Trot Insider has learned that Canada’s Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year in 2018, The Ice Dutchess, has been retired from racing in order to take on a new role -- motherhood.
The four-year-old daughter of Muscle Hill-The Ice Queen was a $320,000 Harrisburg Yearling Sale purchase in 2017 by John Floren’s Coyote Wynd Farms of Vancouver, B.C., and the multi-talented performer managed to stash away $847,161 thanks to wins in major events like the $385,000 Peaceful Way, the $357,450 Jim Doherty Memorial, the $135,000 Zweig Memorial and the $120,000 Crossroads Of America.
The Ice Dutchess spent her two-year-old campaign in the barn of Jimmy Takter, and following his retirement from the training ranks the filly moved to the care of Nancy Takter for her sophomore season.
As enjoyable as it was watching the filly race, her owner is just as pumped to see what she can do in the new role in his growing band of broodmares. She's slated to be bred to Greenshoe in 2020.
“I am more a breeding operation than racing,” John Floren told Trot Insider. “I sell everything I breed and look to buy two or three well-bred fillies every year, race them at ages two and three and then decide to add them to my broodmare band or sell them. I consulted my team, and they overwhelmingly convinced me from an economic perspective I should breed her. I will sure miss watching her race.”
The filly’s absence from the track is hard to fill, but Floren has some other star students to look forward to this season.
“I have two really talented three-year-old fillies, Sherry Lyns Lady and Madame Sherry, who I hope come back strong and fill a bit of the void left by Dutchie's retirement when we start racing again.”
Sherry Lyns Lady, a three-year-old daughter of Father Patrick-Demoiselle Hanover, assembled a 3-5-1 record and a bankroll of just over $300,000 during an 11-start rookie campaign under the guidance of trainer Jim Campbell while stablemate Madame Sherry, a three-year-old Father Patrick-Celebrity Angel filly, went 2-2-1 from eight attempts last season while stashing away close to $140,000.
Clearly, Floren has a lot to look forward to with star power like that in his corner. He, like everyone in the industry, anxiously awaits the return to normalcy. While doing that, he’s trying to remain as positive as possible given the circumstances the world is dealing with amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I wish everyone in the industry all the best and by working together we will get through this significant challenge,” he added.