Trainer Casie Coleman has informed Trot Insider that the connections of Betting Line p,3,1:47.2f ($2,238,518) have been forced to retire the multiple stakes winning three-year-old.
“We made the final decision today (Friday, November 4),” Coleman said. “We wanted to end on a winning note, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Although the connections have been forced to forgo Betting Line’s next three scheduled races (the Matron Stakes and the Hap Hansen Progress Pace), Betting Line still retires on a winning streak. The son of Ontario sire Bettor Delight was carrying an impressive 14-race win streak into October’s Breeders Crown eliminations, which he was forced to be scratched from due to having suffered two serious spider bites on one of his shoulders.
“We planned on supplementing him to the Matron Stakes (which will take place at Dover Downs next week) and then follow that up with the Progress Pace, which he was paid into,” Coleman said.
“He had been coming back from the spider bite well. He had been jogging well and I was happy with the way he was coming along. He seemed like he was getting better”
“David Miller trained him this morning (Friday, November 4) and he just wasn’t himself. He was flat. David said that he wasn’t right up on the iron. He also wasn’t striding out with the one leg, which shows to us that he isn’t over those bites on his shoulder.”
The connections of Betting Line announced in mid-September that the brown colt would retire at the end of the 2016 racing campaign and stand stud at Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania for the 2017 breeding season.
“He’s going to stay here at White Birch Farm until Monday (November 7) and he will then ship to Hanover Shoe Farms,” said Coleman. “The partners will be meeting in Harrisburg next week, at which point we will decide on a stud fee.”
Betting Line retires with a career slate that reads 27 starts, 20 wins, a trio of second-place finishes and a pair of third-place finishes. He banked $2,238,518 in purses for his connections and retires with a pair of world records under his belt. His 1:47.2 victory in the Battle of the Brandywine set a new world record for three-year-old male pacers on a five-eighths-mile track, while his 1:49 mile in the second heat of the Little Brown Jug is the world record for three-year-old pacing colts over a half-mile track.
After having just tasted defeat in an overnight to begin his three-year-old campaign, Betting Line assembled a staggering season. He won his next 14 races, which included wins in the $1-million Pepsi North America Cup, the $500,000 Battle of the Brandywine, $300,000 Milstein Memorial, the $276,960 Little Brown Jug, the $204,000 Simcoe Stakes, and a sweep of all of his Ontario Sires Stakes races, including his $250,000 OSS Super Final.
John Carter... bang on.
John Carter... bang on. That's a shame we will never get to see the full potential of Betting Line.
HOY honors sit squarely on Always B Miki.
WIJI is now on the sidelines and will miss the TVG on top of just having lost to Miki in the Breeders Crown.
Casie had been posting daily
Casie had been posting daily updates on Facebook regarding Betting Line's spider bite. He had nothing but the best care and as of last week still had a substantial open wound near the point of his shoulder. It was very obvious by the photos she posted that there was a fair amount of tissue and possible muscle damage done by the toxin. His layoff was certainly going to be longer than a week or two. It's unfortunate we won't see him race again, but who knows if he would ever have been able to come back to such an exceptional level. Hopefully he passes along his talent in the breeding shed.
Trevor-- you are correct.
Trevor-- you are correct. Between missing the M'lands pace and the Breeders Crown it is almost impossible to give him the horse of the year. I felt that if he had of raced in the Crown and won it, that he should have been HOY but he has still done enough that he now should be runner up to Miki in the voting. For fans of racing the changes in rules suck. This sport needs it's stars to stay on the track at least thru their 4yr old season.
With all the talk and what
With all the talk and what the industry can do to keep the sport alive and showcase its stars its unfortunate that this good horse won't race as a four-year-old. The breeding shed wins again.
A great racehorse. Hope he
A great racehorse. Hope he does well at stud. Such a shame to see the 3 year olds go to stud again.
This horse would have had a lot of potential to race big next year if they hadn't changed the rules back. I do think they are being extra precautious though with him as he probably could have raced in one of his last starts that he was paid into but they probably feel why take a chance and ruin a great year. I think it totally cost him any chance at HOY though as he now has missed Meadowlands Pace, and Breeders Crown and several other stakes races.
All the best.