Amazombie finished racing

ARCADIA, Calif. – Amazombie, the champion sprinter of 2011, has been retired.

Trainer Bill Spawr said Thursday that the 8-year-old Amazombie was scheduled to leave his stable at Santa Anita on Friday for a local farm, and that a yearlong attempt at a comeback had been abandoned.

Amazombie won 12 of 29 starts and earned $1,920,378. He is best known for winning the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs. Amazombie finished eighth in his final start, the 2012 BC Sprint at Santa Anita. The final win of his career was the Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in 2012, his seventh stakes win.

Owned by Spawr and Tom Sanford, Amazombie did not start in 2013 after he was involved in a training mishap at Hollywood Park last May, when he nearly collided with a pony. Amazombie returned to training last summer, but the preparation was interrupted by minor setbacks.

“We gave him a chance a couple of times,” Spawr said. “He’d get a little sore, but he was never lame. We X-rayed him, and there were no fractures, but the cartilage showed a little wear. He’s been so good to us. I didn’t want to go any farther with him. He had quite a following. People still ask me about Amazombie.”

Spawr said Amazombie will be sent to Judd Morse’s farm in Southern California to begin his retirement.