The connections of Well Said can say “well done” to their star three-year-old pacer as co-owner Jeff Snyder announced Monday the horse has been retired
. Well Said has been retired and will head to stud duty in 2010 at Hanover Shoe Farms.
Well Said won 10 of 14 races this year and earned over $2 million. His victories included the Pepsi North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace, Little Brown Jug, Battle of the Brandywine and a division of the Simcoe. He joined Precious Bunny as the only horses to win the North America Cup, Meadowlands Pace and Little Brown Jug.
“He’s going to be retired and we’re sending him to Hanover Shoe Farms to start his stud career,” said Snyder, who owns Well Said with Sue Grange’s Lothlorien stable. “It’s been a long year for the colts. We’re going to stop, at the right time I think. We planned all along to stop after this one, win or lose. We don’t want to push him further.”
Well Said finished fifth in Saturday’s Breeders Crown for three-year-old colt pacers. He started from post nine and was 2-1/2 lengths behind winner If I Can Dream on a cold, damp and windy night at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto.
“It was impossible to come from the back on that night,” trainer Steve Elliott said. “It was hard to gain ground into that wind. It was one of those things; you draw outside and those things happen. There’s nothing you can do about it. The outer tier didn’t look like it materialized too good, so you’re a victim of the pace unless you leave.”
Well Said won the North America Cup in a stakes, track and Canadian record 1:48.1 at Mohawk Racetrack. He claimed the Meadowlands Pace by six lengths with a 1:47.3 mile, which was a full second faster than any Meadowlands Pace other than Art Official’s then-world-record 1:47 score last year. He paced the fastest mile in the history of The Meadows with a 1:49 victory in an elimination for the Delvin Miller Adios.
His most memorable moment, though, might have been his first-heat triumph from the No. 8 spot in the Little Brown Jug, in 1:51.1. He claimed the Jug in straight heats.
“He was extremely impressive and set track records along the way,” Snyder said. “Hopefully he’ll have a successful career at stud.
“We’ll go look for another one at Harrisburg.”
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.