Dortmund is done with racing
ARCADIA, Calif. - Dortmund, the winner of the 2015 Santa Anita Derby and five other stakes, has run his last race.
Owner Kaleem Shah said on Sunday that Dortmund has been retired and will stand at stud. It was not immediately clear whether Dortmund would stand during the current breeding season or in 2018.
“Quite a few stud farms have expressed an interest,” Shah said. “Hopefully, we’ll get something done soon.”
Shah said several of the farms are based in Kentucky.
A 5-year-old, Dortmund won 8 of 16 starts and earned $1,987,505. He was winless in two starts at Santa Anita this year, finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf on March 11, and fourth in the Santana Mile on April 1.
“When I saw him get beat last time, I thought that was enough,” Shah said.
Dortmund was best at 2 and 3 when trained by Bob Baffert, winning the first six races of his career. He won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity in 2014 in his final start at 2, and won his first three starts of 2015 – the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes, Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.
Dortmund was third to stablemate American Pharoah in the 2015 Kentucky Derby and was taken out of training following a fourth in the Preakness Stakes. Dortmund won two stakes in late 2015, including the Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar, which turned out to be his final stakes win.
“He’s been so good to us,” Shah said. “He had that magical run of six wins before the Kentucky Derby.”
Dortmund was winless in four starts in 2016, with his best result a second to eventual Horse of the Year California Chrome in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes last October.
Shah and Baffert parted ways last winter, with Dortmund and others going to Art Sherman’s stable.
Dortmund is by Big Brown and out of Our Josephina, by Tale of the Cat. He was purchased for $140,000 at a 2-year-old in-training sale in May 2014.