PRESS RELEASE
OCALA, FL—St. Elias Stable’s Florida homebred Rated by Merit, who swept the 2024 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series at Gulfstream Park as an undefeated 2-year-old and won the 2025 Discovery Handicap at three, has been retired and will stand the 2027 breeding season at Ocala Stud, the farm announced today. He will stand for $3,500 S&N.
The fastest 2-year-old of 2024, Rated by Merit made short work of his rivals in that year’s FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series, demonstrating brilliant speed and the stamina to carry it two turns. He won all three races by a combined 16 lengths, including the Affirmed division with a 99 Beyer, the fastest Beyer by a 2-year-old in his crop. In sweeping the six-furlong Dr. Fager division, seven-furlong Affirmed division, and the mile-and-one-sixteenth In Reality division for trainer Michael Yates, Rated by Merit became just the 11th male to sweep the series, joining the likes of subsequent Grade 1 stakes-winners and Eclipse Award Champions Smile (1984) and Big Drama (2008), as well as multiple Grade 1-winner Jackson Bend (2009), and graded stakes winners Express Tour (2000), and Fort Loudon (2011).
In his first start at three for Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, Rated by Merit wired his foes in the one-mile Discovery Handicap during the Belmont at the Big A Meet. He led from start to finish, covering the distance in 1:33.45, running a career-best Beyer of 106 in the dominating length-and-a-quarter victory. The impressive win extended his perfect record to five-for-five.
“He was the benchmark of his crop at two,” Ocala Stud’s David O’Farrell said. “He possessed the rare combination of explosive speed and the stamina required to carry it over a route of ground. That kind of precocity, paired with his ability to defeat top company at three in the Discovery Handicap with a 106 Beyer, makes him an exciting stallion prospect for breeders looking for speed, versatility and Grade 1-caliber class.”
Rated by Merit is by Battalion Runner, a multiple graded stakes-placed son of Unbridled’s Song and is produced from the winning Speightstown mare Banner Waving. He hails from the family of the Grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Runup the Colors ($555,024), multiple graded stakes winner Revolutionary ($1,353,125), and multiple stakes-winning millionaire Bango ($1,644,979).
For more information on Rated by Merit, contact David O’Farrell at (352) 237-2171, or visit www.ocalastud.com.
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