NEWS
Take the Points retired with leg injury
Posted: Sunday, August 22, 2010 3:01 PM
TAKE THE POINTS WINNING JAMAICA
Adam Coglianese/NYRA photo
by Phil Janack
Multiple Grade 1 winner Take the Points has been retired from racing with a leg injury, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday morning.
The four-year-old Even the Score colt showed swelling in his right front leg on Saturday, and X-rays subsequently reveal a fractured splint bone. Stud plans are pending.
“[Saturday] we X-rayed him and there’s some filling in that area,” Pletcher said. “It’s kind of an odd place to have a fracture in an older horse. In the grand scheme of things, it’s minor, but timing-wise, it was just poor.
“If he was younger, it is something where you could operate and bring him back, no problem, but not at this point in his career. There’s just no way to operate and have him back this year. Considering his accomplishments and everything, we decided to retire him.”
An ankle injury forced Take the Points to miss potential starts in both the Sword Dancer Invitational Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course on August 14, and the Arlington Million Stakes (G1) at Arlington Park on Saturday.
Pletcher was hoping to bring Take the Points back in the Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2) at Saratoga on August 27.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing,” he said, “but he’s had a good run. Hopefully, his credentials will find him a good stallion home.”
Bred in Kentucky by Phoenix Farm, Take the Points won four of 16 career starts and bankrolled $943,590 for Pletcher and owner Starlight Partners. Take the Points won the Secretariat Stakes (G1) at Arlington Park and Jerome Handicap (G1) at Belmont Park last year, both on grass, and was Grade 3-placed on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita Park.
Out of the Fred Astaire mare Ginger Ginger, Take the Points made nine starts on turf, five on dirt, and two on synthetic surfaces and raced in New York, New Jersey, Florida, California, Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Dubai.
“He did well all over the place,” Pletcher said. “Conformationally, he’s a very, very good-looking horse, and his race record was very versatile. He was a good two-year-old. He broke his maiden at Belmont as a two-year-old. He won on the dirt as a three-year-old at Gulfstream. He performed well on synthetics and is a multiple Grade 1 winner on turf. Hopefully, that versatility will help him find a good home. I’d like to have a bunch more like him.”
Phil Janack is a Saratoga-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
