Coolmore retires two-time Group 1 winner Blackbeard

On Monday, the day of the pre-entry deadline for the Breeders’ Cup, Coolmore announced that Blackbeard was forced to be withdrawn from consideration for the Breeders’ Cup with an injury, and that the two-time Group 1-winning juvenile has been retired to Coolmore’s Irish headquarters for 2023.

“Blackbeard was a little off after exercise this morning in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Aidan O’Brien said in a press release. “Unfortunately, when we had him X-rayed, the radiographs showed a small chip in his right knee, and a decision has been made to retire him. He’s a typical No Nay Never; strong, early-maturing, and very fast. He ran every month from April to September, and improved and improved from one race to the next.”

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Blackbeard retires with six wins in eight starts. He won the Group 1 Prix Morny, Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, Group 2 Prix Robert Papin, and Group 3 Marble Hill Stakes. He also was second by a nose in the Group 2 Railway Stakes. The colt had been under consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, although he also could have been pre-entered in the Juvenile Turf.

“The whole Scat Daddy line couldn’t be going any better,” Coolmore’s David O’Loughlin said in the press release, regarding No Nay Never’s sire. “No Nay Never has obviously enjoyed a fantastic season, Justify has made a brilliant start in the U.S., Sioux Nation is churning out quality winners here in Europe, and the first yearlings by No Nay Never’s first son to stud, Ten Sovereigns, have gone down incredibly well. Blackbeard is very much his father’s son and a hugely exciting prospect.”

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