Centre Court retired following poor work before Cardinal Handicap

Less than $40,000 shy of being a millionaire, the 5-year-old turf mare Centre Court will not race at Churchill Downs on Nov. 22 in the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap and instead has been retired, trainer Rusty Arnold said this week from Keeneland.

“I didn’t like the way she worked [Monday],” said Arnold. “She’s been too good to us not to go ahead and retire her.”

For about a year, starting in the spring of 2012, Centre Court held peak form as one of the top horses in her division. She won five graded turf stakes during that span, culminating with a victory in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland in April 2013.

Bred and owned by G. Watts Humphrey, Centre Court, by Smart Strike, won 7 of 19 starts and $961,048. She ran fourth in her final race, the Grade 1 First Lady last month at Keeneland.

Steward undergoes brain surgery

Longtime racing official Rick Leigh will undergo a gamma-knife radiation procedure Tuesday to treat two small brain lesions. Leigh, currently an association steward at Churchill, recently had eight other lesions eradicated with the same surgery.

Leigh, 66, said he expects to be back working the final days of the Churchill meet, which runs through Nov. 30. He has endured numerous health issues in recent years, including the loss of a kidney in 2012.

◗ Churchill officials said this week that their search for a new race-caller is ongoing. but no other details are available. The current caller, Larry Collmus, is vacating the position at meet’s end after a one-year stint to work year-round at the New York Racing Association and Gulfstream Park.