Champion sprinter Work All Week retired

Champion sprinter Work All Week has been retired with a stress fracture in his knee, owner and breeder Richard Papiese of Midwest Thoroughbreds announced in a press release on Thursday.

Work All Week most recently finished third in the Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes on opening day at Keeneland, which is when the injury is believed to have occurred.

“Sometimes he gets heat in his ankles, so we were doing a routine check on him,” Papiese said. “We decided to go ahead and check his knees for no reason except just to be thorough and we found a stress fracture that likely occurred during the running of the Phoenix. There was no pulse or heat, but there was just enough for us to have to stop on him. We are so lucky we decided to check, because it could have set him up for a slab fracture and that could have been catastrophic. To bring him back as a 7-year-old [next year] would be a big risk and he’s already done so much and given us so many highs that I would not risk his health and happiness. It’s not a tragedy and the glass isn’t half-empty – it’s full because he isn’t shattered."

Work All Week, a 6-year-old gelded son of City Zip bred in Illinois by Midwest, won five of six starts in 2014, highlighted by his score in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita, to secure Eclipse Award honors as champion male sprinter. He only won once from four starts this year - that coming in the Sen. Robert C. Byrd Memorial at Mountaineer - but did not finish worse than third while competing exclusively in stakes company.

In all, Work All Week won 13 of 19 starts, only missing the board once, for earnings of $1,511,071. He won seven stakes in total.

Papiese said Work All Week would likely continue in a second career at the track, as trainer Roger Brueggemann's stable pony.

"He loves to be at the track," the owner said.