Reports indicate that 2015 Breeders Crown winner Creatine has been retired due to injury and will commence a stud career.
Creatine (Andover Hall - Berry Nice Muscles) spent the majority of his five-year-old year racing in Europe for owners Big C Racing of Pennsylvania. He rounded out his four-year-old year with tremendous consistency, finishing in the top three of all the major stakes for open trotters with wins in the Allerage and the American-National. He was then sent to Europe to race as a five-year-old out of the Robert Bergh stable.
After disappointing results in his first four events in Sweden, the horse was moved to trainer Jimmy Takter’s European division and placed in the capable hands of his brother Johnny Takter. The change was positive for Creatine, who delivered two Group 1 victories, in Finland and Sweden, after that point in time. He returned to North America last fall with an impressive third in the 2015 International Trot at Yonkers Raceway, then captured the Breeders Crown for older trotters at Woodbine Racetrack.
At the time, co-owner and developer Robert Stewart had stated that the Breeders Crown was likely Creatine's final start. He returned to the track in 2016, and made his first on-track appearance as a six-year-old this past Saturday in a qualifier at The Meadowlands. On Thursday, harnessracing.com reported that Creatine has been retired due to a suspensory injury.
"We got way more than we ever thought we would from Creatine," said Adam Bowden of Diamond Creek Farm, who bred the colt and co-owned along with Bob & Lynda Stewart. "He was a yearling we couldn't give away because of an injury and then he took us to the point that we were thinking this year was going to be the greatest ever."
Creatine retires with a career summary of 17-10-9 from 52 starts, a mark of 1:51.2 and $2.1 million in purses earned. The stallion also counts major victories the Bluegrass (at two), the Kentucky Futurity, Carl Erskine and an elimination of the Hambletonian (at three), the St. Michel in Finland and the Hugo Åbergs Memorial in Sweden. Diamond Creek will stand the stallion, with location and fee yet to be finalized.