Sire of A Kentucky Derby/Preakness Stakes Winner
Retired after the 1966 racing season, Pretendre was sent to the United States to stand at stud in Kentucky. Part of his first crop foaled in 1968 was a bay colt born with a noticeably crooked foreleg. Considered to have no future in racing, he was sold as a yearling for a mere $1,200 at the Keeneland Sales. Acquired by Venezuelan interests, the horse was named Canonero and raced at age two in Venezuela where it earned an undistinguished record. At age three, because of his American birth, the colt was sent to run in the 1971 U.S. Triple Crown series. Canonero stunned the racing world when he won both Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, the latter in race record time.
Pretendre was returned to stud duty in England. In 1970 he became one of the first stallions to be shuttled across the world when he was sent to stand at Waikato Stud, near Matamata in New Zealand. Of his offspring there, he was the damsire of Leica Pretender, the dam of the Australian horse Nothin' Leica Dane who won the Group One Victoria Derby and Group One Spring Champion Stakes.
Pretendre unexpectedly died in 1972 at the age of nine.
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