Grade 1 winner Warren's Veneda retired at age 6

ARCADIA, Calif. – Warren’s Veneda, a winner of four stakes at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita, has been retired and will be bred to Clubhouse Ride this year, trainer Craig Lewis said on Friday.

The decision was reached by Lewis and owner and breeder Ben Warren after Warren’s Veneda emerged from a workout Jan. 10 with inflammation in a leg. Warren’s Veneda was a candidate for the $200,000 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Lewis said Warren’s Veneda’s age played a role in the decision. The 6-year-old mare would have needed considerable time to recover from the setback.

“By the time we got her back, it would have been later in the year,” Lewis said. “We were lucky to have her.”

On Friday, Warren’s Veneda was transferred to Harris Ranch in Coalinga, Calif., where Clubhouse Ride is based. Lewis trained Clubhouse Ride, a stakes winner who earned $1,341,132 in a career that ended last February.

Warren’s Veneda, by the Unbridled stallion Affirmative, won 8 of 29 starts and earned $932,112. She won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational last March, her final victory. Warren’s Veneda won the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes and Paseana Stakes before the Santa Margarita last year. In 2013, Warren’s Veneda won the Cat’s Cradle Stakes for California-breds at Hollywood Park.