A.P. Indy

A.P. Indy was a dark bay or brown horse with a narrow white blaze and a white sock on the right hind leg. He was bred in Kentucky by William Farish III and William Kilroy, and was foaled on March 31, 1989, at Lane's End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky.[7] He was sired by Triple Crown-winner Seattle Slew. His dam Weekend Surprise was a multiple graded stakes winner whose first foal, Summer Squall, won the 1990 Preakness Stakes. Weekend Surprise was from a distinguished female family and her sire was Triple Crown winner Secretariat.[8] Weekend Surprise was named the 1992 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year.[9]

Combined with an elite pedigree, A.P. Indy was a near perfect physical specimen.[8] He became the top-priced yearling of 1990 at $2.9 million. His new owner was Tomonori Tsurumaki, who named the colt in honor of his recently opened Nippon Autopolis, where Tsurumaki hoped to host a Formula One (Indy Car) event.[10] In July 1992, A.P. Indy's breeders Farish and Kilroy bought back an interest in the colt.[11]

A.P. Indy was born a ridgling, meaning he had one undescended testicle. As this caused him discomfort when he started his racing career, he would normally have been gelded. But because of his breeding potential, surgery was instead performed to remove the undescended testicle.[12] His fertility was not affected by the condition.

At maturity, he reached 16 hands (64 inches, 163 cm) high.[13] When racing, his low-headed, efficient gait was reminiscent of his broodmare sire, Secretariat. His one weakness was having rather "shelly" feet, meaning he was difficult to shoe. As a stallion, he developed a "dipped topline" (a mostly cosmetic issue not to be confused with a sway-back) that is often found in descendants of Seattle Slew. He had a white-rimmed left eye that could give him a rather wild appearance.[6]

A.P. Indy before 1992 Belmont.

Trained by Hall of Famer Neil Drysdale, A.P. Indy won three of four starts in 1991, including the Grade I Hollywood Futurity. On the Experimental Free Handicap, he was co-ranked the third best two-year-old of 1991 at 124 pounds, six pounds below the juvenile champion Arazi and one pound below Bertrando.[14]

He started his three-year-old campaign in 1992 with wins in the San Rafael Stakes and Santa Anita Derby. He was the second favorite on the morning line for the 1992 Kentucky Derby, but had to be scratched on the morning of the race due to a bone bruise. "He galloped very well", Drysdale said of a routine workout the day before. But in early afternoon, he came out of the stall and the trouble was discovered. "He just went like this", Drysdale said, lunging to one side to describe A.P. Indy's lameness.[15]

Drysdale eventually used a fiberglass patch to repair a small, almost invisible crack in A.P. Indy's hoof.[16] A.P Indy missed the Preakness as a result, then prepped for the Belmont in the Peter Pan Stakes. The field was no match for A.P. Indy, who won by 5+1⁄2 lengths.[17]

A.P. Indy before the 1992 Belmont Stakes

On June 6, he entered the Belmont Stakes against a field of eleven that included Preakness Stakes winner, Pine Bluff. Having drawn the number 1 post, Drysdale was concerned was getting trapped on the rail so he talked to jockey Eddie Delahoussaye about working toward the outside. Also of concern were heavy rains that fell for most of the day before the race and into the night, making the track condition "muddy" for the first eight races of the undercard.[2] And above all, Drysdale worried about A.P. Indy's hoof. "The patch? I think about it every day. I look at it every day."[16]

The sun finally came out and the track was upgraded to "good" for the Belmont Stakes. As expected, A.P. Indy broke behind the leaders and tracked the pace in fourth for the first mile. Agincourt and Casual Lies set a brisk pace, followed by Pine Bluff. As they rounded the turn, Pine Bluff moved to the lead while A.P. Indy circled wide to close the gap. The two dueled down the stretch with A.P. Indy finally drawing clear in deep stretch. My Memoir then started closing quickly, but A.P. Indy had enough in reserve and prevailed by 3⁄4 lengths, with My Memoir beating Pine Bluff by a neck for second.[18] "I thought I was the winner turning for home", said My Memoirs' jockey, Jerry Bailey. "Eddie had just enough horse and he rated him really well. He deserves a lot of credit. He sat chilly and knew he had enough."[16]

Despite the track being good instead of fast, A.P. Indy raced the mile and a half in 2:26 flat, matching the second-fastest time for the Belmont Stakes set in 1989 by Easy Goer (although his time was subsequently adjusted to 2:26.13). He was two seconds off the track record set in 1973 by his grandfather Secretariat.[2]

A.P. Indy was given the summer off to allow his hoof to completely heal, then returned on September 13 with a dull performance in the Molson Export Million, finishing fifth.[11] On October 10, he finished third in the Jockey Club Gold Cup after stumbling at the start and tearing off his right front shoe. "There wasn't much foot left", Drysdale recalled later. "Fortunately, acrylic had just been developed, and [farrier] Joey Carroll rebuilt his foot that night."[19] Finishing ahead of him were Pleasant Tap, who was having an outstanding year, and Strike the Gold, the previous year's Kentucky Derby winner.[20]

The Breeders' Cup that year was held on October 31 at Gulfstream Park. There was a full field of fourteen horses for the Classic, twelve of whom had won Group 1 or Grade I races.[17] A.P. Indy and Pleasant Tap were the two betting favorites, going off at 2-1 and 5-2 respectively. A.P. Indy broke well but soon dropped back to eighth off a fast opening pace set by Thunder Rumble. He remained on the rail at the back of the pack until the final turn when he split between horses to find running room. Under a hand ride, he drew clear to win by 2 lengths over Pleasant Tap.[21][22]

He was voted the Eclipse Awards for American Horse of the Year and Champion three-year-old colt. In his career, he made 11 starts, winning eight and showing once, earning a total of $2,979,815.[1]

In 2000, A.P. Indy was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at the same time as Drysdale, his trainer.[20]

A.P. Indy was retired to stud at Lane's End Farm in 1993 with an initial stud fee of $50,000.[17] Farish explained: "We wanted to keep him in training. He's very sound and such a brilliant horse, but it would be taking a tremendous risk with a great sire prospect. So many of our top horses have been retired to Europe or Japan that we need a horse like this to stand in the U.S. Everyone involved concluded that this was the right thing to do."[23]

A.P. Indy in January 2017 after he was pensioned.

A.P. Indy went on to become a "breed-shaping" sire. For much of his career, he stood for $300,000.[3] He was the leading sire in North America for 2003 and 2006,[24] and was among the top 10 for 10 consecutive years.[14] He sired 88 graded stakes winners and 12 champions.[17] His 12.5% stakes winners to foals ratio is the best among contemporary American stallions of the "big book era".[8]

A.P. Indy was also an important broodmare sire, leading the North American list in 2015. His daughters have produced Royal Delta,[5] Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty, champion Wait A While and Grade 1 stakes winners Bluegrass Cat and Any Given Saturday.[14]

A.P. Indy was a valuable source of stamina in the normally speed-oriented stallion ranks of North America.[25] This means his progeny are highly prized by those who are looking for racehorses who can compete in top races at classic distances.[3] In 2008, A.P. Indy became the 208th chef-de-race with an Intermediate/Classic designation.[14]

A.P. Indy sired his last foals in 2010, when only 36 of 80 mares he bred conceived. Of these, two would become grade 1 winners: Honor Code and Got Lucky, whose name refers to the multiple tries it took her dam to get in foal.[5] He was retired from stud duty on April 8, 2011, upon failing to produce a confirmed live foal in the 25 mares he covered. A.P. Indy remained in his old stall, with sons Mineshaft in the stall across the aisle from him and Honor Code in the stall next to him.[17]

A.P. Indy lived to age 31,[lower-alpha 1] an advanced age for a horse. From June 2017 until his death, he had been the oldest living winner of the Belmont Stakes and the oldest living Classic winner overall.[26] He was also the oldest living winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic.[27] He died on February 21, 2020, due to the infirmities of old age.[28]

• A.P. Indy is inbred 4s × 3d to the stallion Bold Ruler, meaning that he appears once in the fourth generation on the sire side and once in the third generation on the dam of his pedigree.

• A.P. Indy Hall of Fame Profile – National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
• A. P. Indy Retired Sports Illustrated

• Inside Information: documentary on A.P. Indy and Lane's End
• 1992 Belmont Stakes on YouTube
• 1992 Breeders' Cup Classic on YouTube