Horatius was a solid stakes winner but his true claim to fame came as one of Maryland's greatest sires of all time.
Bred by Colonel W. Randolph Taylor, Horatius was born in Florida in 1975 and was sold for $20,000 as a two-year-old to Dr. Philip J. Torsey, who campaigned his stable's star for five years.
Horatius was retired to stud at Thornmar Farm in Chestertown, Maryland in 1980 as the property of a large syndicate.
He achieved his greatest glory with his daughter, Eclipse award-winning sprinter Safely Kept, winner of the 1990 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint.
Horatius was retired from stud and pensioned in 2001; he died in his sleep five years later at age 31 in his paddock at Thornmar in February 2006.