Sharp Humor, 2003-2015 (Photo courtesy Horseracing in Korea)
by Sarah Mace
Let’s Run Stud Farm on Jeju Island has reported that New York-bred sire Sharp Humor, who relocated to Korea from WinStar Farm in February 2011, died at age 12 as the result of an accident on March 18.
Bred in New York by Patricia S. Purdy, Sharp Humor was a son of Distorted Humor and one of two winners out of the unraced Kentucky-bred Hansel mare Bellona (Hansel). Trained by Dale Romans, Sharp Humor raced for a partnership of Purdedel Stable and WinStar Farm, who acquired an interest in the horse when he was a classic contender in late April 2006.
Sharp Humor won four of ten career starts, including three stakes. At two he followed up 2005 victories in the Bertram F. Bongard and Sleepy Hollow with a third in the New York Breeders’ Futurity. The following year he won the Grade 2 Swale at Gulfstream Park and ran second to Barbaro in the 2006 Florida Derby. After fracturing a knee in the Kentucky Derby a month later, he ran twice more later in the year, when he finished second in the Hudson Handicap facing older horses.
Sharp Humor’s final start came in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile. Having aggravated his knee injury, he was retired at the end of his three-year old season with earnings of $490,410 and entered stud for $12,500 in 2007 at WinStar Farm as a Taylor Made/WinStar Venture stallion.
At 12-years-old, Sharp Humor was in his third breeding season in Korea, having been purchased by the Korea Racing Authority in November 2011. He covered 97 mares in 2013 and 85 in 2014, with another full book in progress this year. His first Korean 2-year-olds are set to debut this year.
Credited with 17 black type progeny winners, Sharp Humor’s top-earning offspring include graded stakes winner Hero of Order ($747,822) and multiple graded stakes placed Angelica Zapata ($649,845).
