by Mike Curry
Horse of the Year Invasor (Arg) was retired Saturday after he was diagnosed with a fractured sesamoid in his right hind leg following a workout at Belmont Park.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Invasor appeared fine after the bullet five-furlong breeze in :59.47, a planned breeze under exercise rider Barry Downs in preparation for a planned start in the $400,000 Suburban Handicap (G1) on June 30.
“He worked five-eighths this morning in [:59.47], and he cooled out fine,” said McLaughlin, who trained the five-year-old Candy Stripes horse for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Shadwell Stable. “After he got his feet washed, he took a couple of bad steps and we called the vet immediately.”
X-rays revealed a fracture to the top of Invasor’s right hind sesamoid, a bone in the ankle area that he had previously injured. Invasor is not expected to need surgery, but Rick Nichols, vice president and general manager of Shadwell Farm said the decision was made to retire him from racing.
“He’s done everything we’ve ever asked of him,” Nichols said. “This is a huge disappointment for all of us as well as for the racing world.”
Invasor will stand the 2008 breeding season at Shadwell Farm in Lexington.
“It’s a sad day in our game, but these things happen and he’ll go on to a career at stud,” McLaughlin said. “It’s just a shame for our whole industry to lose such a great racehorse.”
Invasor won his first five starts while racing in Uruguay, including a sweep of the Uruguayan Triple Crown, and was subsequently purchased privately by Sheikh Hamdan. He was named 2005 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old colt in Uruguay.
In his first start for Sheikh Hamdan and McLaughlin, Invasor finished fourth in the S & M al Naboodah Group United Arab Emirates Derby (UAE-G2) in March 2005 at Nad al Sheba racecourse. That defeat would be the lone blemish on Invasor’s record.
He made a memorable United States debut with a resounding 1 1/4-length score in the 2006 Pimlico Special Handicap (G1) on May 19, after which McLaughlin joked, “I'm just wondering how the hell I got him beat in Dubai."
Invasor followed with a 4 1/4-length romp in the Suburban Handicap (G1) and subsequently showed his tremendous will to win when he dug in valiantly in the stretch to fend off fast-closing Sun King to win the Whitney Handicap (G1) by a nose at Saratoga Race Course in August.
Invasor capped his 2006 season by streaking past Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Bernardini in the stretch of the Breeders’ Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (G1) to post a one-length triumph and cement Horse of the Year honors. Invasor also won the Eclipse Award as champion older male.
He returned this year to win the Donn Handicap (G1) despite clipping heels with an opponent in the stretch, and Invasor delivered a special homecoming victory for Sheikh Hamdan in the Emirates Airline Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) on March 31 at Nad al Sheba in what ultimately was his final start.
Bred in Argentina by Haras Clausan, Invasor developed passionate fan bases in South America, Dubai, and the United States during his four-year career. Out of the unraced Interprete mare Quendom (Arg), Invasor closed his career with 11 wins in 12 starts and purse earnings of $7,804,070, fourth most among all North American-raced earners.
“He changed my life and enriched my family’s life,” McLaughlin said. “It was just a pleasure and an honor to train him. He’s obviously the best horse I’ll ever train and it was just a great feeling to go to the barn every morning and see him.”
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times daily news editor