Red Bullet

Red Bullet (foaled 13 April 1997 in Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2000 Preakness Stakes.

Background

Red Bullet is a chestnut horse bred and raced by auto parts magnate Frank Stronach. He was sired by Unbridled, the 1990 American Champion 3-Year-Old Male Horse and winner of that year's Breeders' Cup Classic. His dam, Cargo, was a daughter of French multiple Grade 1 winner Caro. Red Bullet was trained during his racing career by Joe Orseno.

Racing career

Red Bullet did not race at age two. Sent to the track at age three in 2000, he started six times, winning his first three starts. In that third race, Red Bullet ran in the Grade II Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack and won handily, finishing the mile in 1:34.27. He then ran second to Fusaichi Pegasus in the 2000 Wood Memorial Stakes, a Grade I race also at Aqueduct. Afterward, his handlers felt it was not in the colt's best interest to run in the Kentucky Derby. Instead, they prepared him for the Preakness, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series.

Preakness Stakes

In the Preakness Stakes, Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus was made the heavy odds-on betting favorite at 3–10. Red Bullet was listed as the second choice at 6–1 in the mile and three sixteenths classic at Pimlico Race Course. In the race, Red Bullet started slowly from post four. Jockey Jerry Bailey immediately restrained the colt passing the stands in seventh place six and a half lengths back in the small field of eight. Running into the clubhouse turn, he took an awkward step and drifted back to last, ten lengths behind the leader, Hugh Hefner. The fractions were fast at :46-3/5 for the first half and 1:11-1/5 for the six furlongs. Then Red Bullet gradually worked his way forward, passing Impeachment and Captain Steve on the back stretch. Moving into the far turn, Red Bullet started weaving between other colts, overtaking them one at a time until he passed the two leaders, Fusaichi Pegasus and speedster High Yield. At the top of the stretch, he took over the lead and started drawing away from the Kentucky Derby champion with every stride. He won by 3¾ lengths over Fusaichi Pegasus, who was a head in front of both Impeachment and Captain Steve for the third and fourth spots. Red Bullet paid $14.40 to win in front of a capacity crown of 111,821 at the Baltimore, Maryland, track.

Later racing

Red Bullet's connections, owner Frank Stronach and trainer Joe Orseno, did not enter him in the third leg of the Triple Crown, the 1½ mile Belmont Stakes. They felt his best distance were races that ranged between one mile and a mile and a quarter.

Racing as a four-year-old, Red Bullet won an allowance race out of his three starts and at age five, raced another three times with his best result a win in the Foggy Road Stakes and a second-place finish behind Sir Bear in the 2002 Skip Away Handicap.

Stud record

Retired at the end of the 2002 racing season, Red Bullet began stud duty the following year at his owner's Adena Springs South in Williston, Florida.

He is the sire of Fatal Bullet, Canadian Horse of the Year, and Cool Bullet (winner of the Hansel Stakes).

Pedigree

References

April 18, 2000 ''New York Times'' article titled "''Red Bullet to Skip Derby for Preakness''"

Red Bullet at Adena Springs

{{Preakness Stakes Winners

1997 racehorse births
Racehorses bred in Kentucky
Racehorses trained in the United States
Preakness Stakes winners
American Grade 1 Stakes winners
Thoroughbred family 16-h