Grade 1 winner Hunt retired

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hunt, the winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile and four other stakes, has been retired after a series of disappointing performances.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said on Sunday the decision was reached to retire Hunt after he finished seventh in an optional claimer at Santa Anita on April 28. He did not win in three starts this year.

“His form dropped off,” D’Amato said.

Owned by Michael House, Hunt, a 7-year-old gelding, won 9 of 32 starts and earned $918,156 in a career that began in Ireland. Hunt won the 2018 Shoemaker Mile and was pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs last November. Hunt missed the race after developing a temperature.

D’Amato said Hunt has been sent to House’s property in San Diego County and will be trained as a hunter-jumper.