Overview
West Coast (foaled May 14, 2014) is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse, foaled, raised and sold by historic Thoroughbred nursery, Hermitage Farm. Unraced at age two, he was named the Champion three-year-old colt of 2017 after wins in the Travers Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby, plus a third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic. At age four, he finished second in the Pegasus World Cup, Dubai World Cup and Awesome Again Stakes. He finished his career with a record of six wins from 13 starts and earnings of $5,803,800.
Background
West Coast was bred in Kentucky by Carl Pollard's CFP Thoroughbreds LLC and was foaled and raised at Hermitage Farm. His sire was Flatter, who won four of six starts but finished third in his only stakes appearance. As a well bred son of leading sire A.P. Indy and notable broodmare Praise, Flatter was given a chance at stud by his owners, Claiborne Farm, and developed into a solid sire. West Coast's dam Caressing was the champion two-year-old filly of 2000.
West Coast was sold by Hermitage Farm at the Keeneland September 2015 Yearling Sale to agent Ben Glass for Gary and Mary West. The Wests were not normally interested in late foals and West Coast had been foaled on May 14, after their normal cut-off date. "But I just loved this colt," said Glass. "He was so charismatic and carried himself so well. He had such a fluid walk he would slink along like a panther. He had good size and a great big overstep on him." Glass set a price limit of $350,000 for the colt but eventually went to $425,000.
West Coast was trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).