Manchego Retired

Trot Insider has learned that star trotting filly Manchego, the winner of the Dan Patch Award for two-year-old trotting fillies in 2017, has been retired.

As a two-year-old, Manchego was the picture of perfection. In 12 starts, the daughter of Muscle Hill - Secret Magic won each time with her closest rival only able to get within three-parts of a length of her at the the wire. Her wins included the Jim Doherty Memorial, the PASS Championship, Peaceful Way and the Breeders Crown.

Her sophomore campaign was also extremely successful with a 7-3-2 summary from her 14 seasonal starts. Major wins included the Hambletonian Oaks, Casual Breeze and the Moni Maker while competing not just against one of the deepest divisions in recent memory but also testing the waters against her male counterparts.

“They’re probably going to race Atlanta next year and I’m sure Plunge Blue Chip will race next year, and there’s not that much money racing a filly,” trainer Jimmy Takter told Harness Racing Weekend Preview, “and to race against the boys it’s hard for those horses. A four-year-old filly racing against aged horses is not easy to do.”

Owned by John Fielding of Toronto, Ont., former Montrealer Herb Liverman of Miami Beach, Florida and Black Horse Racing of Lebanon, N.J., Manchego retires with a mark of 1:50 and more than $1.6 million in career earnings.