Ailing Seattle Fitz retired

The multiple graded stakes winner Seattle Fitz has been retired due to an ankle injury, his connections announced on Tuesday.

, whose biggest win came in the Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park in June, retires with a record of 6-3-2 from 21 career starts. Seattle Fitz also recorded stakes victories in the Grade 3 Aqueduct Handicap in January and the Grade 3 William Donald Schaefer Handicap at Pimlico in May.

An Argentine-bred son of Fitzcarraldo, Seattle Fitz earned $592,935 for West Point Stable, which acquired him nearly two years ago out of an auction in Dubai.

"Seattle Fitz has been the linchpin of the stable, and provided us with our biggest thrill this spring when he won the Brooklyn," said Terry Finley, president of West Point Stable. "He was very tough, always showed a lot of guts, and was a great horse to be associated with. We're disappointed that a promising career has been cut short, but it was our feeling that the ankle problem would lead to a degradation of his performance."

West Point purchased Seattle Fitz for the American equivalent of $136,120 at the Emirates Racing Association's Pearls of Dubai International Sale in October 2002, and put him into training in Dubai with trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. He made his racing debut in Dubai in early 2003 before making his first start in the U.S. in May 2003 at Belmont.

"He was a very professional racehorse, and is an excellent stallion prospect,'' McLaughlin said.