Aikenite, Grade 2-winning sprinter, retired

Aikenite, winner of last year’s Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes and Grade 2 Commonwealth Stakes, has been retired. There are no stud plans yet for the 5-year-old Yes It’s True horse.

“After a winter break in Aiken, he went back into training, but complications with his ankle made a 2012 campaign unrealistic,” said Dogwood Stable president Cot Campbell.

Aikenite last ran in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, in which he finished fourth behind winner Amazombie. In addition to his two Grade 2 stakes wins, Aikenite placed in six graded races between 2009 and 2011. He finished third in the 2009 Hopeful and in last year’s Forego, both Grade 1 races, and he got within a nose of Hoofit when finishing second in the Grade 3 Phoeniz Stakes.

Aikenite earned $866,635 from 5 wins in 23 career starts.

A Florida-bred, he is out of the Saint Ballado mare Silverlado. He is her first stakes winner.

He will remain with trainer Todd Pletcher at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla., for now, according to a Dogwood announcement.