2000 Champagne Stakes Winner
Sire: A.P. Indy
Grandsire: Seattle Slew
Dam: Twenty Eight Carat
Damsire: Alydar
Sex: Male
Foaled: 1998
Country: United States
Colour: Bay
Breeder: William S. Kilroy
Owner: Celtic Pride Stable
Trainer: Nick Zito
Jockey: Victor Espinoza
Record: 13 Starts: 3 - 2 - 2
Earnings: $864,170
Major races: Champagne Stakes (2000)
Post Career: After retiring from racing, A.P. Valentine stood at stud at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Kentucky. He has sired numerous stakes winners and has become a successful breeding stallion. Some of his notable offspring include Flower Alley, Cross Traffic, and Falling Sky.
A.P. Valentine continued to stand at stud at Three Chimneys Farm until his death in 2017.
Some horses spend their careers chasing one rival, and for A P Valentine that rival happened to be one of the best of his generation. A dark bay colt foaled in 1998, he was bred along immaculate lines: by A.P. Indy — Belmont Stakes winner, Horse of the Year, and pillar of the modern American stud book — out of the Alydar mare Twenty Eight Carat, making him a grandson of Seattle Slew and a descendant of Secretariat on the broodmare side. Trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito, he announced himself early. As a two-year-old in 2000 he captured the Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, the traditional autumn proving ground for classic prospects, and entered his three-year-old season among the most talked-about colts in training.
The 2001 Triple Crown trail, however, belonged to Point Given, the towering chestnut from Bob Baffert's barn — and A P Valentine became his constant shadow. After a winter campaign that included a track-record-shattering allowance score at Hialeah, A P Valentine took a checkered Derby trip to finish well back, then ran the race of his life in the Preakness Stakes, closing late to be second, beaten only by Point Given. Three weeks later in the Belmont Stakes, with the Triple Crown out of reach but Point Given chasing his second jewel, A P Valentine again found the wire second. Two classics, two runner-up plaques, and the unflattering fate of being the best of the rest in a year ruled by a great horse.
He retired with a Grade 1 win and classic placings on his page and stood at stud for several seasons in Kentucky and abroad before being pensioned. He spent his final years at Old Friends Equine, the Thoroughbred retirement farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, where he was a fan favorite until his death from colic complications. Time has been kind to his reputation: in any other Triple Crown season, a horse with his pedigree, his Champagne, and his pair of classic seconds would have been remembered as the standard-bearer of a generation. He simply ran into Point Given.
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