[3] At the end of 1964, Thomas Trotter, handicapper for The Jockey Club, assigned Bold Lad high weight for 1965 of 130 pounds (59 kg) in the Experimental Free Handicap.
In early February, Bold Lad suffered a popped splint in his right foreleg while at Hialeah Park Race Track.
Sent off in the 1+1⁄4 mi (2.0 km) Kentucky Derby as the betting favorite, Bold Lad was in contention at the top of the stretch, but then tired badly and finished 10th in the field of 11 horses behind winner Lucky Debonair.
He was brought back slowly in his four-year-old season by trainer Eddie Neloy, who took over the Wheatley Stable when Bill Winfrey retired.
While Bold Lad sired a number of good offspring as a stallion in Kentucky, France, and Japan, none matched his success on the track.
Successor, a full brother to Bold Lad bred by Wheatley Stable and foaled in 1964, also won American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors.