WEST COAST TO LANE’S END IN 2019

Champion Three-Year-Old Colt West Coast (Flatter-Caressing, by Honour and Glory), a dominant winner of the G1 Travers Stakes and G1 Pennsylvania Derby, will join the Lane’s End Farm stallion roster in 2019.

West Coast was named Champion Three-Year-Old Colt after a 2017 season that was nothing short of outstanding. The handsome bay rolled to five consecutive victories during the year, which included two Grade 1’s in as impressive fashion as they come. He earned his first black-type win in Belmont’s Easy Goer S. He would then go on to his first graded victory in the G3 Los Alamitos Derby, where he bested G1 winner Klimt by open lengths. West Coast’s breakout race came in the stallion-making Travers S. at Saratoga. The Bob Baffert trainee wired the star-studded field which included Classic winners, Always Dreaming, Cloud Computing, and Tapwrit, as well as G1 winner Girvin. He followed up his Midsummer Derby win with a jaw dropping 7 1/4-length romp in the G1 Pennsylvania Derby. He capped off his Championship season with a third-place effort in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic behind Horse of the Year Gun Runner.

This year, West Coast has stepped up against the fiercest competition and excelled in the toughest of spots. The son of Flatter ran one of the best races of his career when second to rival Gun Runner in the G1 Pegasus World Cup, the richest race in North America. He ran a career best 117 Beyer Speed Figure and -4 1/4 Thorograph number that day. West Coast then shipped to Dubai where he finished a strong second in the G1 Dubai World Cup. After a well-deserved break, West Coast returned to the races last Saturday with a game effort to finish second to future Lane’s End Stallion Accelerate in the G1 Awesome Again S. West Coast now boasts a career record of 12-6-5-1 with $5,743,800 in earnings.

“I shipped him four times, west to east and then to Dubai, and he ran a huge race every time.” commented trainer Bob Baffert. “He’s been first or second in all but one start, never off the board, and won at five different tracks. All the while taking on, and beating some of the best horses in the world. The good ones like him, they’re just different.”

The $425,000 Keeneland September purchase by longtime advisor Ben Glass, is out of the G1-winning Champion juvenile filly Caressing. “He’s a beautiful horse” said Glass, “He’s big, powerful and very attractive, I’m sure breeders will find him very impressive.”

“After such a game runner-up effort in the Awesome Again coming off the layoff, I am enthusiastic about the upcoming Breeders’ Cup Classic,” said owner Gary West. “Mary and I are hoping West Coast can prove once again that he’s one of the preeminent Classic horses in the country. We are glad that, upon the conclusion of his racing career, West Coast will stand alongside some of the top stallions in the nation at Lane’s End Farm.”

“West Coast is a Champion out of a Champion. Not only has he proven that he’s an exceptional racehorse, but he descends from the A.P. Indy sireline, out of a champion mare, picked out by a highly respected judge. He’s a very exciting addition to our roster.” Said Will Farish.