Ruler On Ice, 2011 Belmont winner, retired

Ruler On Ice, the 2011 Belmont Stakes winner, has been retired from racing, according to trainer Kelly Breen. As a gelding, Ruler On Ice will reside at the farm of his owners, George and Lori Hall, in Versailles, Ky.

Breen said Ruler On Ice retires sound, but that he and the Halls didn’t feel Ruler On Ice could be competitive at the graded-stakes level anymore. “He just didn’t have it,” Breen said.

Since his 24-1 upset in the Belmont Stakes, Ruler On Ice went just 1 for 16, the win being an allowance race over Aqueduct’s inner track in January 2013. In his most recent start, he finished a well-beaten fifth in the Mountainview Handicap at Penn National on May 31.

Ruler On Ice, by Roman Ruler out of the Saratoga Six mare Champagne Glow, had a record of 4-5-3 from 23 starts and banked $1,709,566. He finished third in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Breen said that “other than my kids being born,” winning the Belmont Stakes with Ruler On Ice “was one of the greatest days of my life.”

Breen grew up, lives, and works in New Jersey, and his father grew up in Manhattan before moving to New Jersey. He credited the Halls for having faith in him to run the horse in the Belmont “and not to think I was crazy. They gave me some opportunity, and to win it for somebody who put all their faith in you is beyond words.”