Mastery

Mastery won his career debut in October 2016 by 4 1/4 lengths for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Bafert after he was purchased for $425,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September yearling sale. He then posted a clear win in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes going seven-eighths of a mile before dominating the opposition in a 7 1/4-length runaway win in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity to improve to 3-for-3. The margin of victory was the largest in the race's history.

A series of impressive workouts made Mastery’s return highly anticipated, and the colt lived up to the buzz in the March 11 San Felipe Stakes, drawing clear from a challenge by Iliad at the top of the stretch and pulling ahead to a dominant 6 ¾-length win. Unfortunately, jockey Mike Smith sensed something off in Mastery’s left hind during his gallop-out, and he was vanned off the track immediately afterward. 

Mastery was diagnosed with a condylar fracture in his left front ankle after undergoing X-rays, taking him off of the Kentucky Derby trail.

Bred in Kentucky by Stone Farm, Mastery is by Candy Ride out of the winning Old Trieste mare Steady Course, a half-sister to Grade 2 winner and sire Jump Start. Steady Course also produced stakes winner Clear Sailing.