Belmont winner Tonalist retired to Lanes End

Tonalist, whose four Grade 1 victories were highlighted by the 2014 Belmont Stakes, has been retired and will stand the 2016 season at Lane's End in Versailles, Ky. The son of reigning leading sire Tapit will stand for $40,000 in his initial season.

Tonalist burst into national prominence with his victory in the Belmont Stakes, in which eventual Horse of the Year California Chrome finished fourth in a Triple Crown bid. The victor went on to pick up two editions of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and concluded his career with a final Grade 1 tally in the Cigar Mile on Nov. 28. Tonalist also won the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes and Grade 3 Westchester, and placed in five other graded stakes, three of those Grade 1 events. He bankrolled $3,647,000.

Tonalist's owner, Robert S. Evans, had indicated immediately after the Cigar Mile that the son of Tapit would stay in training at age 5, but a deal was worked out with Lane's End to bring him to stud immediately rather than having him race next year.

Tonalist becomes the third Belmont Stakes winner on the active Lane’s End roster, joining Lemon Drop Kid (1999) and Union Rags (2012). The farm’s flagship sire is the pensioned Horse of the Year and two-time leading general sire A.P. Indy, winner of the 1992 Belmont and Tonalist’s paternal great-grandsire. “We’re in the business of classic Thoroughbreds, and [Tonalist] certainly fits our program,” Lane’s End’s Bill Farish said. “A.P. Indy, Lemon Drop Kid, Union Rags won races like the Belmont and Gold Cup, and we are confident Tonalist will continue that success.”

Tonalist is out of the winning Pleasant Colony mare Settling Mist, whose four stakes-producing half-sisters include the dams of Horse of the Year Havre de Grace and Grade 1 winner Riskaverse. It is the family of leading sire Raja Baba, champion Plugged Nickle, and Grade 1 winners Sauce Boat and Christiecat.