by NICK FORTUNA,
Wire to Wire

Like many longtime New Jersey residents, Indy Wind is seeking a taste of the good life during his retirement in Florida, and after winning five stakes races during his career at the racetrack, he deserves it.

Indy Wind will begin his career as a stallion at Journeyman Stud in Ocala with a $2,500 stud fee for the upcoming breeding season. The horse made a living winning stakes races at Monmouth Park and The Meadowlands, so you might say he was like another famous New Jersey figure, Bruce Springsteen, in that he was “Born to Run.”

Indy Wind didn’t race as a 2-year-old but was a perfect 2-for-2 at age 3, winning a maiden special weight race and an allowance at Monmouth Park. He won the Alysheba Stakes at The Meadowlands as a 4-year-old in 2006 and ran second to Park Avenue Ball in the Skip Away Stakes at Monmouth.

Indy Wind enjoyed his best season as a 5-year-old, successfully defending his crown in the Alysheba and capturing the Skip Away and the Frisk Me Now Stakes at Monmouth. He concluded his career this year by winning the Frisk Me Now for the second straight year. For his career, Indy Wind had eight victories in 22 starts and earned $392,200. All of his stakes victories came at either 1 1/16 miles or one mile and 70 yards.

“When he’d win, he’d win by eight or 10 lengths,” said Brent Fernung, who owns Journeyman Stud. “He got a 102 Beyer in his second lifetime start and broke his maiden his first time out, coming from out of the clouds at Monmouth Park, where it’s hard to win coming from off the pace. He was a talented horse. He won those stakes one after another, and down the lane he was just running away from horses.”

Though he was a solid runner, Indy Wind’s biggest claim to fame might be his sire, A.P. Indy, who stands for a $250,000 stud fee in Kentucky and has produced multimillionaires such as Bernardini, Mineshaft and Golden Missile. In addition to his role as super sire, A.P. Indy was a champion on the racetrack, earning Horse of the Year honors as a 3-year-old in 1992 after earning Grade 1 victories in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Belmont Stakes and the Santa Anita Derby.

But Fernung is quick to point out that he only stands stallions at his farm that have proven themselves on the racetrack, so Indy Wind’s family tree wasn’t enough to earn him a spot in the breeding shed.

“The one thing about us is that if we have an A.P. Indy horse standing, that means he’s got a lot of good things going for him because we don’t stand them just because they’re by A.P. Indy,” Fernung said. “They have to be good racehorses too. He had a really fast turn of foot. He had such a quick, sudden acceleration. He just had a lot of talent.”

Indy Wind is out of the unraced Kingmambo mare Zagora, who also produced the winning runners Romantic Comedy and Splasher. His second dam was the Stage Door Johnny mare Late Bloomer, who earned $512,040 and won an Eclipse award as the best older female horse in the nation at age 4 in 1978 following Grade 1 victories in the Beldame Stakes, the Delaware Handicap and the Ruffian Handicap.

Fernung said he believes that kind of pedigree, in addition to Indy Wind’s race record, makes him a bargain for local breeders, especially when you consider that he’s 100 times cheaper than this sire.

“Here you’ve got an A.P. Indy horse from a great female family,” Fernung said. “He represents a lot of talent and a lot of pedigree. Physically, he’s a medium-sized horse and has a two-turn hip to him. He’s not going to be one of those horses that will get you a big, thick, heavy, muscled horse, which is what you have to watch for with A.P. Indys because they tend to be a little bit too course and thick. He’s showing a prettier top line to him.

“If you look at his stud fee, there’s a horse that’s a bargain for people. I’d rather be a little bit under the market with him to where people are getting a bargain and they feel that they have a shot at doing well. I like it when they say, ‘Indy Wind, that horse should be standing for more.’”

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