Hold Me Back retired with tendon injury

LEXINGTON, Ky. - WinStar Farm has retired Hold Me Back, winner of the 2010 Grade 3 Dominion Day Handicap and the 2009 Grade 2 Lane’s End Stakes, due to a strained tendon, according to WinStar vice-president Elliott Walden.

The 4-year-old Giant’s Causeway colt heads to stud at WinStar in Versailles, Ky., with a record of four wins and three second-place finishes from 14 career starts. He earned $872,610.

In addition to his two graded wins, Hold Me Back also was runner-up in two Grade 1 races, the Travers and Blue Grass Stakes last year.

WinStar bred Hold Me Back in partnership with Haras Santa Maria de Araras. The colt is out of the untraced Unbridled’s Song mare Restraint, the dam of stakes-placed Maria Pia and Brazilian stakes-placed Salle de Bain, Hold Me Back’s half-siblings. Restraint is a daughter of Canadian champion sprinter and 3-year-old filly Avowal, by L’Enjoleur.

WinStar hasn’t yet set a fee for Hold Me Back, but the colt will be available for viewing during the upcoming Kentucky mixed sales starting Nov. 7.