BY AVALYN HUNTER
John Casbar is living a dream with his stallion Bullet Gone Astray, watching him sire homebred winners.
Bred in Florida, Bullet Gone Astray is by Gone Astray, whose sire, Dixie Union, won the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Handicap and Grade 1 Malibu Stakes in 2000. Like his sire, Gone Astray also showed speed over intermediate distances, winning the 2009 Ohio Derby (G2) and 2010 Salvator Mile (G3).
A well-bred horse whose second dam is 1995 champion older female Inside Information, Gone Astray has sired 12 stakes winners including 2016 Florida Horse of the Year Three Rules.
On the dam-side, Bullet Gone Astray is a fifth-generation Floridian. His fourth dam, Cox’s Miss—by Cox’s Ridge out of Aware, by Buckpasser—was bred by Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Cox’s Miss produced Appealing Miss Cox, by Mangurian’s stallion Valid Appeal, dam of four winners including stakes-placed Crusading Miss Cox, by Crusader Sword.
Appealing Ms Sword, a full sister to Crusading Miss Cox, did not race but produced seven winners for Joe Carroll, who acquired the mare for $4,000 from the 1997 Ocala Breeders’ Sales January Mixed Sale. Three of those winners—Valerie’s Dream (by Rizzi), Song of the Sword (by Unbridled’s Song), and Mr Sword (by Rizzi)—were Grade 2-placed. Permanent Makeup—by 2000 Preakness Stakes (G1)-winner Red Bullet, who was co-bred by Kris Carroll—was another of those winners. She ran second in the 2007 Cassidy at Calder as a juvenile before ending a promising career after only three starts. Retained by her breeders as a broodmare, Permanent Makeup produced Bullet Gone Astray as her third foal.
Purchased by Four Horsemen Racing for $15,000 from the 2015 OBS April sale, Bullet Gone Astray broke his maiden at first asking at Gulfstream Park and next won the six-furlong Mountaineer Juvenile at Mountaineer Park by nine lengths. During his remaining 14 starts, Bullet Gone Astray earned four more stakes placings at distances from six-and-a-half furlongs to a mile, including a third in the 2016 Carry Back (G3). He retired having won or placed in nine of his 16 starts for earnings of $187,235.
“I fell in love with Bullet Gone Astray while I was racing him, so when none of the commercial farms wanted him as a stallion, I bred him to my own mares,” Casbar said. “He’s about 16 hands, a well-conformed sprinting-type horse with clean legs and he has a wonderful disposition—my grandchildren can pet him. His babies are like him, well-made, smart and sensible. From nine starters he has five winners, so from the chances he’s had, he’s done fine. I haven’t promoted him to other breeds, but I think I’d be open to that if someone expressed interest.”
Bullet Gone Astray is standing the 2025 season for a private fee.
Return to the March 12 issue of Wire to Wire
