NEWS
Prominent sire Crafty Prospector dies
Posted: Monday, March 29, 2010 4:35 PM
by Jeff Lowe
A little more than three years since being pensioned, prominent Central Kentucky sire Crafty Prospector died on March 27 at Brookdale Farm in Versailles, Kentucky. He was 31.
In a statement, Brookdale said the Mr. Prospector stallion out of Real Crafty Lady, by In Reality, died peacefully. Pensioned in March 2007, he will be buried at Brookdale alongside successful stallions Deputy Minister and Forest Wildcat.
Crafty Prospector sired 92 stakes winners, including Agnes Digital, a Japanese champion who earned $8,095,160. Agnes Digital’s biggest win came in the 2001 Hong Kong Cup (HK-G1), which helped him earn earn older male honors that year in Japan.
In 1997, Crafty Prospector finished fifth on the general sire list, bolstered by three graded stakes wins from a daughter, Miss Golden Circle, and two from his son, Crafty Friend, who equaled a track record at Hollywood Park by completing 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.12.
Crafty Prospector also sired Crafty Shaw, a nine-time stakes winner, and graded stakes winners and current sires Crafty C. T. and Pies Prospect.
From 23 crops of racing age, Crafty Prospector sired 756 winners from 946 starters that earned $94,368,088 through March 28. He stood 19 seasons at Brookdale after beginning his stud career in his native Florida.
“He was by far the most consistent stallion we’ve had at the farm,” Fred Seitz, Brookdale owner and manager of the syndicate that stood Crafty Prospector, said in 2007. “We’ve had Deputy Minister in the past, and he could get you the real big horse, but Crafty Prospector was always someone that people used to get their mare’s produce record started because he was so consistent.”
Bred by Milofran Inc., Crafty Prospector won seven of 10 career starts and earned $116,955 for owner Toral Stable and trainer James Iselin. He finished second in the 1983 Gulfstream Park Handicap (G1) and third in the Marigold Stakes at Hialeah Park in his only stakes appearances.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
