There was a time, not all that long ago, when Super Ninety Nine's future hung in the balance. A scary bout with cellulitis caused by a suspensory injury left him hospitalized and later in extensive rehab. With his ability to continue as a breeding stallion called into question, his connections went all in on giving the horse the best care possible.
Fast forward to a recent June morning on a farm in Bel Air, Md.
The retired stallion, 16 years old, grazes in a field covered with yellow flowers. He and the scene shine so hard in the late spring sun you instinctively shield your eyes.
But it could easily have turned out differently.
Super Ninety Nine was a legitimate contender on the Kentucky Derby-G1 trail in 2013. Bred by Northwest Farms in Kentucky, he was by top sire Pulpit out of the Unbridled's Song mare Exogenetic. The chestnut sold at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale to Becky Thomas for $200,000. Ten months later, he went through the ring at the Ocala Breeders' Sales' June sale. Susan Chu purchased him from Thomas' Sequel Bloodstock for $260,000.
Sent to trainer Bob Baffert, Super Ninety Nine won his debut at Santa Anita that October and finished second in the Hollywood Prevue Stakes-G3 at Hollywood Park the following month. Fourth in an allowance to cap his 2-year-old season, he opened 2013 with a Santa Anita allowance score to earn a trip to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. He won the Southwest Stakes-G3 in an 111⁄4-length romp in February, but finished fifth (as the favorite) in the Rebel-G2 in March. Third in April's Santa Anita Derby-G1, Super Ninety Nine didn't make it to Kentucky and started just once more -- a fourth in a Santa Anita allowance in June 2014 -- before being retired.
He stood the 2015 breeding season at the Pons family's Country Life Farm in Bel Air as the property of Spendthrift Farm and Country Life. That same collaboration launched the career of Malibu Moon 15 years prior. As a speedy son of breed-shaper Pulpit, Super Ninety Nine came with enthusiasm.
His career as a stallion got off to a rocky start when one of the first mares he bred had a sudden change of heart. Country Life's general manager, Christy Holden, told the story.
"He had the worst luck of any stallion I think we've ever had," she said. "The second or third mare he bred -- which was one of ours -- decided that she changed her mind as he was about to jump on. She kicked him."
Hard, in a sensitive area.
Cut, injured, swollen, he missed several weeks of covers. When he returned, no mares got in foal because the injury killed his sperm and it takes three months to generate new sperm.
"He didn't start breeding mares again that season until early May," said Holden. "There were a lot of people who held out and waited, and I think he might have bred 20 or 30 mares from May through June that year. But he missed the majority of his first season with that injury."
Super Ninety Nine endeared himself to his new connections, proving the model patient throughout his ordeal which included round-the-clock cold hosings. Kim Crowell, then a Country Life employee, became particularly fond of the stallion. As Holden said, "He was an awesome good boy for us."
His next few breeding seasons went without incident, but shortly before the start of the 2018 season he blew an abscess through a hind suspensory. His stay at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center was followed by four months at Fair Hill Equine Therapy Center where he was treated in the hyperbaric chamber.
The staff there echoed the sentiments of his home team -- Super Ninety Nine was an absolute gentleman and a joy to have in the barn. While there, he was visited frequently by Holden and Josh Pons.
Super Ninety Nine returned to Country Life in July, but came with concerns about his future in the breeding shed. Would that hind leg support him?
"Somehow we were put in touch with a company that was making experimental braces for horses, and they made him a set of braces for his hind legs," Holden said. "They came out and fitted him for them and adjusted them. So we bred him in 2019 with those braces on his hind legs. And he was perfect for them to measure him, he tolerated us putting the braces on, wearing them and all that. Just a really nice horse."
His book declined over the next few years, and in 2022 Country Life accepted an offer for Super Ninety Nine from a farm in northern Pennsylvania. The owner had a small band of mares and was interested in Pennsylvania-breds. The entire team was sad to see him go, but the situation seemed to be a good fit.
For a time Crowell and her friend, Nicole Martin, kept an eye on the horse. But in 2023, he fell off their radar.
"They had him listed for a while, and then we didn't hear anything from them," Martin said. "Kim had followed him forever and when he fell off the map we were all heartbroken. They had a cool breeding program, but when we lost track of him it scared all of us. We didn't see any babies either -- no Super Ninety Nine foals. We thought, 'Oh no.' "
Crowell and Martin regularly scoured Thoroughbred pages on social media and were elated when Super Ninety Nine appeared in a listing in September 2024. The manager of the farm in Pennsylvania had him offered for sale for $5,000. The owner of the farm had a terminal illness, and the stallion was part of the dispersal.
The women sprung to action. "For $5,000, he was going to disappear and we wouldn't find him again," said Martin. "Kim told Country Life about it, and knowing she and I are horse poor, they offered to give us the money. They didn't want to see him disappear; they were all in love with this horse too."
Martin and Crowell drove 41⁄2 hours, not knowing where they were going or what they might find. Super Ninety Nine walked out of the barn and on the trailer. He was a bit underweight and his feet needed attention, but the affable character hadn't changed.
He still hasn't.
He lives at a farm Martin rents and is surrounded by mares and geldings, including a few of his offspring. Let's Play Nine, now 10, belongs to Martin. She saw him as a 2-year-old at Country Life's training division at Merryland Farm, telling Crowell, "I want this one when he's done." Bay and 16.3, he doesn't look a thing like his sire who is, as Martin put it, "chromey and maybe 16.1 on a good day."
While he might not have been a commercial success, Super Ninety Nine produced solid horses who inherited his disposition. Martin knows several people who own them, and "everyone who has one adores them."
There has been recent interest from mare owners -- including Warmblood owners/breeders -- who'd like to breed to the horse. Crowell, Martin, Holden and the Pons family all agree that Super Ninety Nine deserves a retirement, however.
"He's happy and I don't want to stress him out," Martin said. "He's such a cool dude here with all these horses and the chaos of a riding barn. I don't really want to wake that beast up."
As Crowell put it, "He's living his best life with two adult amateur owners now. Welcome to the party, guy."
