Work All Week (USA)
March 9, 2009 – November 13, 2023
City Zip (USA) x Danzig Matilda (USA), by Repriced (USA)
Family 4-c
March 9, 2009 – November 13, 2023
City Zip (USA) x Danzig Matilda (USA), by Repriced (USA)
Family 4-c
A pure six-furlong sprinter, Work All Week proved to be the best speedster in state-bred company in Illinois at 4. At 5, he ventured out of his native state to win listed races at Prairie Meadows in Iowa and Mountaineer Park in West Virginia before stepping up to take on a talented field of graded-class sprinters in the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes (USA-G3) at Keeneland, a “Win and You’re In” race for the Xpressbet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (USA-G1). He met the challenge beautifully and proved that his victory had been no fluke by pulling an upset in the Sprint at 19-1 odds. The win was good enough for an Eclipse Award in the male sprinter division. At 6, he struggled somewhat before ending his campaign and his career due to injury.
Race record
19 starts, 13 wins, 4 seconds, 1 third, US$1,511,071
2013:
2014:
2015:
Honors
Assessments
Rated at 117 pounds in the Sprint category on the 2014 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 13 pounds below overall highweight Just a Way, 6 pounds below top-rated sprinter Lankan Rupee, and 1 pounds below Bayern, the top-rated sprinter on dirt.
As an individual
A friendly, kind-natured chestnut gelding, Work All Week did not race at 2 and ran only once at 3, finishing unplaced. He was retired after suffering a slab fracture to a knee in 2015. He liked peppermints as treats.
Connections
Foaled in Illinois, Work All Week was bred and owned by Richard and Karen Papiese’s Midwest Thoroughbreds. He was trained by Roger Brueggeman and scored his Breeders’ Cup Sprint victory under the handling of Florent Geroux. After his retirement, he became a stable pony for Brieggeman. Work All Week was relocated to Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm near Georgetown, KY, in August 2020. He died as the result of a paddock accident on November 13, 2023.
Pedigree notes
Work All Week is inbred 4x5 to 1963 American co-champion juvenile male Raise a Native and 5x5 to 1955 American Horse of the Year Nashua. He is one of two winners out of five named foals produced from Danzig Matilda, a stakes-placed daughter of the stakes-winning Roberto horse Repriced. Danzig Matilda, in turn, was produced from Danzig’s Orphan, whose sire, A Native Danzig (by Danzig), never raced.
The next dam in Work All Week’s tail-female line, J’accuse Fromage, is a stakes-placed daughter of 1969 Yankee Gold Cup Handicap winner Jean-Pierre (by Prince John). A half sister to stakes winner Tort-Feazor (by Bagdad), she is out of the winning Traffic Judge mare Courthouse, in turn a daughter of the winning Bull Brier mare Peanut’s Girl.
Books and media
Footage of Work All Week’s win in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wev4nIK-3PQ.
Fun facts
Last updated: November 25, 2023
Race record
19 starts, 13 wins, 4 seconds, 1 third, US$1,511,071
2013:
- Won Lightning Jet Handicap (USA-R, 6FD, Hawthorne)
- Won Tex's Zing Stakes (USA-R, 6FD, Fairmount Park)
- 2nd Addison Cammack Handicap (USA-R, 6FA, Arlington Park)
2014:
- Won Xpressbet Breeders' Cup Sprint (USA-G1, 6FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes (USA-G3, 6FD, Keeneland; new track record 1:09)
- Won Iowa Sprint Handicap (USA-L, 6FD, Prairie Meadows)
- Won Hot Springs Stakes (USA-L, 6FD, Oaklawn Park)
- 2nd Addison Cammack Handicap (USA-R, 6FA, Arlington Park)
2015:
- Won Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial Stakes (USA-L, 6FD, Mountaineer Park)
- 2nd Smile Sprint Stakes (USA-G2, 6FD, Gulfstream Park)
- 2nd Aristides Stakes (USA-G3, 6FD, Churchill Downs)
- 3rd Stoll Keenan Ogden Phoenix Stakes (USA-G3, 6FD, Keeneland)
Honors
- Eclipse Award, American champion male sprinter (2014)
- Illinois-bred Horse of the Year (2013, 2014)
Assessments
Rated at 117 pounds in the Sprint category on the 2014 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 13 pounds below overall highweight Just a Way, 6 pounds below top-rated sprinter Lankan Rupee, and 1 pounds below Bayern, the top-rated sprinter on dirt.
As an individual
A friendly, kind-natured chestnut gelding, Work All Week did not race at 2 and ran only once at 3, finishing unplaced. He was retired after suffering a slab fracture to a knee in 2015. He liked peppermints as treats.
Connections
Foaled in Illinois, Work All Week was bred and owned by Richard and Karen Papiese’s Midwest Thoroughbreds. He was trained by Roger Brueggeman and scored his Breeders’ Cup Sprint victory under the handling of Florent Geroux. After his retirement, he became a stable pony for Brieggeman. Work All Week was relocated to Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm near Georgetown, KY, in August 2020. He died as the result of a paddock accident on November 13, 2023.
Pedigree notes
Work All Week is inbred 4x5 to 1963 American co-champion juvenile male Raise a Native and 5x5 to 1955 American Horse of the Year Nashua. He is one of two winners out of five named foals produced from Danzig Matilda, a stakes-placed daughter of the stakes-winning Roberto horse Repriced. Danzig Matilda, in turn, was produced from Danzig’s Orphan, whose sire, A Native Danzig (by Danzig), never raced.
The next dam in Work All Week’s tail-female line, J’accuse Fromage, is a stakes-placed daughter of 1969 Yankee Gold Cup Handicap winner Jean-Pierre (by Prince John). A half sister to stakes winner Tort-Feazor (by Bagdad), she is out of the winning Traffic Judge mare Courthouse, in turn a daughter of the winning Bull Brier mare Peanut’s Girl.
Books and media
Footage of Work All Week’s win in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wev4nIK-3PQ.
Fun facts
- Work All Week’s barn name was “Workers.”
- Work All Week was the second Illinois-bred horse to win a Breeders’ Cup event, following the 1998 Turf win of Buck’s Boy. He was the first Breeders’ Cup starter and winner for both trainer Roger Brueggeman and jockey Florent Geroux.
- Work All Week’s pasture buddy at Old Friends was The Pizza Man, winner of the 2015 Arlington Million Stakes (USA-G1).
Last updated: November 25, 2023