Multiple leading Texas sire Too Much Bling has been retired from stud duty, according to an Oct. 4 post on Valor Farm’s Facebook page. The 20-year-old son of Rubiano will live as a pensioner at Scharbauer family’s farm near Pilot Point north of Dallas-Fort Worth.
Bred by Destiny Farm in Ohio out of the Formal Dinner stakes winner Rose Colored Lady, Too Much Bling began racing for trainer Tim Hamm in the name of his Blazing Meadows Farm. The colt made his racing debut in the Hoover Stakes at River Downs (now Belterra Park Gaming & Entertainment Center) where he finished third and then broke his maiden in his next start with a 19 1/2-length win in a maiden special weight at Thistledown.
Robert McNair’s Stonerside Stable partnered with Hamm for the remainder of Too Much Bling’s racing career that was managed by trainer Bob Baffert. His best performances included wins in the San Vicente Stakes (G2), Carry Back Stakes (G2), and Bay Shore Stakes (G3). He was also second in the Woody Stephens Breeders’ Cup Stakes (G2) and third in the Hopeful Stakes (G1). He would be retired with 5-1-2 record from 11 starts and earned $509,674.
Too Much Bling entered stud in Florida in 2007 with Stonewall Farm Stallions and was relocated Lane’s End Texas near Hempstead, Texas, the following year. He stood at Lane’s End’s Texas farm for nine seasons until it closed in 2016 and then was acquired by Valor Farm’s Douglas Scharbauer.
Among stallions active in Texas this century, Too Much Bling stands out as the leader by career progeny earnings ($20,151,514), by winners (251), by number of black-type winners (31) and by number of black-type performers (62).
Too Much Bling first topped the Texas sire stands in 2013 and led again in 2014. He has been a fixture among the state’s top five sires ever since. His 14 crops of racing age have produced 82% starters, 63% winners, and 8% stakes winners from foals. His runners have earned an average $61,438 per starter.
Too Much Bling’s top performers include seven-time stakes winner Direct Dial , who earned $546,931 and was named 2018 Texas Horse of the Year. Other multiple stakes winners include Texas Bling (winner of the Assault Stakes in 2014-15 at Lone Star Park),Blazing Bling , Imma Bling , Rumpole , Significant Bling , and others.
Too Much Bling continues to enjoy success this year as the sire of the earners of more than $1.3 million, including Too Much Kiki , who sold for $100,000 at last year’s Texas Summer Yearling Sale and broke her maiden in her racing debut this year in a division of the Clarence Scharbauer Jr. Texas Stallion Stakes at Lone Star. That series of races for Texas-sired runners is named in honor of Douglas Scharbauer’s father, the former owner of Valor Farm and owner of dual American classic winner Alysheba.
