Unbridled's Song

Racing career

As a two-year-old, Unbridled's Song may be most noted for his near-record time in the 1995 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Trained by James T. Ryerson and ridden by Mike E. Smith, it was only his third time on the racetrack and he battled Hennessy down the stretch for a time of 1:41:60.

The next spring, after placing second in the Peter Pan Stakes and the Fountain of Youth Stakes, he beat the 1996 U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt Skip Away, along with Louis Quatorze and Editor's Note in the Florida Derby.

Then, a couple of weeks before the Kentucky Derby, he won the Wood Memorial, but in doing so, he hit himself in the left forefoot, causing a "quarter crack", or cracked hoof, requiring a special bar shoe and acrylic patch.

He was the favorite for the 1996 Kentucky Derby but placed a troubled fifth behind Grindstone. The forefoot injury from the Wood Memorial kept him out of the rest of the Triple Crown races.

Three weeks after the Kentucky Derby, he was second in the Peter Pan Stakes. Six weeks later, he ran ninth in the Arlington Citation Challenge Invitational, a race that was specially created for Cigar.

In his only race at four, he won the Olympic Handicap.

Retirement

Unbridled's Song was retired to stud in 1997. He became one of the most successful sires in the United States of America and abroad, with Grade I winners and $1 million winners. He stood at Taylor Made Farms and his 2010 fee was $100,000 live foal.

At maturity, he reached 17 hands (68 inches, 173 cm) high.

Some of his most famous offspring are graded stakes race winners including Breeders' Cup Classic winner Arrogate, Breeders' Cup Distaff winners Unbridled Elaine and Unrivaled Belle, Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Midshipman, Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Liam's Map, Will Take Charge, Octave, Splendid Blended, Domestic Dispute, Grey Song, Alexander, Political Force, Eurosilver, Eight Belles, Old Fashioned, Buddha, Songandaprayer and Dunkirk, who has not won a graded stakes but finished second in the Belmont in 2009.

An important sire milestone came on February 10, 2013 when his son Graydar won the Grade 1 Donn Handicap, his 100th stakes winner. After his death, his sons Will Take Charge (2013) and Arrogate (2016) both won the Travers Stakes, and Arrogate then won the Breeders' Cup Classic the same year.

He died on July 26, 2013, at age of 20 years after a large and inoperable mass was discovered in his sinus cavities and around the optic nerves. The horse began showing acute neurological symptoms and was euthanized.