty of quality mares, I can guarantee that."

A stud fee has not yet been announced. The farm will send a release informing breeders as to when he will be available for inspection.