Multiple graded stakes winner Gear Jockey died recently according to Lyndsay Delello, assistant to trainer Rusty Arnold, and confirmed by Calumet Farm. Delello posted on social media that the son of Twirling Candy had died at the age of 8.
Gear Jockey developed an illness while shipping to South Korea and died in that country after efforts to save him failed. According to X, Gear Jockey was set to begin stud duties in South Korea at Peter Hill's Pegasus Farm. Pegasus Farm also stands Air Force Blue and Thunder Moccasin.
A Calumet Farm homebred, Gear Jockey was out of the Tapit mare Switching Gears, and by 2024 leading turf sire Twirling Candy. Switching Gears has five winners from seven starters, including stakes-placed Double Clutch. Gearing Up is her youngest foal to race, a 3-year-old of 2025 by Bravazo , who has a 0-1-1 record in three starts, and just placed at Turfway Park March 8.
Trained by Arnold, the hard-knocking bay sprinter earned $1.6 million in his six-year career. At 2, he was third in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), and earned his first graded stakes win at 4 in the Turf Sprint Stakes (G3T) at Kentucky Downs, a race he also won in 2023. The Turf Sprint Stakes earned him two trips to the Breeder's Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) as a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series event. His best finish in the race was in 2021, where he came in sixth behind the winner, Golden Pal . Gear Jockey retired with a record of 5-2-6 from 27 starts.
