The Player To Stand 2019 Season At Pope McLean’s Crestwood Farm by Paulick Report Staff|12.16.201812.16.2018|1:59pm8:50pm Calvin Borel pilots The Player to victory in the 33rd running of the Grade III Mineshaft Handicap at Fair Grounds. Hodges Phorography / Lou Hodges, Jr. Connections of The Player have had an emotional journey through 2018, beginning with the lowest of lows when the colt suffered a serious injury in the Mar. 24 New Orleans Handicap at the Fair Grounds, and the ups and downs of his remarkable recovery. The 5-year-old son of Street Hero returned home to breeder/owner/trainer Buff Bradley's Kentucky farm in September, and on Sunday the team announced that The Player will begin his stallion career at Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm in 2019. Bradley rode in the van alongside The Player all the way from Louisiana State University to his Indian Ridge Farm in Kentucky in September, keeping watch over the personality-laden chestnut colt whose recovery over the past six months has been nothing short of a miracle. After his injury, The Player was sent to LSU to have his right front ankle fused with surgery. Bradley bred the colt with his father and long-time client Carl Hurst, and over the course of his career The Player treated his connections to a pair of graded stakes wins and earnings of over $450,000. Further details, including stud fee, will be announced at a later date.