JK Shesalady Retired

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Published: September 24, 2015 09:52 am EDT

Trot Insider has learned that harness racing's Horse of the Year in Canada and the U.S. for 2014, JK Shesalady has been retired by her connections.

"She qualified on Thursday at Pocono and I wasn't really happy with the way she came out of the qualifier, so 3 Brothers Stable -- who owns her -- and I, we decided that it would be in the best interest for her just to call it a career. She doesn't owe any of us anything," trainer Nancy Johansson stated in an interview during Wednesday's Jugette Day broadcast. "She had stellar two-year-old performance and, you know, sickness just got the best of her this year. We're trying to play catch up and it's just not fair to her."

Trot Insider reported in August that JK Shesalady was sidelined due to a bacterial infection in her lungs that required a heavy course of antibiotics for three weeks.

“We sent her to Cornell and she had something in her lungs that was causing her to not get enough oxygen so she was fatiguing at the end of the mile,” said Johansson last month. “She couldn’t get enough oxygen, which is obviously pretty important in any race, much less at the level she races at."

JK Shesalady will join the 3 Brothers broodmare band, a bittersweet notion for Johansson who campaigned the filly to an undefeated rookie season in 2014.

"I'm more than blessed to have had her in my stable and obviously she's going to be missed but I'm looking forward to training her babies."

As a two-year-old, JK Shesalady won her final nine starts by a minimum of one length and closed her campaign with a stakes-record victory in the Breeders Crown. She equalled the world record of 1:50.1 for a two-year-old female pacer in winning the Shes A Great Lady Stakes at Mohawk and also captured the Three Diamonds Stakes.

JK Shesalady (Art Major - Presidential Lady) retires with 13 wins from 16 starts and $972,730 in purse earnings.

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