It's closing time for Brandothebartender

Brandothebartender, a $40,000 claim in 2018 who later won four stakes, has been retired from racing because of a recent injury sustained in a workout at Santa Anita.

Brandothebartender will be retired to the Old Friends retirement farm in Kentucky, according to Jerry Weseloh of Flawless Racing, which is part of the group that owns the 8-year-old gelding.

Trained by Craig Dollase at the end of his career, Brandothebartender was under consideration for Saturday’s $100,000 California Flag Handicap for statebred turf sprinters at Santa Anita when the injury was detected.

“We decided to retire him,” Weseloh said earlier this week. “All he needed was rest, but heading to a ninth year seemed ambitious.”

Brandothebartender won 10 of 47 starts and earned $782,464 in a career that began in 2016. Flawless Racing, Brian Flanagan, and Michael Jarvis claimed Brandothebartender in the summer of 2018 and had a quick return on the purchase when the gelding won the California Flag Handicap at Santa Anita in October of that year, earning $60,000. Brandothebartender had 29 starts and earned $569,101 for them.

In the last year, he won races ranging from a 1,000-yard dash for Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos to his final start in the $152,000 California Dreamin’ Handicap for statebreds at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar in August.

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Brandothebartender won 3 of 9 starts and earned $269,540 in 2021, the best season of his career. All of the wins this year were in turf stakes for statebreds.

“He was an unbelievably consistent horse,” Weseloh said. “To have the year he had at age 8 was incredible.”

With Brandothebartender’s departure, Dollase will have two retirees at Old Friends. Awesome Gem, who earned more than $2.8 million in a career that included six stakes wins, is also a resident.