Gina Romantica Welcomes First Foal by Gun Runner at Dell Ridge

[Wandering Eyes]

Peter Brant's investment in Gun Runner has paid dividends, and the momentum shows no signs of slowing down.

Eclipse Award winner Sierra Leone, who Brant campaigned alongside the Coolmore group, headlines Brant's success with the sire. The champion retired to Ashford Stud this year as Gun Runner's all-time leading earner. A similarly composed partnership that includes Brant owns undefeated Paladin (Gun Runner), the recent winner of the GII Risen Star Stakes, as well as a Gun Runner colt out of GSW Thoughtfully (Tapit) who was purchased for $3.3 million at last year's Keeneland September Sale.

Zedan Racing Stables's Grade I winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile third-place finisher Brant, named in honor of the owner of White Birch Farm, is yet another son of Gun Runner.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Brant has entrusted one of his top racemares to the Three Chimneys Farm star sire.   Three-time Grade I winner Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) recently produced her first foal at Dell Ridge Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

“The choice to breed Gina Romantica to Gun Runner was made as I thought and think he is a good cross for her physically,” said Brant. “In addition, she has good dirt horses in her family's pedigree and she was fairly good on the dirt. I am a big fan of Gun Runner and have supported him with several of our best mares, and now of course we have his son Sierra Leone to look forward to as well.”

Since arriving on Feb. 7, Gina Romantica's Gun Runner colt has received such high marks that the 7-year-old mare is already booked to return to the same sire this season.

“He's doing great,” Dell Ridge's farm manager Des Ryan reported of the new arrival. “It was a pretty straightforward foaling. He got up and nursed pretty quickly and did well from the get-go. The mare was a great mom from the start.”

Gina Romantica, a daughter of Machmer Hall's multiple Grade I producer Special Me (Unbridled's Song), was a $1.025 million Keeneland September yearling. A debut winner on the dirt, the Chad Brown trainee made three more trips to the winner's circle as a 3-year-old including a score in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes. Over the next two years, the Keeneland turf lover claimed back-to-back victories in the GI First Lady Stakes. She placed in three additional Grade I contests, including a runner-up effort behind Sacred Wish (Not This Time) in her final career start in the 2024 GI Matriarch Stakes.

Gina Romantica and her new foal at Dell Ridge Farm | Sara Gordon

The Gun Runner/Into Mischief cross is already off to a fast start, represented by stakes winner Search Party, who runs in this weekend's GIII Honeybee Stakes, and recent Las Virgenes Stakes victress Meaning.

While the new colt shares his dam's bay coat, Ryan pointed out that the similarities extend beyond there.

“He's got Gina's personality and class,” he shared. “He's very nice to be around, just a good colt. I'd say there's a bit of mom and dad in him.”

Ryan had the chance to get to know Gina Romantica even before she retired to Brant's broodmare band when she would spend layoffs at Dell Ridge during her racing career.

“She's always been a very classy filly when she was on the racetrack and to be around on the farm here,” he said. “She's just straightforward and easygoing. We're honored to have all these nice mares of Mr. Brant's here, like we are with all of our clients. It's nice to have mares who have been superstars on the racetrack and get them back here for their broodmare career.”

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