Jonathan's Way, a Grade 3-winning juvenile last year, has officially been retired from racing to join the young and growing roster at Airdrie Stud. Ohio-bred Jonathan’s Way, who was trained by Phil Bauer for Rigney Racing, becomes the first son of 2024 leading freshman sire Vekoma to retire to stud. The colt won his debut at Saratoga with a troubled trip last year, followed by his signature victory in the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs. After finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in California, he was second in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club back at Churchill. That proved to be his final start. The day before Jonathan’s Way was scheduled to make his sophomore debut in the Grade 2 Risen Star, Bauer said the colt would be scratched due to an unsatisfactory blood count. An infection was treated, but the colt developed life-threatening colitis. According to a release from Airdrie and Rigney, that set him back several months contributed to further complications that ultimately led to the decision to retire him from racing.    :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports “He was also the gold standard of class every day in the barn and as he battled through his illness,” Bauer said in the release. “I don’t believe we got to see the best of Jonathan’s Way, but I do believe he has a great chance to show everyone how special he was through his stallion career.”   Jonathan’s Way is available for inspection at Airdrie. His stud fee, along with the rest of the Airdrie roster, will be announced following the Keeneland September yearling sale, which begins Monday and runs through Sept. 20. “Because of bad luck, he never had a chance to showcase [his] talent as a 3-year-old, but that fits the description of some of the most important stallions to stand at stud; from Not This Time and Dark Angel today on back to Hail to Reason and Raise a Native,” Airdrie’s Bret Jones said in the release. “We made a commitment to Richard Rigney and his team that we would give him the support he deserves with our broodmare band and we can’t wait to get started in honoring that commitment.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.