Grade 1 winner Moreno retired for good

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Grade 1 winner Moreno has been retired from racing. Again. Only this time, it’s for good.

Eric Guillot, the trainer of 2014 Whitney winner Moreno, had attempted to bring the 6-year-old gelding back this year after announcing his retirement last summer. But following four workouts at Los Alamitos, including a six-furlong move in 1:10.80 on Jan. 9, Guillot pulled the plug.

“I had him up to three-quarters, but he was too sore; I couldn’t chance him breaking down,” Guillot said Saturday at Aqueduct.

Guillot said Moreno is living on his farm in Midway, Ky.

Moreno, a gelding by Ghostzapper owned by Mike Moreno’s Southern Equine Stable, only won 4 of 29 starts, but he picked some nice races to win or finish second in. As a 3-year-old, he won the Grade 2 Dwyer at Belmont and finished second, beaten a nose, by Will Take Charge in the $1 million Travers Stakes. He also finished second to that horse in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby.

At 4, he won the $1.5 million Whitney at Saratoga, and last year he won the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic, setting a track record for 1 1/8 miles.

He ran three more times thereafter, finishing second in the Grade 2 Californian Stakes, eighth in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita and eighth in the Grade 1 Whitney last August at Saratoga.