International grade/group 1 performer Without Parole is settling in at Newsells Park Stud near Hertforshire, England, where he'll enter stud next year for his owners/breeders John Gunther and his daughter, Tanya. He's standing for £10,000.
"He arrived very calmly. He got off the box late last night and settled in pretty well," said Julian Dollar, the general manager of Newsells Park, during a press conference call organized by Great British Racing International. Without Parole was foaled and raised at Newsells Park. "I was amazed, actually, about how good he was about everything because he's had a bit of a whirlwind over the last few weeks, but he had a good night, ate up, drank up, has done everything right, and I saw him out this morning and he looked great."
The group 1 winner and 5-year-old son of undefeated European Horse of the Year Frankel was retired with a 4-0-3 record out of 15 starts and earnings of $963,030. He became a winner in his only start at 2 and maintained his winning ways as he transitioned to 3. After consecutive wins in April and May of 2018, Without Parole moved on to the biggest of stages in the St. James's Palace Stakes (G1) during the Royal Ascot meet.
"That day was unbelievable; it was a whirlwind for me," Tanya Gunther said. "In the car on the ride to Ascot, I thought, 'This just can't happen after having Justify win the Triple Crown. It just doesn't happen like that.' I just wanted him to run well."
The Gunthers bred and raised Justify at their Glennwood Farm near Versailles, Ky. Ten days before the St. James's Palace, Justify completed his sweep of the Triple Crown in the June 9 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).
"When I saw (Without Parole) making his run down the stretch, I thought, 'Oh my gosh, he just might do this.' We were screaming him home," Gunther recalled of the colt who went on to finish third in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T), Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1T), and Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (G1T).
The Gunthers had not planned on racing Without Parole and offered him in Book 1 of the 2016 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, where he was bought back on a final bid of 650,000 guineas (US$870,120). Despite private offers after the auctioneer's hammer fell, they chose to keep him.
"We followed this horse since the day he was born. He was always a beautiful foal, a beautiful yearling," Dollar said. "As it turns out, what a stroke of luck that John and Tanya kept him. They've bred a long list of fine horses, but it is nice they were able to race this horse and then retire him to stud with us. It has been a huge source of pride for us."
After the St. James's Palace win, Dollar recalled the "feeding frenzy" that surrounded the Gunthers by bloodstock agents eager to land the colt, who had become the hottest stallion prospect in Europe. He was concerned the opportunity to stand Without Parole might be lost.
"We're an operation that has to be self-sufficient; we had to have this horse," Dollar said. "We've got a great relationship with John and Tanya, who are fantastic clients and wonderful to work with, and over the course of the next 18 months it became clearer that we were going to get the chance to stand him, and that's been fantastic."
Gunther said it was "such a natural thing" for Without Parole to stand at Newsells, where she and her father board their European broodmare band.
"To have horses in England, where we feel the racing is so unbelievable, has been fantastic, and to have him come back here to stand in the country where Frankel stands and at the place where Without Parole was born and raised and where we also have our mares is just such a natural fit," she said. "My dad doesn't have a very big broodmare band, so to have that many stallions come off the farm—including Stay Thirsty and Tamarkuz from the same family as Without Parole—and now Without Parole standing in Europe, and with Justify's foals this year and Vino Rosso 's babies next year, it's a very exciting time for us."
Without Parole and Tamarkuz (Speightstown ) are half brothers out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Without You Babe, who is a half sister to grade 1 winner and California sire Stay Thirsty (Bernardini).
"I dream about having Without Parole baby racehorses and thinking about Royal Ascot again. Not to dream too big, but how exciting would that be?" Gunther said.
