We have not decided if we will be breeding Billy at this time or if he will return to the race track late in 2010 or early 2011. Before we purchased Billy, he was lightly raced as a very immature 2 year old. After we purchased Billy, he has been allowed to play and mature and has come into his own. If we return Billy to the racetrack, we are sure he will be a viable racehorse. Billy loves to run, is now 100% sound, and is physically mature.
Billy's Punch is the first foal by Saint Liam, below is the Thoroughbred Times article detailing this fact.
Thoroughbred Times
By Pete Denk
First foal for deceased champion Saint Liam
Saint Liam, the deceased 2005 champion older horse and Horse of the Year, was represented by his first reported foal when a bay colt out of the 17-year-old Seattle Slew mare Slewzig was born at ClassicStar in Versailles, Kentucky, on January 11.
The colt is the eighth foal for Slewzig, who has produced six winners, including three stakes winners.
Saint Liam won nine of 20 starts and earned $4,456,995. He won the Donn (G1) and Stephen Foster (G1) Handicaps, Woodward Stakes (G1), and Breeders’ Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (G1) in his championship season. He stood his first season at Lane’s End in Versailles.
After his first season at stud, the six-year-old Saint Ballado horse broke his leg in a farm accident and was euthanized in August 2006.
Saint Liam (April 13, 2000 - August 22, 2006) was an American thoroughbred racehorse who was voted 2005 Eclipse Award Horse of the Year.
Sired by Saint Ballado out of the dam Quiet Dance, by Quiet American, Saint Liam was unraced as a two-year-old. At age three he started three races earning his best result with a 2nd place finish in the Iowa Derby. Owned by William Warren and trained by Richard E. Dutrow, Jr., in his four-year-old season Saint Liam began to show his ability, winning the Grade II Clark Handicap and only losing the Grade I Woodward Stakes by a neck to eventual 2004 Horse of the Year, Ghostzapper .
In 2005, Saint Liam came into his own, capturing four Grade I races including the Donn Handicap, the Stephen Foster Handicap, and the Woodward Stakes. He was second in the Grade I Whitney Handicap to Commentator. In his last race, jockey Jerry Bailey rode him to victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic, after which he was retired having achieved a record of 9-6-1 in 20 races and career earnings of $4,456,995 million.
Before he sustained a bone chip, Buddy's Saint (Billy's half-brother) was rated as a top Derby contender.
Derby Contenters No.1 and No.2
Buddy's Saint and Lookin At Lucky have been rated No.1 and No.2, respectively, for four weeks on The Blood-Horse magazine's Derby Dozen list compiled each week (beginning with the January 30, 2010/No.5 issue) by Thoroughbred race writer Steve Haskin.
Buddy's Saint is a Saint Liam--Luzia, by Blushing John colt, trained by Bruce Levin. Lookin At Lucky was sired by Smart Strike. His dam, Private Feeling, is by Belong to Me, and his conditioner is Bob Baffert, who was elected to the Thoroughbred Hall of Fame last season.
Saint Liam Photo by: Kathy Willens /AP
