Withers Stakes and Jersey Derby winner Bold Reasoning was a natural fit for the Claiborne stallion roster – he was a record-setter by Boldnesian, son of Claiborne’s eight-time Leading Sire, Bold Ruler, in turn a son of Claiborne’s five-time Leading Sire, Nasrullah. His dam, Reason to Earn, also represented one of Claiborne’s great male lines, that of Hail to Reason and his sire, Turn-to.
Bold Reasoning was the first sire retired to Claiborne following the death of A.B. (Bull) Hancock Jr. The new master of Claiborne Farm, Seth Hancock, orchestrated the mating that would ensure Bold Reasoning’s lasting influence on the breed. Kentucky racing commissioner, Ben Castleman, wished to breed his mare My Charmer to Jacinto whose book was full. Castleman asked Seth Hancock to look at her pedigree and “see what stallions he had open that I could breed to, that I could afford to breed to,” according to Legacies of the Turf. My Charmer was the third mare ever taken to Bold Reasoning.
Bold Reasoning sired just two full and one partial crops before his death in April, 1975, more than a year before the world first saw the future Triple Crown winner by Bold Reasoning out of My Charmer. Sons and grandsons of Bold Ruler simply dominated the Kentucky Derby in those years: Secretariat in 1973, Cannonade in 1974, Foolish Pleasure in 1975, Bold Forbes in 1976, and the champion Seattle Slew in 1977. One of six Triple Crown winners conceived in the Claiborne breeding shed, Seattle Slew is the only horse to win the Triple Crown while undefeated.
Hancock sent the Claiborne-Perry mare Alluvial to Seattle Slew in his first season and the result was Claiborne-bred champion Slew o’ Gold. The next year, he sent his stakes-winning Forli mare Tuerta, and that mating produced Claiborne’s long-awaited Kentucky Derby winner, Swale. Current Claiborne Farm stallion Flatter, and the deceased Pulpit, are also from Seattle Slew’s influential male line.
Bold Reasoning passed away in April, 1975.
He is buried at Claiborne Farm.